Why I believe Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party is the last hope for running an efficient government.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress along with many other regional parties form the nucleus of the political structure of our country. And as such the political parties don't enjoy good reputation. Before Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption in 2011 the political class silently did everything to fill their and their relatives’ pockets but now with increased awareness and media attention they just cannot get away with all that. But the movement died down after few months and it was agreed by few of the activists of India Against Corruption that entering into the political jungle is the only way to clean the already flagging system. But Anna Hazare’s reluctance to join politics meant a split and Arvind Kejriwal formed his own political party called Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in November, 2012. This was preceded by series of exposes’ that pulled the curtains off many prominent people and institutions. It became a foregone conclusion that graft is ubiquitous in India.

Amidst all the problems of corruption, AAP has been a breath of fresh air. It is a party which does not polarize the electorate on the basis of caste, creed, religion etc. Arvind Kejriwal is an IIT graduate and a former IRS officer and it takes a lot of guts to sacrifice a more than comfortable life for the sake of taking up a cause of national interest. AAP has ticked all the right boxes and has been taking up issues which affect a common man.

Moreover, AAP has communicated directly with the people courtesy their protests, dharnas. It simply has connected with the youth of the country. ‘Transparency’ is a word which is rarely associated with political class while AAP has mentioned the list of donors on its website. Their various exposes’ backed by all the documents is again a commendable effort. The pro-people approach of theirs augurs well for the country. While other members of political parties regularly make insensitive comments there is not a single instance where an AAP member has made any such comment. They remain very well behaved on the media front and the calmness and humility in their arguments is reassuring. They are fighting the elections on the problems that confront the common man and not on who is the secular party acceptable by all? Its two major competitors are Congress and BJP.     

The current Congress led UPA government has eroded the goodwill of the entire nation in four years with scams after scams and the brazen arrogance that follows after that. The Congress particularly Sonia Gandhi and her son have behaved more like rulers than leaders. Their dynasty brand of politics will harm the country more than the gains. They have lacked the will to communicate with the people except of course during the elections. They have refrained from campaigning against social problems and have polarized the voters with their false promises. If a charge is made against any of their leaders or even their precious Robert Vadra they are extremely quick to comment and refuse all those charges but when there is abuse of power or if a girl is raped then all of their leaders suddenly disappear from the main stream media such is the sad reality. They have failed big time in the last 9 years and are living in denial. The amount of scams cannot even be calculated on a calculator. The party is also known to make some insensitive comments about anyone under the sun.

The other big political party is BJP. It is often being criticized for promoting hindutva by pseudo neo liberals and secularists. Their RSS leanings have been very well documented. But, the BJP ruled states have fared better than their Congress’ counterparts. If the question is Who would you prefer corrupt one? Or the lesser corrupt one? And then surely the lesser corrupt one is BJP. The problems remain the same but on a smaller scale. Their internal conflicts are a problem. The ideologies of BJP are also in question.

So looking at all the alternatives that a voter has, I think AAP is the best option on all fronts. Though it remains to be seen whether they can expand the party to different parts of the country or not. The different chapters have started working and if they fight the General Elections then surely my vote goes to them for the simple reason that be it BJP or Congress the abusive use of power has not yielded any result. It is worth trusting a party which has an objective of national interest.