The Indian Express | 1 day ago | 19-04-2023 | 11:45 am
Politics is for the uneducated. Politics is a dirty game. It is impossible to survive in politics without corruption.These and other truisms defined Indian politics for a generation of Indians like me who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. That the idea of honest, patriotic and educated Indians coming together to form a viable political force seemed remote, perhaps even a pipe dream, just 10 years back is a testament to how low politics had stooped in the first 60 years after India’s independence. Never mind that it was a few honest, patriotic and educated Indians who had led the independence movement, drafted our Constitution and laid the foundations of a modern, democratic nation.This is why the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party as a national party in just 10 years is nothing short of a miracle in Indian politics. Born from the historic India Against Corruption movement in late 2012, there were few political observers who believed that AAP would survive beyond the first few years.Indeed, obituaries of AAP have been written (and continue to be written) every single year since its formation. Some mistakes were made, but AAP learned from them and grew stronger with every passing year. Eventually, though, it was the sheer force of the collective will of crores of Indians, who for long had yearned for a platform of honest, alternative politics and stood steadfast in their support for AAP all these years, that saw the party overcome every obstacle thrown at it and emerge as the most successful political start-up in India’s history.Today, AAP is the youngest political party to traverse the journey of becoming a national political party in 10 years. AAP is also the youngest political party to form a majority government in two states — Delhi and Punjab — within its first 10 years and gain substantial vote shares, and win assembly seats in Gujarat and Goa.In the process, many established political truisms were demolished. First, the success of AAP has proved that politics in India can be done without corruption. It has proved that political parties can fight and win elections without indulging in corruption and that they can govern successfully without looting the state treasury. It is no mean feat that the Delhi government’s budget has increased by an unprecedented two-and-half times in the last eight years, and the excise revenues of the Punjab Government have increased by 40 per cent in just the last year.Till AAP became a political force, money power and political power were always seen as going hand-in-hand. Money will buy you power and power will give you crooked means to accumulate more money. In the process, the assets of political representatives multiplied. These were the only rules of the game, which ensured that the poor keep getting poorer and the rich get richer. Till date, the biggest criticism AAP gets is that it works too much for the poor and gives them disproportionate benefits. Unlike established political parties, no one accuses AAP of being in the pockets of top corporate groups in India.Second, the success of AAP has shown that change is possible. If you dream of transforming India, you can do it. In 75 years of Independence, not a single political party can claim to have done revolutionary work in multiple fields of governance — be it transforming the government schools of Delhi or building a model health infrastructure system comprising of world-class mohalla clinics, polyclinics and government super-speciality hospitals, providing free and 24×7 electricity to residents, free and piped water supply to all households, free bus rides for women or reducing the wretched air pollution of Delhi by 30 per cent. What also sets AAP apart is that it managed to do all this in just eight years, while consistently running a revenue surplus budget.Third, AAP has upset the most deeply entrenched status quo of Indian politics that uses communalism as the trump card to win elections. The “us vs them” narrative has been used creatively by parties from north to south, and west to east to win elections. In Haryana, it is Jat vs non-Jat, in Maharashtra it is Maratha vs non-Maratha, in Gujarat it is Patidar vs non-Patidar and at the national level it is the Hindu-Muslim narrative. Traditional parties have — and will continue to — divide people along caste or religious lines for political gain. But AAP has shown that the future of 21st century India is not condemned to this “us vs them” narrative. The people of Delhi and Punjab, as well as the lakhs of people who voted for AAP in Goa and Gujarat, have shown that the politics of divide and rule does not impact their voting decision. The voters of AAP ask their representatives about the work they have done or intend to do, not about their caste or religion.AAP’s emergence as a national party has changed the language of India’s governance and politics. Political parties going on the election battlefield with a report card of their work is an increasingly common sight. AAP is still the only party, however, that asks people to vote for them only if they are satisfied with their work, and not to vote if they aren’t.The most lasting contribution of AAP, though, will be that current and future generations of Indians will no longer grow up detesting politics as we did in the 1990s, but instead, see it for what it is — the most effective way to serve people and change the destiny of our great nation.The writer is an AAP leader. Views are personal
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