It all started with Arvind Kejriwal, becoming the poster boy of anti corruption movement in India. A simple looking muffler clad ex-civil servant from the Indian revenue services, who had won a lot of recognition across.
A look into his work in the past would enlighten you about how well he has been able to bring up a lot of good projects only to leave them once the spotlight has moved else where. He has worked really hard to ensure his presence in the limelight, so much so that he has left a lot of work incomplete in the process. An IIT graduate, Kejriwal had shown a lot of potential to be the next big thing and for many the only big thing in Indian Politics.
His entry into Indian politics was very well timed the incumbent government at the centre and in Delhi was under a lot of pressure due to anti-incumbency wave and people were looking for a change, a big change!!! In comes Mr. Kejriwal, along with Anna Hazare to start India Against Corruption. A lot of people don't know that Anna was not Kejriwal's first choice ever, the first choice for him was Shri Shri Ravi Shankar. A lot of thought and planning was behind the choice, they wanted someone with whom media can relate to easily.
The movement started and became a big success with major support coming from youth, the youth which would become the main factor in the upcoming Delhi elections. Most of them were first time voters who were always connected through the spread of social media. A lot of drama surrounded the movement, at its peak Ram Leela maidan had an attendance of more than 10,000 people. The media was also hungry for news as the IPL was already over and there was nothing major happening for the 24 x 7 media.
All of sudden things got sore between Anna and Kejriwal, so much so that the difference of opinion led to the formation of AAP the A am Aadmi Party. Kejriwal who once sworn on his kids never to enter political arena, became a politician. People who were looking for change saw a ray of hope in him and started following him, media also understood that TRPs are going to be driven by AAP, and they joined in as well.
A lot was said by AAP leaders and everyone believed in them, they connected very well with the youth and the urban poor. All this resulted in them getting sometimes vocal and sometimes muted support from across the spectrum. Delhi elections happened and AAP became the second largest party after BJP, and believe it or not they formed the government with the support of Congress against whom they were spewing fire all along.
They came to power on the promise of cheap electricity, free water and a lot of promises which many believed unachievable. They did try to woo the public with things like 200lts. of free water and sparing people who had not paid electricity bills for long by calling them supporters of AAP movement.
They even tried conducting Jan Sabhas which was a disaster and gave up on it without even trying to improve the format. This was not going be the first thing AAP gave up, which we realized in the first 49 days of their government. He also broke the promises that he made regarding the use of government house, vehicles and so on...
They gave up on Delhi also as it seems Kejriwal had started eyeing the bigger office, one which will take him to 7RCR. They resigned and made a lot of noise on the governor not dissolving the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, later we saw him requesting the Governor to give them another chance after failing miserably in the national elections.
A lot of hopes that people had shattered, people started seeing Kejriwal as a bhagoda (someone who runs away from responsibility), but there was a sizeable chunk who still believed in him. A lot of things happened behind the curtain, many of the founding members left the party and came in the open about the problems because of which they left. Initially people kept on believing Kejriwal, but over a period of time people started parting way, what Mr. Kejriwal saw as support nationally turned out to be opportunistic people eyeing just a ticket for the Vidhan Sabha elections, once the lust of candidates came out many AAP supporters moved out questioning the selection of candidates.
In many cases we would further see that the number of votes received by AAP was less than the number of registered members in that area. AAP leaders failed to realise that like on Facebook don't always translate into votes. Many of the people who were behind AAP euphoria on-line did not even cast their vote, they were all only social media giants who made a lot of voice but when it came to real work they were no where to be seen.
AAP lost across the board with more than 90% of it's candidates not even able to save their deposits, this has shown that people are not fools and if they believe in something they want results to substantiate their belief. Mr. Kejriwal seems to be trying again to come in the limelight by going to jail and other such affairs...
AAP did a lot of good but that good has all turned into evil it seems, because what they have finally achieved is that they have made sure that people will not believe in a new person or concept in politics without substantial proof of work....
The article is based on the personal views of the author the blog is a point of convergence for people who want to put forward their point of view.
