AAP Trilogy: First Blood – Mission Delhi, 2013

Who Really Cares

A red carpet welcome to a new player in the game, to change the very rules of the  game, the Politics. The game has already witnessed many legendary rise and dramatic falls with hardly any space for a new player. The grand old party is sitting cosy in the assembly for the 3rd successive term. The nationalist party could only hold its forte in the Local body (Municipal Corporation) though very convincingly. Several attempts to grab power turned to be futile with some small players particularly a casteist one spoiling the party. The national mood echos in the city walls reverberating anti incumbency ripple. The grand old lady still stands her ground, defying the popular view to unsettle her regime.

Coming back to the game, the match calendar is already published, a year ahead from now. This is claimed to be a typically interesting match consisting of the veteran/popular teams, few dark horses, an underdog and of course few spoilers. The team composition and match ground has thrown a very interesting proposition for a more detailed study of the players and their game plan. More interestingly, the very context too changing rapidly with the diminishing charm of the crown prince and the increasing clout of the gladiator. The muscle flexing Baba does not hesitate throwing weights behind the gladiator in order to gravitate the balance further. The sudden wildcard entry changed all popular perceptions. “Sab Sala Chor hai” rhetoric is the new buzz  in capital making new inroads across the fault line of corruption.

Nobody really knows, if the new party launching was decided after sustained deliberation or merely impulsive. The way the retd. IRS officer decided to go political after the dull show at Jantar Mantar even the experts suggested camouflaged anti-corruption movement has secret political ambition. Nobody is spared, the language of discourse got entangled with semantics and syntaxes without the grammar of decency.

Baba was able to deflect all goals but his aggressive posture at the opponent team’s box did not go down well with their management. The undignified red card annoyed him further to have a more concrete resolve this time to throw the entire Italian team into Mediterranean sea. Essentially Baba is a non-player but enjoys a huge fan club across the country. With an unblemished image both his pro-poor and anti-corruption agenda has a pan India appeal.

The obituary is already written for the grand old party, just waiting for the last breath for the final rights. This never happened in the history of the game, a reigning champion veteran is already written off as an irrelevant non-player. In spite of the grand posturing the vacuum-ness got exposed more and more in the run up to the national semi final. The crown prince’s misplaced anger and clueless behavior confused even its own loyal fans. The queen bee little disturbed now as the status-quo change would unleash a plethora of bad deeds, indicting her entire clan.

Sangha after almost a decade of disillusion has finally found a hero who could in real sense prove a game changer. Who better than the the undefeated gladiator with resounding fan following, could fit the bill. Well, the veterans keen on smashing the popular team to throw them into history book, so the challenge is for survival now. With a roller coaster track record, the gladiator is all set for the semifinals. The mission though not very simple for him as he has to win straight 4-0 in the semis in order to comfortably stake claim in the finals. Sangha extended all logistics support to ensure full galleries, the gladiator too is a master player with extraordinary skills.

Throughout the one sided match the gladiator convincingly dominated over the crown prince scoring straight 3 goals. The last round of the match was played on a sticky ground making both main players little insecure about a clear win. Though defeat of the veteran was clearly visible the margin was always blur. Interestingly, the new player, an underdog camouflaged under the same blurriness, carried on its campaign. The match ground was very fertile one since the old man last cultivated that, waiting for a political monsoon to yield the right result. Moreover, their marriage to the bride called populism bought all the fortune they had wished. They have a brand new fan base now cheering their win in the amphitheatre, of course this got ample media notice now. Media was successful in positioning the underdog in the same league as the old players.

The results are out, the veterans along with the crown prince conceded a convincing defeat to the gladiator. But the last goal was indeed a joint goal a well timed pass to the underdog for the final shot. In spite of the effort from the gladiator in getting the ball clear and driving that to the opponent post, there was vested interest attributing all kudos to the joker. The failure to understand a basic rule reminds us a hard realty  “every (under)dog has its day”. Nobody, expected a draw match in a high scoring tournament, in a multi-corner fight the joker came out a winner.

The problem starts now, when different people start interpreting the result their own way undermining the fact that the very purpose of defeating the demon veteran has already been achieved. This hardly matters to stake claim while the popular mood still favors the gladiator. Nevertheless, there are still few take-aways for the key players,  though the jokers have tested the first blood, the accidental marriage to populism would hardly deliver anything in the finals. The gladiator would swear by “Never underestimate the opponent” and try to push the goal himself by scaling up its campaign to the finals. However, The misreading of the fractured mandate by either side would have serious repercussions with national ramification.

Coming soon

The Paradox of Political opportunism – General Election, 2014,  the last part of AAP Trilogy.