Arvind Kejriwal & the Aam Aadmi Party by Pran Kurup

Author:Pran Kurup
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

CHAPTER 20 The Second

Coming

In December of 2013, Arvind emerged as a force in Indian politics with a bang, when he defeated long-time Congress veteran Sheila Dixit and went on to become the Chief Minister of Delhi. His forty-nine days in power as CM saw the corrupt scurrying for cover. Rishwat khori came to a screeching halt as bribe-takers across the board were terrified of being recorded in the act. Government hospitals were transformed as medicines and staff re-appeared miraculously. The price of water and electricity were substantially reduced. The water mafia was gone. The Jal board was cleansed of its corrupt staff. The anti-corruption bureau was reconstituted to weed out the compromised elements. Under Arvind, the everyday life of the poor was dramatically improved as they no longer had to worry about police and other everyday extortionists. But alas, it was all too good to last.

In his first term as CM, Arvind dared to take on Mukesh Ambani, the top industrialist in the country. Not surprisingly, he was soon systematically discredited, vilified, and subsequently politically crucified by a coalition of the rich and powerful, with ample help from an acquiescent media. The net result was that he was brought down rapidly, which was partly due to the standards he set for the party. A tactful compromise here, a discrete deal there, would have helped him consolidate power for years. But he chose otherwise, remaining steadfast when it came to principles, and ultimately paid a heavy price.

Despite his personal preference not to contest the Lok Sabha polls, he had embarked on the Lok Sabha election campaign. Hardened by battle scars, Arvind rejuvenated himself through vipasana and returned a man on a mission. He chose to hunker down and focus on his home base, the state of Delhi, despite opposition from within his party.

In Delhi, Arvind personally oversaw the formation of a large army of volunteers and a small central team comprised of Ashutosh, Dilip Pandey and Durgesh Pathak. The AAP had decided to field candidates in all the seventy seats, and with lessons learned from the last two years, Arvind did not expect an easy win.

Arvind and his MLAs routinely fanned out into their respective constituencies, engaging directly with the people and making sure that their MLA funds were allocated and utilized. This effort was backed by an army of global volunteers who helped document, track and market this progress to all and sundry through social media, Google hangouts and other avenues.

The core team of four met and worked closely from the start to the very end – no Power Points, no status reports, it was all hands on – work, work, work, and more work. While Dilip and Durgesh were, by now, Arvind’s old war-horses, Ashutosh was a relative newbie - a media import. Given the fact that he was older and had spent a couple of decades in the media, Ashutosh became the natural choice to lead the Delhi campaign along-side Arvind.

Of course, the army of volunteers remained central to the AAP election effort.

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