AAP Trilogy: Politics of Opportunism – General Election, 2014

Anything for Vote

Most of the experts still wondered about the Delhities being gullible but to their complete surprise the same Delhi people did outsmart AAP by voting for the unrealistic promises. In fact, its there way to say, well fulfill those promises now. Kejriwal was initially confused with the so called mandate but as they digested the election results little bit, the clueless-ness about the purpose of the mandate was clearly evident from their behavior. Media houses were actually embroiled in deep quandary, i.e not in a position to continue supporting Congress against popular public sentiments neither interested in promoting the rising sentiments in favor of BJP. Sooner than later AAP became the blue eyed boy of the entire print & electronics media with 24/7 coverage of all the developments including the nonsense ones. The Great India Nautanki Show hosted by Kejriwal, catered cheap entertainment to public across India. For a moment the impression was BJP’s all round performance in all the 4 states’ assembly election was minuscule against AAP’s near impressive 2nd position in Delhi assembly. Media’s grand design to wither out all hypes around BJP, past state election result, to protect Congress from a sure downfall before crucial national election, was partially successful.

 

Gimme a Tight Hug

People all across the country started joining this brand new political party as if the long lost relatives plunge into a person after the news of winning a lottery ticket just broke out. These socially oppressed and professionally suppressed people were actually looking for a platform to re-lunch their career. AAP was a relatively convenient option for these liberal looking bunch for quite obvious reason. Certainly, AAP found an army of photogenic debaters in news channels while strategically positioning itself as the primary rivals of the BJP, against the ground realty where Congress still held its forts. In the interest of Crown prince Rahul, Sonia wanted a dummy to fight BJP, so Congress could sail through easily. So, Congress adopted a 2 way policy, firstly to promote Brand Rahul with media Blitzkrieg and secondly keeping BJP engaged with AAP, secretly funded by them.

 

Always Hand in Gloves

 

BJP led by Modi was not sure of handling these bunch of mavericks with unsettling strategies unfolding with each passing days. In fact nobody was sure so they adopted the wait and watch policy to tackle the new political menace that recently out-shined Congress in national capital. Politics is a game of worst game-plans, Sonia Gandhi ensured, Shiela Dixit’s defeat in the hand of Kejriwal from a constituency of government employees, vowed never to debunk the ruling establishment. Off late the grand old lady had become a bone in the throat of congress central leadership who might be vying for an elevation at national level. So a humiliating defeat should fortify her political death in Delhi politics.

 

I Need Some Loyal Supporters

This is completely absurd to imagine that a fringe party with less than a 1% vote share could garner the kind of media fanfare it enjoyed in last few months. The same media was conspicuously silent about JP Narain from Hyderabad an honest retd. bureaucrat, a true crusader against all socio-political malice. Media even conveniently downplayed, the political grand standings of the most educated and honest chief minster of  the Indian state of Goa. No body really cared whether he opted out of govt Bungalow, rebuffed securities and above all, all the luxuries attached to his office. As soon as the media hype around AAP’s electoral success settled a bit, the responsibility of governance mounted serious pressure on the street agitators turned politician. They say, politics is a one way traffic, once in politics always in politics with no option to step back. This is a double trap situation for AAP, where the mandate is interestingly scattered among 3 parties publicly posturing against each other.

 

Who is Anna?

BJP played safe this time, with clear eye on the national election just a quarter away otherwise breaking a fringe group to arrange four lawmakers was not at all a big deal for this grand party of some ethics. Though they still practice relatively cleaner politics in the matter of handling dynasties, internal democracy or corruption. But the new group in town has no history, so while they can cause immense damage to the rivals, they themselves would always remain insulated against any charges. So BJP feared even if they manage to form a government in the national capital, this would give full opportunity to AAP to accelerate the decibel of their agitation to be loud enough for the whole country to hear, causing serious impact in the election year.

 

Bhaad me Jaye Delhi… Desh ko Bachana Hai…..

Within few days, AAP has now enough political wisdom to stay away from governance but only at their own risk. The agitators’ party have already hyped their electoral performance as mandate, so the constituents have challenged back to deliver governance. A deal was allegedly brokered to arrange support for AAP, but how could AAP take support from Congress to govern Delhi while their whole campaign was against them. So with the help of media they orchestrated, an entertaining fiction called Jan Sabha to gather public opinion on the same subject. All of sudden the recently decimated Congress became very powerful as a potential king maker, but the AAP-Congress rule in Delhi offered at least some happy moments to each of the top players. BJP got enough opportunity to sharpen its arsenals before general election and possible state re-election while exposing AAP’s collective in-experience in Delhi government. Congress was enjoying a bit of power even after a serious electoral drubbing, with the control to pull the govt any day may be when it suited best to their design after discrediting them publicly. Most importantly, may be as part of the deal, they guaranteed AAP’s complete silence on Congress misrule and corruption.

Special Bungalow for General Class….

 

For those who expected AAP to govern and complete at least a full tenure even in a city state like Delhi, they have to be really disappointed. These agitators does not have this sense of responsibility in their blood, the best they can do is barb charges of misrule against others and spend exchequers’ money with a mindless economy. Within a week, they proved it time and again and looked for opportunities to escape from the duty towards the voters. In fact, vote bank politics, is Indian National Congress’s reinvention of British’s game plan “Divide and Rule”, framed to appease a few at the peril of national interest adopted well into the manifestos of Kejriwal. After they tested the first blood in Delhi, they became political predators sensing a national slot within striking distance. Starting from minority appeasement to doling out freebies to a particular sub-section in the society, they did everything, this undone all their claims to be a pro-public party with difference. They defied every such thing that they originally stood for, the nation started to realize how they promised moons to the electorates. Kejriwal mingled with ill-famed Maulana Taqueer Rana, Imamas for Muslim votes bank. Their claim to stop VIP culture took a serious beating, when all AAP ministers opted for VIP SUVs, security and luxurious flats mocking the AAM ADMI with their cruel jokes.

 

Even in the ticket distribution, they even did not allocate a respected number seats to women candidates let alone minorities. All the cases against Shiela Dixit suddenly disappeared from their website, usually vocal Kejriwal became perpetually silent about Sonia Gandhi & co. Those who claimed all their decisions are made in full public eye in the Jana Sabhas all of sudden had closed door meetings with serious fall out, with Bineys, Sharmas publicly venting their anger. Scandals involving Rakhi Birla, Somnath Bharthi, Prasant Busana, Sazia Ilmi became talk of the town. The matter of Kejriwal’s government flat in the posh location at the exchequer’s cost does not go down well with even a staunch AAP supporters. Imagine, how this unemployed politician manages to pay few hundred thousand rupees rent a month. He should have thought of some other deserving person while unlawfully occupying the house, equally despicable the pretext, upcoming daughter’s exam. Well there a millions of parents waiting for their children’s exam, if everybody would cling to a public property, that would bring anarchy in this country.

 

Who said that we follow Gandhi….

The democratic Maoism yet to start, failed in governance the depleted public image forced the desperate AAP leaders to resign. One after the other Kejriwal started all sort of drama still being a CM with the governor and the home ministry enjoying the show. In the end, on the pretext of Janlokpal bill Kejriwal staged his infamous walk out from government after 48 days in power. This did not take much time for the public to understand how they were cheated in the broad daylight when on April fool’s day all the 90 days old subsidies came to an end. Kejriwal is rather concerned about his national ambition with a skull cap to lure Muslim vote banks. Well, in this little span of time, this party of preposterous people proved this, time and again that they are no different and equally worse while it comes to politics of opportunism, or even worst. Interestingly, non of the tools they used to acquire political limelight were by their side, be that Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev, Kiran Bedi or the Print & Electronics Media, or the public at large. AAP’s politcal fortune is waiting for a legendary fall with this general election of 2014, to decimate the public hope perpetually. If I look back at Arvind 3 years back, in 2011 hardly anybody knew this guy, and now hardly anybody knows where Anna Hazare is? What a parody, only time would teach a lesson to this impostor, who did not even spare the Republic day.

 

This is the end of AAP Trilogy. Please watch out for Why Modi is a bare necessity this time….

 

AAP full Series:

http://ibijay.blogspot.in/2014/01/aap-trilogy-phenomena-called-aap-begins.html

http://ibijay.blogspot.in/2014/01/aap-trilogy-first-blood-mission-delhi.html

 

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.