YPOST

 “We as a party are targeting the corrupt irrespective of who they are. when businessmen are named in our exposes then the bogey of aam admi party as  “anti capatalist“ is raised. We like all people of this country want a clean society. We want to break the Nexus of politicians, industrialist and bureaucrats“.       

                                                                             

Aam Aadmi Party (translation: Common Man Party; abbreviated as AAP) is an Indian political party, formally launched on 26 November 2012. It came into existence following differences between the activists Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare regarding whether or not to politicise the popular India Against Corruption movement that had been demanding a Jan Lokpal Bill since 2011. Hazare preferred that the movement should remain politically unaligned while Kejriwal felt the failure of the agitation route necessitated

a direct political involvement. The party's first electoral test was in the 2013 Delhi legislative assembly election, from which it emerged as the second-largest party, winning 28 of the 70 seats. Most of the youth got attracted to this party agenda and joined in AAp party. AAP had given no chances for bjp to form a government in delhi assembly. this prooves that aap has made a stunning presence in the politics. And this led to cut the votes of congress.

     

Victory  of AAP in Delhi assembly is certainly praiseworthy and astonishing,  particularly on the background that the party was born only a year  ago. AAP has certainly sparked the imagination of a large section of  population. It has brought in visible change in the participation of  a section of society which otherwise was indifferent to the election  process due to its cynicism towards political parties. This is  apparent from the increase in voters' turnout. It is also healthy to  see social activists trying to find solutions to bad governance by  participating in the elections rather than only raising issues.

It  is Mahatma Gandhi who said "Be part of change you want to bring  around". In that respect, AAP's success is welcome and very  healthy for democracy. It has proved that citizens are constantly  looking for better alternatives. In a democracy, the only way  citizens can throw out an ineffective government is through  elections. While social  activists have a definite role in today's society, a long term  solution for the country's governance lies when more good meaning and  educated people join the polity through election process.

Governance  in India is complex and hence should not be reduced to a farce. It is  easy to attract voters by promising cheap water and electricity but  far more difficult to deliver on those promises without making  governance suffer. While voters in Delhi have certainly voted against  mis governance, they might have been swayed by AAP's promises. Voters  from other states like Rajasthan have seen the damage that such  promises inflict. While  India needs wholesale change in polity, arrival of small new  political parties may not augur well in the long term.

In  that respect, Delhi's election is a wakeup call. Parties should  immediately draw a code of conduct and ethics which lays down among  other matters, maximum times a person can contest election, entry and  retirement age, the period he / she has to spend in party affairs  before taking to electoral politics and also how government will be  accountable to party. In today's politics, there is no oversight of  party over government. Hence,  it is time for both national parties to overhaul their organizations,  being in gender equality, weed away vested interest, put up  candidates of integrity and clean image.

Student  movements gave birth to many new leaders. It was a breeding ground  for new political leadership. Unfortunately, it does not exist today  in its true sense. The space occupied by AAP today was a natural  space left vacant by national parties.

                

-Tulika Sahu

 -M.Sc Media, P.G 1