Kejriwal – Wizard with a magic Jhadu

Once dismissed as a soda water bubble by his political contemporaries, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP have swept Delhi Assembly elections. As the political drama unfolds, we are still to know which would be the ruling party of the country’s capital, but nonetheless  the reason behind surprising and historic victory of AAP is its ability to pull Indian youngsters back to politics and infusing new hope about a beautiful future of the country.

It was not long ago that Sheila dixit referred Kejriwal as “naacheez” and totally discarded the possibility of his victory. There were stories doing rounds, that Congress which was in power, was trying its level best to curb the AAP election publicity in Delhi, by bringing down their posters and tearing their pamphlets. And then its today, when Kejriwal , who was accused of “political suicide” by competing against Sheila Dixit, has defeated Dixit in her own constituency by a massive margin. As quoted by one of the leading dailies, “Delhi election results: Giant killer Arvind Kejriwal beats Sheila Dixit”.

Magssasay award winner Kejriwal’s phenomenal rise on the scenario of Indian politics might have been dramatic and controversial at several junctures, but what most of us are not aware is the hard work which has been put behind the scenes. He catapulted to national fame in 2011 with Anna hazaare’s Jan-lokpal movement, but he has been working behind the scenes long before that. An ex IRS officer, he has been working with his NGO Parivartan ,  and has been the active crusader behind the RTI implementation in India back in 2005.

The Aam Aadmi Party founded by Kejriwal claims to work for common man, and provide a corruption free system. Kejriwal who was initially blamed for leaving behind Anna Hazaare in the National Political scenario, has now received blessings and best wishes from Anna himself. What is so special about this party and its workforce?  The most interesting aspect of kejriwal’s party is its diverse supporters’ pool. There are software engineers who have willingly quit their job, there are people who have travelled from remote villages of Bihar and Jharkhand because they believe in manifesto of AAP, there are college students, and army-men. Kejriwal has an army of fanatics and dedicated workers who work with a mere hope of a better tomorrow, and apparently do not have the typical power-greed disease which ails everyone who enters this field. AAP has clearly listed its election expenditures on its website, and did not ask for donation for election funds more than that was listed. No wonder such passion for corruption free governance has won hearts of several in the capital. If anything Kejriwal’s AAP has restored the faith of common man in democracy, and secured support from middle as well as elite class.

Let us have a look at how the twitter world reacted to AAP’s victory

Kiran Bedi -RG and SG said, “We have heard you! We need to hear d man on d street! National Parties must learn from AAP to involve people”! More change?

Kunal kohli – AAP’s success shows how much of a change people want. Also shows regional party’s have a huge role to play. Nxt yr hung parliament?

Anushka Sharma – AAP- aam aadmi party .There is creativity in the name .Creativity thrives when there is a vision. Vision sees things through #change

 

Gul Panag – Numbers still coming in, but AAP’s performance is outstanding, considering party is barely a year old. #kudos #democracyatwork

Anupam Kher – Congratulations to @ArvindKejriwal & AAP for their victory. CONGRATULATIONS to Anna,  @thekiranbedi & millions for starting the MOVEMENT.:)

Omar Abdullah – Congratulations to @ArvindKejriwal Stunning political debut. Now fight the good fight & live up to the promise the people of Delhi have seen

Pritish Nandy – I had begun to believe we Indians are cynical, love to wallow in corruption. The votes for AAP have proved me wrong. Totally wrong

Reviewing all these tweets, it is quite evident that AAP is conquering hearts, with their white money. People are rejoicing as the party’s winning came as a relief to the masses. When the party had first come up as a contender, it hadn’t received this much of support from the people. Anna Hazare when first came up, Arvind Kejriwal was just his comrade. Due to his genuine nature and soft spoken attitude, he was supposedly to be ‘Lambi race ka ghoda’ His honesty, candor has led to him to where he is standing now. The AAP has war-ed out the elections in Delhi by a majority of majority of 47% as the Delhiites chose to give it a chance.

The national holiday being declared in Delhi was a well utilized one as they voted against corruption. Another fact to notice is that Delhiites have liberally used the None of the Above (NOTA) option in the 2013 Assembly election. In fact, more than a 1,000 voters exercised this option in constituencies of Bawana, Gokulpur, Nangloi Jat and Uttam Nagar. Majority of the constituencies where NOTA has been widely exercised are the ones that are traditional Congress bastions with sitting Congress MLAs, reports Dna’s Maninder Dabas. The people have excruciatingly taken a chance which has proved to be in their favor. For the first time ever, the rationalized thoughts have worked for Indian people where they could actually see that politics can not only be a rough power oriented game but could be laid in hands of somebody who could take care of the democratic nation.

A student just tweeted ‘I guess as Mango being the National fruit #AAP got the advantage. Mango People Party #Silly Logic 😉 #Polls 2013 #India election’. Hence bringing a relief to the nation’s masses the AAP has successfully managed to give a reinforcement to people’s political notions.

Even if AAP does not get power, which is more likely, we can be assured that Delhi Assembly would be getting a very constructive opposition. As of now AAP is eyeing the General Assembly elections 2014. They hope to come up as third largest party in the general assembly, and have been working to strengthen their assembly seats in states other than Delhi. As AAP matures in 5 years and sticks to its principles, we can hope a major revolution in democratic machinery of the country. The biggest challenge which AAP faces now is to maintain the squeaky clean and idealist’s image which it has used to lure people. Working in power as a corruption free party would be the ultimate litmus test for this party.

Youthopia Team

Team Youthopia works with a passion to make your voices heard!

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