This general election will be remembered for the return of the BJP, a centre-right political force under the leadership of Hindutva icon Narendra Modi, the decimation of the Congress-led UPA and the rejection of the claims of Rahul Gandhi to be a worthy successor of the Nehru-Gandhi lineage. The Americanisation of the campaign process—its focus on personalities, rather than policies—is another game-changer. Also remembered will be the unusually active media-money nexus. The resilience of regional political parties in eastern India is another feature. But it will also be remembered for the entry of a new all-India party—the Aam Adami Party—with claims of engaging in “alternative politics towards participatory democracy through citizen activism”.
AAP is a party in the making. It aims at ‘swaraj’ through a second freedom movement. It promises to provide constructive and ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions to the twin challenges of communalism and corruption. It doesn't stand for any pre-existing ideological formulas and refuses to accept the hegemony of crony capitalism. It caught the attention of voters due to its miraculous performance in the Delhi assembly elections. It is strange but true that a 15-month-old party ended the 15-year-long rule of Congress over Delhi and proved to be the ‘speedbreaker’ for the BJP. Now it has presented 430-plus candidates from Kashmir to Kerala and Ahmedabad to Arunachal. It has fulfilled the promise of low-cost campaigning with transparency of fund mobilisation. It is expected to get over three per cent of votes and hopes to net around 10-15 seats. It is interesting that AAP made its debut by overshadowing all other non-BJP and non-Congress parties due to its willingness to take on frontally the two most prominent aspirants for the PM’s post at Varanasi and Amethi by putting up its two popular leaders—national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Kumar Vishwas. The AAP list of candidates also boasted the largest number of social activists, experts, businesspersons, women and Muslims, none with criminal records.
But the small number of seats AAP may bag in the new Lok Sabha is going to become the basis of speculation about the future of this new initiative. There are four clear possibilities for it in the next five years:
- It remains primarily a forum of activists who use Parliament to promote political reforms and underline the vision of swaraj. Then it will require a much more organised and ever increasing volunteer force of idealist people with a capacity for electoral interventions. A high possibility.
- It moves in the direction of evolving as an effective electoral machine on the basis of further engagements in the election for local bodies and state assemblies. The elections for a new Vidhan Sabha in Delhi may become the turning point for many pragmatic members of AAP. But this evolution will require active relations with the day-to-day concerns of common people. It is not going to be unnatural, as our representative democracy has become a long and unending chain of elections since 1971, when Indira Gandhi delinked the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections for her own reasons.
- The popularity of its leadership suffers a decline due to an unimpressive performance in national politics. It may lead to a crisis of confidence in the rank and file. In such a situation, many ‘activists in a hurry’ may opt for a more viable regional or national political platform for their political future. A few may create their own micro-movements and NGOs to pursue their convictions in a more satisfying and non-compromising way.
- The appeal of the AAP leadership and the AAP approach of ‘alternative politics’ actually rises. This may be facilitated by the stubbornness of the political class in resisting political reforms, or the arrogance of the new central government. The election manifesto of 2014, the second line of leadership created during the election, and the politicisation of over 1,00,000 volunteers around the country may prove to be the new critical inputs for AAP.
There is no doubt that India is in need of political reforms and reformers. India’s under-privileged cannot afford to have more of the same, for the present establishment has become counter-productive. It has to be seen if AAP proves to be the pathfinder even after the polls. It will be good for the country if it becomes more relevant.
Professor of Sociology at JNU, Anand Kumar contested the election as an AAP candidate
