The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal won the trust motion in Delhi Assembly on Thursday, January 2, 2014 on a voice vote,
37 in favor and 32 against. After an eventful day on the floor of the house
Congress maintained its promise of outside support and with its 8 members
(7 voted) ensured an AAP victory. One additional vote came from the lone Janata
Dal-United member and the independent member making the mathematics clear—AAP (28) +Congress (7) +JD-U
(1) + Ind.(1)=37. The main national opposition BJP had been objecting from the beginning
for clear reasons—that being the single largest party in the assembly they
could not or rather did not form the government; that it always maintained AAP
as being opportunistic or immoral for obtaining support from the very political party
(Congress) which they identified with corruption and became a political entity
fighting tooth and nail against it from Anna Hazare days and that when Congress
is on one side the traditional rival BJP cannot but oppose, additionally
because the future of their Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi depends on how effectively they carry on their
non-stop diatribe against Congress or Corruption. At the moment BJP does not seem to have any other election strategy.
In an unprecedented anti-corruption wave that
changed the politics in the capital of the country AAP, in its first political
venture, became the second largest party in Delhi Assembly Elections. With outside
support from Congress and emboldened by a public referendum favoring formation an AAP government
Arvind Kejriwal, the quintessential common man, was sworn in as the youngest Chief
Minister of Delhi on 28th December, 2013. It seemed like a scene
straight out of a Bollywood blockbuster with the struggling hero finally in power maybe
for a day or few more. However, now it turns out to be more real than reel. The
General Elections being just round the corner and the anti-corruption movement
capturing public attention Congress could ill-afford go against AAP. The party
had already got the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill passed by befriending a
desolate Anna Hazare and later its high command had forced the Maharashtra Government
to review the Adarsh Report earlier rejected in Nagpur Session of Maharashtra
Legislature. In fact, on the same day the Maharashtra Cabinet has partially accepted the
Report promising legal action against the guilty officers, but failing to find any criminality
involved against the six political leaders implicated by the Judicial
Commission on Adarsh. The Opposition led by BJP is far from happy and is
demanding a special session of the legislature. Yes, BJP too has to be against
corruption, but it cannot afford to ally with Congress except for a 'larger' Lokpal Bill and also cannot afford
not to allow Yeddurappa, the corruption personified of Karnataka, come back
into the party. Well, the kind of corruption-compulsions doing rounds in
political circles of the country! For the Congress the problem is corruption scams keep on unfolding so fast for them that by the time they take care of one more lurk round the corner.
The Common Man seems to be moving from strength to strength
at the moment and why not. Honest and transparent governance has been a distant
dream and now it is being realized in the capital of the country. Arvind
Kejriwal broke away from Anna Hazare to enter politics with the aim of cleaning
the system from within, and his party's chosen election symbol is also the broom. The
Indian citizens have solid good reasons to be optimistic. The Common Kejriwal
Man Government has already put an end to the rampant VIP culture by refusing
to travel by official cars or to put on the red beacons. It has also fulfilled
two major election promises, namely supplying about 700 liters of free water and
reducing electricity rates by half for Delhi commoners. The only caution AAP
needs is not to get bowled over by populist agenda and try hard on good, economically
sensible and efficient governance apart from being honest, simple and straight
forward.
In Hindi Aam
Aadmi means ‘common man’, and AAP
means ‘You (respectfully)’. Therefore, it is basically ‘AAP KI SARKAR’ Or ‘YOUR GOVERNMENT’. No way for any complaints, the common man can
only feel happy about it and hope AAP to spread far and wide in whole
of India. Bigger and established political parties better fall in line.
