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Table of contents
AAP says it will form Delhi government

AAP says it will form Delhi govt, Kejriwal to be next CM Photos: Arvind Kejriwal stakes claim to become Delhis youngest CM Young and first-timers: USP of Kejriwals cabinet in Delhi Arvind Kejriwal to form govt in Delhi, but can he deliver? Letter from AAP to the bride-to-be 05 08 12 14 17
The reactions to the AAPs decision

#AAPCon: Twitter slams Kejriwal for accepting Congress support Decoding business communitys fear and awe for AAP AAP is walking into a BJP-Cong trap by forming the Delhi govt Problem of AAP: Why Kejriwal is more of a mouse-that-roared 19 21 22 24
Can AAP keep its grand pre-poll promises?

Jan Lokpal, 700 litres water: AAPs 60-day plan for Delhi How Sheila Dikshits fiscal prudence will help fund Kejriwal freebies AAPs high moral ground alone wont give better governance Why AAP faces self-destruction by forming the Delhi government Perils of direct democracy: AAP may be on the wrong track Not just a heckler: Kejriwal must show, implement agenda for Delhi 27 29 31 33 36 38
Kejriwal as Chief Minister: The challenges ahead

Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi CM may dent Congress more than BJP Step aside Modi, Rahul: The real political genius is Kejriwal Congs big headache: Kejriwal gets to be CM and leader of oppn Congress alliance with AAP: Why divorce isnt an option The real test for Arvind Kejriwal: Will Babus be his friends or foes? Time for real liberals: Why Kejriwal should take up 1984 41 44 47 49 51 53
Copyright 2012 Firstpost
AAP looks beyond Delhi

Exclusive: How AAP plans to target Bihar, UP for 2014 LS polls Lok Sabha polls in mind, AAP sets two-month deadline for Delhi manifesto What the AAP needs for Lok Sabha polls: A Rs 100-crore kitty BJP can dream about our social media reach, cant achieve it: AAPs IT chief Is the Aam Aadmi Party a revolution? French or American? 56 58 60 61 63
AAP says it will form Delhi government
AAP says it will form Delhi govt, Kejriwal to be next CM

The party took the decision to form the government at a meeting of political affairs committee after analysing the results of its public referendum.
PTI, December 23, 2013 the government. "We were called by the Lt Governor to discuss government formation on December 14. We had sought time to take a decision as ours is a party of common people and we want to their views. "We got responses from the citizens through website, phone calls, SMS and by holding public meetings and most of them favoured government formation by AAP. We are now going to give the letter to LG saying that AAP is ready to form the government," Kejriwal told reporters at AAP's office in Kausambi here. He said the party held 280 public meetings accross Delhi and in 257 such gatherings people favoured formation of government by the party while the rest opined that they it should not take powers. There has been deadlock over government formation in Delhi for nearly two weeks after the announcement of the results on December 8. AAP has 28 seats while Congress with 8 has agreed to give outside support. BJP is the single largest party with 31 seats in its kitty. 45-year-old Kejriwal said if the Lt Governor permits, the party would like to have the oathtaking ceremony at Jantar Mantar. "It is the prerogative of the LG to decide the place for oath-taking. I would request him if possible to conduct the ceremony at Jantar Mantar," he said. Kejriwal said Jantar Mantar has a symbolic importance as "I and my guru Anna Hazare" had held massive agitation at the Jantar Mantar
haziabad: Ending almost two-week-long deadlock, the Aam Admi Party -- born out of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation-- today decided to form government in the national capital by taking outside support from the Congress which the newbie handed a crushing defeat in the 4 December Assembly polls.
The party took the decision to form the government at a meeting of political affairs committee after analysing the results of the public referendum it had carried out in the last few days on the issue. Arvind Kejriwal, who led the debutant party to a spectacular victory in the polls winning 28 seats in the 70-member assembly, will be the Chief Minister of Delhi if the Lt Governor allows AAP to form the government, party leader Manish Sisodia said. After the two-hour-long meeting, Kejriwal said AAP has decided to give a letter to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung expressing its readiness to form
during the Janlokpal movement. A civil servant-turned-politician, Kejriwal had himself participated in scores of meetings in the last one week to know people's views on government formation. The debutant party was under pressure to form government after BJP refused to do so and Congress wrote to Delhi Lt Governor about giving unconditional support to AAP to form the government. Earlier, both Congress and BJP had attacked AAP for refusing to form the government, saying it was shying away from the responsibilities knowing that it cannot fulfil the promises like cutting the power tariff by 50 per cent and providing 700 litres of free water daily to each household in the city. After the results of the polls were out, AAP had ruled out taking support of any political party to form the government, saying it will play the role of a "constructive opposition". Asserting that there was no confusion over the Chief Ministerial candidate, Sisodia said Kejriwal has been party's choice for the top post. "There were rumours about who will be the chief minister. AAP had said earlier that the party would contest election with Arvind Kejriwal as CM candidate. Then in our manifesto also we have reiterated this. After the election results were out, he was elected as the leader of the legislative party. So Arvind Kejriwal will be the Chief Minister," Sisodia said. To criticism about holding public meetings on the issue, Kejriwal said unlike other parties, AAP wants participation of public on important issues and to bring real democracy. AAP, which made an electrifying debut in the polls, was formally launched on 26 November, 2012. It came into existence following differences between Kejriwal and Hazare regarding whether or not to politicise the popular India Against Corruption(IAC) movement that had been demanding a Jan Lokpal Bill since 2011.
Hazare preferred that the movement should remain apolitical while Kejriwal felt the failure of the agitation route necessitated a direct political involvement. The AAP has led several protests since its formation. Among these was a campaign against an alleged nexus between government and private corporations relating to price rise for electricity and water in Delhi. Another saw the party demanding justice for victims of sexual harassment and rape, including the introduction of a stronger anti-rape law. Hazare and Kejriwal made it known on 19 September, 2012 that their differences regarding a role in politics were irreconcilable. Kejriwal had support from some well-known people involved in the anti-corruption movement, such as Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan, but was opposed by others such as Kiran Bedi and Santosh Hegde. On 2 October, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Kejriwal announced that he was forming a political party which was formally launched on November 26 coinciding with the anniversary of India's adoption of its constitution in 1949. The party name reflects the phrase Aam Aadmi, or "common man", whose interests Kejriwal proposed to represent. A party constitution was adopted on 24 November, 2012. The party claims that the common people remain unheard and unseen except when it suits the politicians to consider them. It wants to reverse the way that the accountability of government operates and has taken an interpretation of the Gandhian concept of swaraj as a tenet. Kejriwal said AAP refuses to be guided by ideologies and that they are entering politics to change the system: "We are aam aadmis. If we find our solution in the left we are happy to borrow it from there. If we find our solution in the right, we are happy to borrow it from there," he was quoted as having said. The party produced a separate manifesto for
each of the 70 constituencies. The candidates were being screened for potential criminal backgrounds and the party claimed to have selected honest candidates. The AAP's central manifesto had promised to implement the Jan Lokapal Bill within 15 days of coming to power. PTI
Photos: Arvind Kejriwal stakes claim
to become Delhis youngest CM

Arvind Kejriwal today staked claim to form the next government of Delhi and become the national capitals next Chief Minister. Here are the images.
Arvind Kejriwal today went to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor to stake claim to form the next government of Delhi. Set to form the next government in the national capital, Kejriwal will be the youngest chief minister of the state. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
Twitter was abuzz over the fact that Kejriwal took his trusty but humble car to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor's home. Here he is with his trusted steed leaving to meet with his party's MLAs. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
Kejriwal, who announced the AAP's decision to form the government today following a public poll, was mobbed by mediapersons throughout. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
AAP activists were charged as they accompanied party chief Arvind Kejriwal to stake a claim to form the next state government. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
Manish Sisodia. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
The scene outside Arvind Kejriwal's house. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost
Young and first-timers: USP of Kejriwals cabinet in Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal today sent the list of the six MLAs to Lt Gen Najeeb Jung recommending their induction in his cabinet.
PTI, December 24, 2013 Manish Sisodia, a trusted aide of Kejriwal, came to prominence during Anna Hazare's movement for Jan Lokpal Bill in 2011. The 41-year-old journalist turned-activistturned-politician defeated BJP's Nakul Bhardwaj by over 11,000 votes from Patparganj constituency in East Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal today sent the list of the six MLAs to LG Najeeb Jung recommending their induction in his cabinet. Another face in Kejriwal's team is Saurabh Bhardwaj, an engineering graduate who had also studied law. The 34-year-old defeated Ajay Kumar Malhotra, son of veteran BJP leader V K Malhotra, by a margin of around 13,000 votes from Greater Kailash constituency. Kejriwal, who is a product of IIT Kharagpur, has another IITian in his cabinet in Somnath Bharti who is an MLA from Malviya Nagar. He holds a Master's degree from IIT, Delhi, and a degree in law. The 39-year-old defeated BJP's Arti Mehra and another Delhi government minister Kiran Walia. MLA from Shakur Basti (North) Satyendra Jain, who will also be inducted as a minister, is an architect by profession. Satyendra used to work in CPWD but fed up with the level of corruption in the department, he quit his job and started providing architecture consultancy. He actively joined during the Jan Lokpal movement and then joined AAP when the political party came into being.
ew Delhi: From 26-year-old Rakhi Birla to 41-year-old Manish Sisodia, the soon-to-be Delhi Cabinet is not just going to be the youngest ever but also probably the first in which all members, including the chief minister, are debutant MLAs.
At an age when most youngsters struggle to find their feet in their career, Birla will not just be the youngest minister in Kejriwal's cabinet, but also its only woman face. Birla had emerged as a giant killer after thumping four-time MLA and PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan in the Sheila Dikshit government in Mangolpuri by around 10,500 votes. Before joining AAP, Birla had worked with a private news channel. She had also been working in collaboration with social organisations for the causes of Valmiki community. Birla hails from Valmiki community and her father was associated with Congress for a long time but quit the party in 2011 during the Jan Lokpal movement.
Girish Soni, an MLA from Madipur, had participated in Bijli-Pani agitation of the Aam Aadmi Party and motivated people to join the agitation. He was associated with Bharat Naujawan Sabha in 1980. He was the general secretary of the party in Madipur. PTI
Arvind Kejriwal to form govt in Delhi, but can he deliver?

The politician in Kejriwal has made a beginning. He can deliver on the populist promises in the short term and go out claiming to have done what he promised, seeking a re-election. But the cost will be steep.
Sanjay Singh, December 23, 2013 not have been better placed had the party announced the name of Dr Harsh Vardhan as chief ministerial nominee earlier. Despite finishing first, they will occupy the loser's slot. Thats an irony BJP leaders are finding too difficult to digest. The good thing is that Delhi is finally getting a popular government. Kejriwal has to be credited with ushering in a new style of politics and stirring the two principal parties of the Indian polity from their complacency and traditional chalta hai attitude. In another first, Kejriwal will commute daily from the boundaries of another state (he lives in an official accommodation provided by the Income Tax department to his wife in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, UP) to come to office as Delhi's CM. From there begin the contradictions of the Aam Admi Party's rule. By finding a way to justify taking the Congresss support and making a U-turn from its stated position of not giving and not taking support of BJP and Congress, Kejriwal has shown he can learn the fine art of realpolitik rather fast. Kejriwal will now have to decide whether he will commute everyday or whether he will look for accommodation in Delhi. As chief minister he is entitled to an official bungalow and a whole lot of other perks but going by his promises in his manifesto, he may not be able to accept them. His deputy in the Delhi Assembly Manish Sishodia is also a resident of Ghaziabad in UP. Other party colleagues, though many are croreCopyright 2012 Firstpost
ow that the Aam Admi Party has completed the formality of a so called referendum on whether it should form the government, Arvind Kejriwal will have no qualms about accepting the support of a corrupt and evil Congress and take charge as chief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. That could well be a welcome pragmatist turn by an idealist who is carrying the burden of expectations from lakhs in the city.
The Congress, after hurriedly extending unconditional support and then writing a rather submissive letter of agreement to Kejriwals 18 demands, is finding itself in a hugely uncomfortable position. Despite being decimated in the elections, its eight MLAs will have the luxury of sitting in the treasury benches, but only as discards. Kejriwal and his team will no doubt be testing the patience limits of Congress leaders on a daily basis. The BJP, the largest party in the Delhi Assembly, will sit in the Opposition, its leaders ruing their fate and mulling whether they would
patis, have promised to travel by bus, metro and other means of public transport. The MLAs in any case dont get official accommodation in Delhi. How Kejriwal handles this apparently trivial situation would be interesting, given that it is such detailing that has contributed to his and his party's success. At work, Kejriwal has sold the dream of a corruption-free state, where electricity bills would be reduced by 50 percent, 700 litres of free water reaches households even in unaccessible and unauthorised localities, where residents' associations will lord over government babus in deciding whether or not a contractor should be paid, where there are many more good schools and hospitals, where a Jan Lokpal will contain all public wrongs... the list goes on. Riding to power on a huge anti-establishment mood that has prevailed in the capital since the days of Annas movement in April 2011, Kejriwal is now seen as a messiah, but delivery on the promises he has made will be tougher. Kejriwal has mentioned that the Congress being unlikely to pull down his government for the next six months until Parliamentary elections are held, the AAP can use that time to implement his promised schemes. The idea was make hurried announcements, even if these are unsustainable economically, administratively or even constitutionally. The AAP can then exit as martyrs, retaining popular sympathies for the next elections. The question is how far Kejriwal will go. He can in no way reduce power tariff by 50 percent. He knows that, so do his team members.
financial state, they are unable to secure loans from banks. If their financial position worsens, they will have no money to purchase power for the summer. The only way Kejriwal can reduce tariff by half is through a state subsidy. The regulator is making a case for hike in power tariff. Going by the current estimates, Kejriwal would need to give a subsidy to the tune of around Rs 3000 crore to reduce electricity bill by half for the domestic consumers in the city, even if industrial, commercial and other rates are left untouched. He will also soon need to liquidate over Rs 12,000 crore of regulatory assets. The regulator is already making a case for increase in tariff. Under the circumstances, how Kejriwal will reduce the tariff by half is anybodys guess. If he offers subsidy then he will have to levy other forms of taxations, which could be very steep. His 700 litres of free water for every household will cost over Rs 400 crore to the exchequer -- but that is easily manageable, AAP says. Fulfilling his other promises on new hospitals, schools, empowering mohalla committee to boss over babus are equally or perhaps more problematic because Delhi being only half a state in statute books, does not have land, law and order, and municipal corporation under its control. It needs to central clearance and active support for some promises to be implemented on the ground and in some other an amendment in the Delhi Municipal Act, which again can be done only by the Parliament, not by Delhi assembly. On Kejriwals other promise of passing Jan Lokpal at Ramlila ground, the Parliament has already passed the Lokpal bill and Delhi already has a Lokayukta in place, so he can at best effect an amendment in Lokayukta Act. But an amendment in Lokayukata Act does not sound as fashionable as passing the Lokpal bill at Ramlila Maidan does. The politician in Kejriwal has made a beginning. He can deliver on the populist promises in the short term and go out claiming to have done what he promised, seeking a re-election. But the cost will be steep.
Fixing electricity tariffs, least of all reducing it by half, is beyond the statutory mandate of Delhi government. Thats in the DERC's (Delhi Electricity Regulation Commission) domain. The revenue gap for year 2011-12 as per the regulators report for three discoms (electricity distribution companies) was Rs 11,431 crore. By the turn of this year, that sum would have grown by a few hundred crores. The city government is bound by the national tariff policy to liquidate that by next year. The regulator has to address the issue. The distribution companies But just as Kejriwal makes this beginning, senclaim that they have no money to purchase pow- ior BJP leader Arun Jaitley mounted a frontal er for the summer. And because of their poor attack on him. On Sunday, Jaitley wrote, How
does the AAP justify a volte face where it seems to be compromising on its commitments of alternative politics. Obviously, political opportunism should have no place in alternative politics dictated by idealism. The AAP may be concerned with the fact that many MLAs including the AAP MLAs do not want an early poll. It may even be strategizing on how to capture power, announce a few popular decisions and carve out a further positioning for itself. For any of these strategies to prevail the AAP has to somersault from its stated position. It has to retract its public commitments of not accepting support from the Congress Party. It has, therefore, decided to enact a farcical referendum. This referendum has a self-serving model. Motley crowds are collected all over the town whose support is sought. A question is asked whether AAP should form a government. Obviously, they are all thrilled with the idea. In the process, a statistical wonder is produced wherein less than 30% people voted for AAP in the election but more than 75% want it to form a government.
In effect, political opportunism is being masked with the idea of popular sanction behind it. A space is being created wherein its leaders could argue, we were not hungry for power, we would not be taking Congress Partys support. But we are democrats who are now bowing to the popular will of the people. It is the people who want AAP to form the Government with Congress support. Is this the beginning of the alternative politics or the end of it, Jaitley wrote. Kejriwal can take such criticisms in stride if he can deliver on the promises. He has a difficult road ahead for now he is no longer an activist punching holes in the system but will be heading the system that he intends to change.
Letter from AAP to the bride-to-be

What AAP might want to tell the bride-to-be in the run-up to their impending political wedding.
Anant Rangaswami , December 24, 2013 Thanks to being forced by circumstances, I have finally agreed to marry you. I have made it clear that I loathe everything that you stand for and represent but, despite that truth, my family and friends were firm in their opinion that I must marry you. Since they are the ones who made me what I am, I have been left with no choice but to accede to their request and to marry you.
your family but that is not something I care about. I will not change. I will continue to display in public my contempt for you and all your kin. I will continue to heap vile abuse on you, continue to articulate my belief that you are despicable. I will, time and again, expose your failings (as I see them) in public, I will tarnish your reputation every time I have the opportunity to do so. I will highlight the low morals you possess and how deeply rooted your failings are in the DNA of you and those close to you. Yet, because I have been bidden by those near and dear to be, I will marry you. If this marriage fails, remember that it is because of you and your character and has nothing to do with me and mine. Let me close this letter with a warning. Do not ever, ever, object to anything that I do. If you do, I will divorce you immediately and tell the world at large what drove me to leave you. Now that you have been warned, please ensure that you arrive on time for the wedding on December 26. The world will be watching, so please do not embarrass me on this wonderful occasion. AAP"
I am not happy doing this. I am petrified that the world knows that we will be wed. On December 26, we will be wed in a public ceremony that will be watched by all and sundry. You, too, have made no secret of your disgust with me, so perhaps this marriage is not as bad as it could have been, as we both have equal levels of animosity to the other. Now that this is out of the way, let me get to the nub of this letter. I expect you to agree, completely and without argument, to every decision that I make. Many of these decisions will be diametrically endangering your well-being and the well-being of
The reactions to the AAPs decision
#AAPCon: Twitter slams Kejriwal
for accepting Congress support

Though AAP claimed that 5.33 lakh people supported the party in forming the government in Delhi, social media is not clearly happy about the party taking support from Congress to form the government.
Adrija Bose, December 23, 2013 #AAPCon is trending. Isn't it logical? AAP taking the support of Congress means that AAP is 'Con'ning the people of Delhi #DeathToAAPCon mitulc24 (@mitulc24) December 23, 2013
inutes after the Aam Aadmi Party announced that they will form the government in Delhi and its leader Arvind Kejriwal will be the new chief minister, Twitter reacted quite strongly against it.
Though AAP claimed that 5.33 lakh people supported the party in forming the government in Delhi, social media users are clearly not happy about the party taking support from Congress to form the government. #AAPCon is the top trend on Twitter right now. Here are some of the reactions: There was anger: So It's proved once again BJP is the only party to believe. #AAPCon Piyush Purohit (@PiyushPurohit2) December 23, 2013
#AAPCon #ArvindKejriwal "et tu brute" praveen iyappan (@praveeniyappan) December 23, 2013 Another sad day in politics. Return of congress in power in Delhi. #AAPCon Mango People (@Rajan_Dubey) December 23, 2013
Power is the ultimate destination for every politician. @aravindkejriwal has proved it now. #AAPCon Mukesh Mali (@iMukeshMali) December 23, 2013
#AAP takes birth by ditching Anna, thn forms govt by ditching #Voters. Well played @ArvindKejriwal #AAPCon don't dare to evn rply! #Looser! Abhishek Pathak (@AbhiNahiBaadMe) December 23, 2013
Some jokes as well: Congress: "AAP jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye, to baat ban jaaye....o-o-o baat ban jaaye!" #AAPCon The UnReal Times (@TheUnRealTimes) December 23, 2013
But then some defended Kejriwal as well: But it was a 'Aage Kuan picche khai' situation... #AAPCon is trneding now...in case the decision was opposite ...#AAPDarpok would have :) Sushant Srivastava (@sushant11) December 23, 2013
Finally the Broom landed where it truly belongs -- into a Hand !!!! :P #AapCon Ash Dubey (@ash_dubey) December 23, 2013
Decoding business communitys fear and awe for AAP

Though AAP claimed that 5.33 lakh people supported the party in forming the government in Delhi, social media is not clearly happy about the party taking support from Congress to form the government.
Adrija Bose, December 23, 2013 At the heart of the business communitys hesitation to accept the AAP wholeheartedly is the partys promises of free water and cheap power. Delhis consumers have been getting inflated bills due to malpractices by Discoms. AAP promises a reduction of consumers electricity expenditure by 50%, the party had said in its manifesto. On water, the promise is to provide 700 litres of water free to households. Another report in the same newspaper explains the rationale behind the worries of the business community. Power distribution companies in Delhi are crying fowl about the cheap power promise. They have told the newspaper that they are facing an accumulated loss of Rs 11,000 crore and it is not possible for them to reduce the rates as promised by the party. The party has also decided not to allow global majors into the multi-brand retail sector, thus shutting out a very lucrative market for the Wal-Marts and Tescos of the world, reports The Times of India today. All these are reasons enough for the business community to be upset, though they admire a corruption-free governance, which is the AAPs first and foremost promise. They fear, the AAPs insistence on populist Left-of-the-centre economic agenda is likely to be a death knell for the economy and business.
t is official. The Aam Aadmi Party is forming the government in Delhi. And the business community is filled with fear and awe for the party fear as they think its economic agenda may be a bit unrealistic and awe for its anti-corruption stance.
In a report in The Economic Times today, various business leaders have termed the agenda in the AAPs manifesto as utopian. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto, has reminded that unlike the central government, state governments cannot print money and so some of the partys promises are unrealistic. I believe we should wait and watch and give them time, he has been quoted as saying in the report. What is encouraging for the AAP is across-theboard support the party is getting on its corruption agenda. We need somebody like Arvind Kejriwal to erase corruption which is deep rooted, Harsh Goenka of the RPG group has told the news paper.
AAP is walking into a BJP-Cong trap by forming the Delhi govt

The AAP was targeted by the dirty tricks department of either the Congress or the BJP is various ways, the most patent being the sting of the AAP candidates attempting to show they were as vulnerable to venality as the two parties traditional have been. It could have been wiser.
Mahesh Vijapurkar, December 23, 2013
t's already in the air. The Aam Aadmi Party would move to form government in Delhi. The SMSs are in, perhaps being counted for the aye- sayers and the nay-sayers, the public has been heard, and the formality of the party's top decision-makers speaking out a decision remains.
Where is the guarantee that those who texted their choice to the AAP's 08806110335 are all the same as those who voted for it because they had wanted the Congress out and the AAP in? Is it not possible that in these days where social media - text messages are part of it - can be manipulated? The AAP was targeted by the dirty tricks department of either the Congress or the BJP is various ways, the most patent being the sting of the AAP candidates attempting to show they were as vulnerable to venality as the two parties traditional have been. It could have been wiser. It is impossible to rule out that Congress, and even Bharatiya Janata Party, which perhaps is the first which mastered the technique of using and manipulating the social media, have not encroached AAP's voter space and signalled the urge to form a government. It could well be a set-up, a trap.
But the precise measure of the voters' choice on forming the government with its arch enemy, the Congress, is going to be elusive. The mandate will never be as exact as in the votes counted after polling on the historic election day. The AAP will go by drift, as it were, of the mood. To make a move as significant as taking support from the enemy on such an imprecise feedback could be suicidal for the fledgling party which has managed to rock the established political parties in what sociologists are saying was an 'electoral insurgence'. Such an insurgence only has partisan support.
Each constituency is broken into supporters of the various parties and it would be a tragedy to be told by Congress or BJP voters that AAP should consort with Congress. Their strong, core voter bases can distort the outcome of the informal referendum; SMSs are not the best way. In India, an MLA or an MP is identified by a party, to which he or she belongs, unlike in Britain, where once elected, their identification - evident in the manner in which members are called in the House of Commons - is tied to the constituency they represent.
Here, AAP is still tied to its voters. Having spoken to the voters some of whom became its voters on polling day, the AAP needed to understand the mood of those who voted for it on the platform it offered of not ever wanting to be in league with either BJP or Congress. The fear of a set-up job by AAP's rivals is strong mainly because of the timing of this unprecedented situation. Soon, elections are to be held for Lok Sabha and what better a strategy than to push AAP into a government and later accuse it of non-performance? This seems quite possible. The fact that AAP has been pushed into this position, in carefully calibrated moves, by the two rivals who lost the most - Congress, the government; BJP the opportunity to secure it - is being ignored. They called the AAP to show responsibility and form a government, something that did not apply to them. To say that the voters are tired of another election and thus push AAP into forming a government is a ruse used by its rivals. The candidates are tired, especially because of the costs involved in terms of funds and energy but the voters are not. They are either active or oblivious to it. The use of television to amplify their partisan campaign of driving the AAP into the cleft end of a stick has worked. Those who had shown utter disregard for the emerging swell of support for AAP suddenly found that it needed to form a government regardless of its viability. The idea is to taint it. In doing so, the two parties seem to have used every means and it could include the Congress and BJP voters. It is hard to believe that these core voters have changed sides and find that AAP should get a chance. If they so think, it is a chance to commit suicide. The risk arrives by the very tenuous nature of the promised support for an outside support has a condition - non participation in government's choices but the right to withdraw if it tended to hurt the Congress interests. Congress has said it wanted to "test AAP's performance." In weeks, the model code of conduct would come into force and any or most decisions of the
new government would take time to shape into actions. First the euphoria, then the studying of the problems they AAP promised to solve for devising means to solve would take time. Once the model code of electoral conduct comes into force, the AAP's Congress-supported government would have its hands tied. That would be an excellent opportunity for both the Congress, which cannot afford to lose Delhi parliamentary seats, and BJP which has high stakes being in power in the cash cow civic bodies. It is worrying that AAP is so willing to walk into this trap. There is the excellent opportunity of waiting till Lok Sabha polls simultaneous to which the re-election for Delhi could have been held. In that event, a clear mandate to it would have also broken to shreds the belief that the coalition culture has come to stay.
Problem of AAP: Why Kejriwal is more of a mouse-that-roared

As Arvind Kejriwal gets ready to take power in Delhi, political pundits across the country are trying desperately to understand his party and what its impact will be.
hat, oh what, is this animal called AAP? Before its stunning debut in the Delhi elections, the Aam Aadmi party was a bit of a curiosity, a welcome break from the jaded Congress-BJP politics as usual. But AAP decimated the Congress and it caused the BJP vote share to drop by 2 percentage points. As Arvind Kejriwal gets ready to take power in Delhi with a humbled Congress behind it, pundits across the country are trying desperately to categorize and label his party.
Sandip Roy, December 23, 2013 Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar in his Swaminomics column for the Times of India latches on to AAP as an anti-corruption movement. So he compares the rise of AAP to Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s and V P Singh in the 1980s. The first toppled Indira Gandhi. The second unseated her son. S L Rao focuses on how AAP grew in strength its volunteer base, its use of social media, its strategy of collecting small donations from the many. In his op-ed in The Telegraph he compares it to the first Obama campaign. And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! The problem is AAP does not fit comfortably into any of its political forbears because as Rao writes unlike most parties in India, it is not based on inherited power, wealth, community, caste or language, but on the principle of integrity. Kejriwal has more of a mouse-that-roared persona instead of a celluloid God-on-earth like N T Rama Rao. Varshney points out that unlike AGP, AAP was not born out of a student movement. It has nothing to do with regional pride which has been the usual genesis of smaller parties in India from DMK to Trinamool to the Samajwadi Party. Though the Lokpal movement triggered the formation of AAP, the political party, it was nothing as cataclysmic as the imposition of Emergency.
It feels a bit like a political version of that famous John Godfrey Saxe poem about six blind men of Indostan trying to describe an elephant. One felt its side and thought it was like a wall. The second felt its tusk and thought it was like a spear. The third felt its trunk and decided an elephant was like a snake. And so on. Ashutosh Varshney writes in the Indian Express that there are only three comparable instances in post-Independence history. Janata Party in 1977. TDP in Andhra Pradesh and AGP in Assam in the 1980s. He is looking at AAP as an electoral insurgency.
This politics as unusual at the Indian Express headlines Varshneys piece is what makes AAP predictions tricky. On one hand with elections barely months away AAP does not have the time to build the kind of infrastructure it needs to really go all-out national though with 94 urban parliamentary constituencies and 122 semi-urban constituencies it can pack a pretty good punch. VP Singh took two years to organize against Rajiv Gandhi. And Aiyar points out both JP and VP movements attracted prominent Opposition parties that could pool their resources, gaining national scale. By stridently going it alone, AAP retains an appealing David vs Goliath image but it means it lacks the width of the earlier two movements. But the short run up to the national elections also means AAP will not really have a substantial record in Delhi its opponents could really pick apart by the time India goes to the polls. Rao writes that AAP with its promises about electricity and water lives in an economic cloud cuckoo land and the starting euphoria will go as inefficiencies and shortages continue. AAP, in some ways, benefits if it can go to the polls before it becomes just another political party and loses its sheen. If AAP gets even 30-40 seats in 2014, that would mean the BJP can kiss its dream of over 200 seats goodbye. Thats what is giving BJP and Narendra Modi nightmares. The Congress, already on the back-foot, is less affected because it just means that some of the votes it would lose to the BJP would go to AAP instead. That electoral math is currently mere speculation. Delhi was AAPs old stomping grounds. Its where the party was born. Whether it translates equally well in Mumbai or Bangalore or Kolkata remains to be seen. But AAPs advantage over other political parties is that its grievances have a pan-Indian appeal as opposed to a regional one. It is trying, writes Varshney, to practise what may be called the politics of citizenship. That means democratic deepening, deliberative democracy, governance, accountability, citizen politics versus clientelistic politics. Or on the flip side, its tapping into an anger and frustration with the system. As Kejriwal puts it:
Those whose salary comes from our money don't listen to us. We cannot do anything against government doctors, teachers, fair-price shopkeepers, or policemen. After Delhi, at least the powers that be have to pay attention to AAP. As a friend quips, this is a new version of Hum AAPke Hain Koun as the old order tries to figure out what the rise of AAP means for them. Rahul Gandhi has already said his party is willing to learn from AAP. The party was once dismissed as the B-team of the Congress. Now the Congress looks like its the B-team. Rao writes national parties will need to downplay dynastic relationships in the selection of candidates. They will have to pay at least more lip service to the selection of honest candidates. BJP and Modi will have to remember that AAP is appealing to many of the same groups young, urban, middleclass that Modi has as his base writes Aiyar. Modi offers a vision of change, but within the existing political framework. The AAP offers radical change outside the existing framework. Its success in Delhi raises the tantalizing possibility that a vote for AAP is not a wasted protest vote after all. As Varshney writes it is the promise of a citizen-friendly and corruptionfree state, that has begun to excite the imagination of urban India. The AAP threatens to undermine politics as it is practised. As Kejriwal and Co look at the opportunities in the rest of India, they are clearly hoping that unlike Las Vegas, what happens in Delhi does not have to stay in Delhi. You can read Ashutosh Varshney on AAP as "politics as unusual" here. You can read Swaminathan Aiyar on AAP as compared to JP and VP here. S.L. Rao's column about the shock of AAP being felt by older parties can be read in the full here.
Can AAP keep its grand pre-poll promises?
Jan Lokpal, 700 litres water: AAPs 60-day plan for Delhi
Somnath Bharti of AAP says power and water remain top of agenda, CAG audit of power companies soon.
FP Staff, December 26, 2013 section of households getting water supply via tankers will have to continue using them, and availability is currently not more than 200 litres per day per household. Speaking to IANS, one of Kejriwal's council of ministers Somnath Bharti said the government would "generate more water so that we can solve the problem of scarcity". Delhi Jal Board officials said it was too early to understand the AAP's plan to redistribute water supply. According to a report in The Indian Express, the finances of the water supply plan could emerge as a big burden on the new government. As 700 litres daily falls into the slab of over 21 kilolitres a month, there will be a service charge of Rs 181.50, a volumetric charge of Rs 381.15 and a sewerage maintenance charge of Rs 228.69 -totally Rs 791.34, the cost that the government will have to subsidise per household per month, for households using only up to 700 litres daily. Bharti also said the promise to slash power tariff by half will remain on top of the AAP government's agenda. If needed, the government will give a power subsidy, he said. "We will recommend a CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) audit for the three private power distribution companies in Delhi," he added, promising visible changes within two months of assuming office. "We will spend the first two weeks on studying how the Congress worked," he said, without giving more details, according to IANS. Meanwhile, the party's plans outside Delhi continued to hold leaders' attention with AAP leader Kumar Vishwas announcing his visit to
wo days before his swearing in as chief minister of Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and his team of six ministers have laid out a roadmap for the coming months. This includes a Jan Lokpal Bill within 15 days, free water up to 700 litres per household "almost immediately" and a host of other changes within two months.
Speaking to mediapersons on Wednesday, Kejriwal said the AAP promise of 700 litres of water daily to every household would be implemented "wherever possible" within 24 hours of his swearing in. However, not every household is expected to actually receive this freebie -- with transmission and distribution losses as high as 30 percent, the average supply of water is currently 500 litres daily to 80 percent of households -- the remaining use tankers. A large section of Delhi comprises unplanned layouts and formerly unauthorised colonies, who receive inequitable water supply. The
Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Vishwas will visit Amethi on Friday, even before the swearing in ceremony, in a move that is being seen as an open challenge to the Congress party, whose support to the AAP government in Delhi has already caused a rift within the party. Vishwas is being seen as a likely candidate from the AAP to take on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in the 2014 Parliamentary election. A senior AAP functionary told IANS that other than taking part in the 'Jhadu Sandesh Yatra' aimed at mobilizing the masses in favour of the party, Vishwas will also hold meetings with party workers.
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, speaking on the differences within the party regarding support to the AAP government in Delhi, said there was no rethink on the decision but called for some kind of common programme for the government. "But when we extend support to some other party, then there should be some programme or committee to look after the coordination between the parties. It is not that we will close our eyes and will give support blindly to the other party," he said.
will help fund Kejriwal freebies

The Congress and BJP carping about AAPs government may partly be because Delhi has a robust budget that can support some freebies
R Jagannathan, December 26, 2013
How Sheila Dikshits fiscal prudence
ure, we all know the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is not planning on staying on in power for too long in Delhi. It is interested in getting a good start by fulfilling some of its promises in January, and will probably pick a fight with the Congress in February so that it can claim betrayal and try and emerge with a clear majority in the next Delhi election.
crore which means AAP has a lot of money to play with. The point is: if AAP wants to play populist, at least for now it will have the financial wherewithal to do so. It may not make long-term fiscal sense, but there is no doubting its ability to offer subsidised power or water if it wants to. In the short run, it can fulfil its promises by dipping into taxpayer funds. A Financial Express report says that Delhi currently subsidises power to the tune of Rs 400 crore. But with a large revenue surplus, it is not beyond AAP's capability to temporarily offer a higher subsidy even while waiting for a power tariff audit to bring tariffs down. This could take three months, but AAP is not planning on doing anything beyond February - when the model election code will kick in. As for water, as the ex-officio chief of the Delhi Jal Board, Arvind Kejriwalcan order the delivery of more water before the elections by executive fiat. The opposition will come from the tanker lobby and corrupt bureaucrats, but Kejriwal will revel in this and use it to seek a clear majority. Put another way, the Congress and BJP's real concerns may be that Kejriwal may actually be seen to be delivering in the initial phase of his chief ministership. The shouting and taunting that has begun from Congress and BJP benches is a bit premature for the simple reason that Kejriwal has not even taken the oath as Chief Minister. So to taunt him for not delivering or for being a charlatan is a bit thick.
However, the intense media naysaying about AAPs ability to fulfil its promises is wide off the mark. Like many others, I too believe AAP has made irresponsible promises on water and electricity and many other things, but that comes from my fears about promotion of a freebie culture. It does not mean AAP cannot fulfil at least some of its key promises quickly. Given the robust balance-sheet of Delhi - for which Sheila Dikshit must be given due credit, especially when her partys government at the centre has been busy bankrupting the exchequer - it is not beyond AAPs ability to subsidise water and power supplies for a while. According to an Economic Times report today (26 December), Delhi runs a revenue surplus of Rs 9.713
The BJP critiques the AAP for taking the support of the Congress, but this criticism is unlikely to wash as AAP was manifestly reluctant to take up the offer earlier. It came into the picture only when BJP declined and the Congress offered support to keep BJP out and to take the sting out of popular anger against it. The option of running a populist minority government for two months was there for the BJP too but its leadership calculated that it was not worth the effort. I presume it was because it would have left the AAP in opposition, making it even more belligerent. Giving AAP opposition space was not worth the effort of forming a minority government, the BJP could have felt. As for the Congress, its support to AAP has clearly not gone down well with its cadre, and hence the belligerent noises. But the top leadership apparently calculates that this support is vital to avoid early elections in Delhi. The Congress does not want Delhi elections before it knows which way the wind is blowing though that is pretty obvious. The Congress needs time to allow peoples anger against the party to dissipate and hence the support to AAP. The Congress gameplan will be to show that AAP cant deliver, and play a dual role formal support, and informal opposition. But this ploy may not work, for people are not fools. The irony is this: Sheila Dikshit may have run a tight ship, thus enabling Kejriwal to use the cash buffer in the exchequer to prove he can deliver.
wont give better governance

Most promises made by the AAP are not deliverable in the simplistic forms that they were promised. And the party cant govern if it chooses to put every deviation to a referendum
Jay Mazoomdar, December 24, 2013 elhi is orphaned no more. We are going to have a government. It took the Aam Aadmi Party two long weeks to decide that they would take the plunge. The AAPs preelection stand was equivocally against joining hands with either the Congress or the BJP. Its choice was to stick to that position or respect the overall mandate for change. It was a difficult choice and the AAP leadership refused to be responsible for a decision either way.
AAPs high moral ground alone
ground fits perfectly with the party's popular stand against so-called VIP-ism symbolised by red beacons etc (though there is not much to sacrifice here as Delhis ministers hardly enjoy the privileges lavished on their counterparts in other states). It is necessary to bridge the disconnect between the masses and the political class who tend to govern from pedestals of power. But merely replacing it with such a sanctimonious, some would say defensive or even opportunistic, moral position will not make for better governance. To form a government or not might have been a momentous dilemma but governance will frequently bring the AAP leadership at a crossroads because most of its promises are just not deliverable in the promised form. While many are suitably abstract making Delhi safer, for example and allows the grey area (read elbow room) required for administrative limitations, some are surprisingly specific and non-deliverable as such.
While many thought the so-called referendum was a ploy to legitimise the partys temptation to taste power, others argued that such a fundamental decision was best left to the people. This dramatic shift to direct democracy has placed the AAP on a moral ground high above the grassroots it claims its legitimacy from. Two legendary Vaishnava scholars, Roop and Sanatana Goswami, had realised the trappings of zealous humility that made the former too fastidious and arrogant to remember the very purport of being humble. Penance followed, but that was Vrindavan in the 16th century. In contemporary Delhi, the AAP's high moral
For example, there is enough room for rationalising power tariff after a thorough auditing but a flat 50% reduction in bills will be impossible. Any rationalisation will require plugging widespread power theft and reorganising tariff slabs. Supplying 700 litre of water to every household for free and ending the tanker-raj will require cutting down supply to the VIP zones, relaying of leaking pipelines and building a delivery network in vast areas where there is none. Otherwise, the citys sinking aquifers will be drained faster. And till these issues are assessed and resolved, the tankers that cater to much of the parched city will have to remain in business. So, will there be a referendum for each of these
deviations (read compromises) every time the new government finds that it cant fulfill in entirety what it promised? Will the aam aadmi, not the party, endorse a crackdown on theft, not by the mafia but thousands of households that anyway ensure their unlimited share of free (discounting the bribe) power and water? And will the AAP, thriving on support from threewheeler owners/drivers, ever get a verdict from its cadres to crack the whip on the errant fleet of over-charging autowallahs involved in the most brazen corruption on Delhi roads? Even if we agree that the masses are likely to behave more responsibly when empowered, who will foot the bill for holding frequent referendums that have a tendency to become neverend-ums when dealing with issues that involve more than a simple yes or no? Or will the AAP government take key decisions on the basis of SMS polls? Well, that may be fine for a political outfit (and telecom companies) but we will certainly need organised polling involving the Election Commission if state issues are to be put up for referendums. Expenses apart, referendums globally are often the last resort of a government low on confidence and reluctant to risk its future by doing what it thinks is right. In short, it is a symbol of political dithering. Out there to clean the Augean stables of institutionalised corruption, the AAP will need more than a few brooms. And the party does not exactly have time on its side.
Besides, if everything is to be decided by the people and governance becomes simply a matter of implementing those decisions, bureaucrats will be good enough to run the state or the country. A true politician's unenviable job is to provide leadership. It is about creating confidence among the people that s/he has the integrity, wisdom and vision to decide for them. And also having the courage to face the consequence of those decisions, particularly the unpopular ones, made in the interest of the people. Arvind Kejriwal is a most welcome break in our muddled politics that has for too long failed to offer any real alternative. He deserves his turn to deliver and it is grossly unfair to write off him or his brand of politics at this early stage. But from moral grounds so high, it is difficult to stay rooted. Kejriwal the rebel must now become Kejriwal the ruler. No, it is not a dirty word. He must tell his party members and supporters that having elected him their leader, they must now let him lead. The last time these words were spoken, Nelson Mandela the president was born.
Why AAP faces self-destruction

by forming the Delhi government
The Aam Aadmi Party will quickly lose relevance if it does not move quickly from populism to transparent honesty about its economic ideology.
R Jagannathan, December 23, 2013
ow that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is going to form the government in Delhi with outside support from a wounded Congress party, it is clear that its agenda will be short-term in nature. Neither AAP nor Congress can be under any illusion that this is a made-for-each-other combo. In fact, in the long run they have to become enemies. Reason: the Congress believes it is the real aam aadmi party (AAP), while Arvind Kejriwal has simply stolen the name as the Congress failed to register aap as its political trademark. AAP has scored over aap in IPR at least.
ruption Jan Lokpal Bill, try and cut power tariffs by auditing the books of power companies, and start regularising illegal colonies. Among other things. Surjit Bhalla, writing in The Indian Express, compares AAP to to America's Tea Party, except that AAP is the left version of the Tea Party, but with even less ideological coherence. He predicts early demise for AAP if it continues down its populist road. (Read Bhalla's wonderful piece here). Bhalla hopes that AAP returns to power so that it's bluff can be called. He's right. Consider how AAP is promising to implement exactly the kind of mind-numbing populist schemes that the Congress is famous for never mind what fiscal prudence dictates. Since AAP plans to be in power for only a couple of months in its initial run, it may end up doing things that may do long-term damage again similar to what the Congress party has done in its dying months at the centre. If Congress is run like a feudal conglomerate, AAP is like a populist khap that with no direction beyond populism.
Since this is an uneasy marriage of short-term convenience in fact, one should see it as a loveless one-night stand AAPs agenda will be to keep it simple and quick. It will aim to prove that it can implement its promises in a jiffy so that it can go back to the electorate in a couple of months and say look we did it and seek a regular majority. This means, in the initial weeks it will try to mandate 700 litres of free water supply to every Delhi household, legislate a powerful anti-cor-
In India, bad ideas are never opposed politically for fear of losing votes in a first-past-the-post system where a one or two percentage points difference in vote share can bring you to power or turf you out. This is exactly what AAP is counting on in the next Delhi assembly elections. However, that does not make it a politically responsible party that can ever even begin to set things right. Its one simple calling card is its anti-corruption stance, but between the hype and the reality, it has failed to see the connecCopyright 2012 Firstpost
tion between theoretically wanting to reduce corruption and doing the right things to get this done. What we need in Delhi (and elsewhere) is a party that speaks the truth and brings in honest people to govern the state. But the freebies and concessions Kejriwal promises to give are essentially about fooling the people. Consider the anomalies between AAPs holierthan-thou attitudes and the sheer non-transparency of its own solutions to Delhis problems. By anecdotal evidence, Delhi is probably the most corrupt city in India. The stinking corruption of the super-rich is matched by the everyday corruption of its ordinary citizens. The only long-term way to bring this down is by steadily increasing transparency in all government purchases and contracts, putting ordinary day-to-day dealings between citizen and government on the web and reducing the need for personal interface, and things like that. This can be decreed, and does not need legislation. It needs administrative fiat, and steady implementation skills, not rabble-rousing on the streets. If AAP manages this, hats off to it. But it is not something that can happen between now and an April election. The other solution a Jan Lokpal to police the corrupt is a vital part of this drive, but the chances are if the Lokpal become too zealous, it will merely increase the cost of corruption. The systemic changes on transparency have to be combined with an intelligent application of the Jan Lokpal law to make things work and people change. This is not something AAP has yet thought through. It seems to believe exactly like the Congress that a tough law is all that is needed. India has the toughest laws in the world on terror, rape, domestic violence, prevention of atrocities against SC/STs, et al, but where are we on making our society better? Next, consider the message being sent if you start regularising illegal colonies in one flourish. I am, of course, not suggesting that people living in them should be uprooted or their houses demolished. That would be simply too inhuman when these people have invested their hard-earned savings to build a home. The point
is illegal colonies are built by builders, criminals and the land mafia and facilitated by a corrupt administration, not by the people living in them. Regularising these colonies without making the people who created them pay for it will do not any good. Unless the builders are caught and penalised, they will, in fact, see regularisation as encouragement to build more illegal colonies. Cutting power tariffs is easier said than done. Power tariffs are set by the electricity regulatory commission, and not the government. Any decision of the commission can be challenged in court, and hence there is no easy way to get the commission to toe Kejriwals line. An easier route would be to simply subsidise power and bring the rates down, but this would not only be fiscally irresponsible, but also defeat the very point Kejriwal is making. If he says that power companies are overcharging, and then pays them subsidies, he is then essentially subsidising power companies that are blatantly overcharging. The only sensible way to go about this is to set up an audit committee, and then offer this audit report to the regulatory commission and hope rates come down. And remember, even this process is not going to deliver immediately since the power companies can always seek a court stay order. The worst promise, of course, is the one on free water. This is a moral hazard that Kejriwal will never be able to live down and any decision like this will come back to bite Delhi permanently. Lets assume there is enough water to supply every household 700 free litres. First, there is the question of who will subsidise this delivery? Next, even assuming the subsidy can be paid for by charging more from those who use more than 700 litres, it will mean more corruption since it calls for charging differential water rates. It needs investment in better metering, better collection of bills, and better policing of the water delivery system. The huge leakages enroute will have to be plugged both the physical leaks and the leaks encouraged by the water mafia which will be covertly supplying free municipal water to tankers. This is what happens to cheap rice supply to through the
PDS, and water will be even easier to divert. More important is the moral hazard. Once something is free, it will not only be tough to roll back, but it will be wasted. Charging even a nominal amount for water is the right thing to do even for the poor who anyway pay for water in their jhuggis. AAP has many promises to deliver, but even if it delivers these temporarily it is digging its own grave for the future. If it wants to be a party of government, it has to think responsibly. Its early moves do not give us that confidence. When Congress support enabled it to form a government, the first thing it did was poll its own people to check if it should accept the offer. Engaging voters regularly with important issues is the stuff of democracy, but asking voters regularly on what the leaders should do is like outsourcing responsibility to the mob. Why not ask them if power tariffs should be cut? They will always say yes. Democracy is about engaging people, not asking them for their opinion on every small thing. The first job of a real leader is to discuss difficult issues with the experts, develop sensible policy options, and explain why some things have to be done to the public.
It is very easy to tell people you will get free water or 50 percent off in power charges. It is tougher to tell the people why they should pay for water, or why the cuts in electricity charges have to be less than 50 percent because if power companies are not reasonably profitable, no power will be supplied. The power companies may be cooking up their books, but the best way to deal with that is to allow competition in power supplies and instituting regular audits. Promising to cut a tariff by half without a proper audit is plain irresponsible. The omens for AAP using power responsibly and developing genuine leadership are not propitious. Delivering on promises over the short term without thinking through the long-term consequences of what they decide is plain irresponsible. India badly needs a left-of-centre party to challenge the decrepit Congress and the more rightwing BJP, but if AAP fails to bring coherence to its ideology it will self-destruct rather quickly.
AAP may be on the wrong track

The assumption that people know best has been repeatedly proved wrong, especially when deciding complex and technical issues.
Raghav Bahl, December 26, 2013 irect democracy is a sexy idea if your gig is feel-good idealism, not governance. Ironically, it can institutionalise majoritarianism, something that liberals abhor. So even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scoops up plaudits for going directly to the people for taking key decisions, it should be wary about such double-edged hurrahs. There is no better example of direct democracy than Switzerland. The Swiss vote more than any other country. Their MPs have a four-year term, but people have a chance to vote three to four times a year. An initiative is put to nationwide vote if the proposers can present the federal government with one lakh signed endorsements within 18 months of the official launch of a campaign. People can also thwart legislation that has been passed by Parliament. Narrow agendas get entrenched; left-wing groups often propose initiatives related to economic and social rights, while right-wingers take up issues of national identity and foreigners. In 2009, a proposal to ban the building of minarets got two-thirds of the vote and forced a constitutional change. Appeals to the European Court of Human Rights that the law violated the rights of Switzerlands Muslim citizens were dismissed on the ground that the appellants were not the affected party as they had no plans to build minarets. The government was opposed to the ban but could do nothing. In California, another haven of direct democracy, a proposal to ban same-sex marriages got the popular vote in 2008, but a district court overturned it as unconstitutional. In June, the US Supreme Court upheld the district courts decision.
Perils of direct democracy:
In India, direct democracy referendums can do immense damage if divisive issues are put to vote. Democracy is not the rule of the majority. It means respect for the rights of all kinds of minorities. The Shiv Sena might want migrants kept out of Mumbai and Kannadiga chauvinists in Bengaluru might want Tamils and Telugus to be denied government jobs. Of course, India can have a provision like Switzerland to prevent voting on issues that violate pre-emptory norms or Constitutional values. In the Swiss case, these are norms obligated by international agreements like prohibition of genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and slavery. But what works for a nation of eight million educated people may not work for a country of 1.2 billion, except at the village or municipal levels. AAP speaks approvingly of the town of Oregon in the United States that held a vote on whether Wal-Mart should be allowed to set up shop. It decided against to protect mom-and-pop stores and employment. Direct democracy of this kind cuts both ways. It can help infrastructure development. Farmers along the Delhi-Agra Yamuna Expressway parted with land in the hope of gaining from the resulting rise in property prices (they did not, as adjacent land was acquired by the Mayawati government for commercial development). The Niyamgiri tribals have voted against bauxite extraction, but are they better off than if they had cut a deal with Vedanta? AAP also likes participatory budgeting as in Porto Alegre, the Brazilian city hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, whose 16 wards decide how it should spend money after extensive debate in peoples assemblies. But AAPs proposal to give
sabhas the authority to levy local taxes may not pan out in practice. Which people will vote for a hike in property taxes or an increase in utility rates? Californias credit rating has gone from one of the best to the absolute worst within one generation, The Economist said in an article on 20 April, 2011. Californians can recall elected officials mid-term; they can overturn legislations and also introduce initiatives that have had the state struggling to balance its budget year after year. Since Proposition 13 lowered property taxes in 1978, the state has been in deficit. It is simply not true that people know best or that they act in the greater common good. The public hearings for approval for geneticallymodified Bt brinjal and the consequent moratorium on trials show that complex issues cannot be decided by popular vote. Environmental groups opposed to genetic engineering would have prevented the introduction of Bt cotton which has made India the second largest exporter of the fibre, from being a net importer. They have stalled trials of genetically-modified cereals necessary for our food and nutrition security, by raising fears about safety that have now been held to be invalid.
Activists also say that the Nuclear Civil Liability Act is a cop-out because it limits the liability of equipment suppliers to Rs 1,500 crore in case of an accident. Such an Act would never have got the popular vote but then, without capping the liability, nuclear-power in India would be a non-starter. Clearly, democratisation should not be confused with mere decentralisation, as direct democracy advocates seem to do. Democratic leadership is about exercising judgment and taking decisions, many of which are contrary to the popular public mood. Its about a fair balancing of majority and minority interests. It is about making difficult calls not ducking them by passing the buck to woolly referendums - and then squaring up to the bouquets and brickbats.
Not just a heckler: Kejriwal must show, implement agenda for Delhi
The hard work begins now. When Kejriwal tries to reduce electricity bills by 50 per cent and finds that the government still needs to respect other financial commitments elsewhere, he will find that squaring circles like that is tough.
Dan Hough, December 26, 2013 rvind Kejriwal is a brave man indeed. Entering government in Delhi could be the making of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), or it could be its very undoing. One thing is for sure; if the performances of other single issue parties elsewhere are anything to go by, Arvind had better firmly check his seatbelt as he is in for a rollercoaster ride.
eral election. Kejriwals decision to split from his erstwhile anti-corruption ally Anna Hazare and to enter the party political fray now looks like a savvy political move. However, Kejriwal will know that in many ways the hard work begins now. New political parties benefit from a freshness and a sense that they have not been tainted by the darker side of everyday politics. They can point out their opponents' failings and misdemeanours whilst simultaneously claiming that they stand for a new politics. But what happens when the first (apparently unseemly) compromise needs to be made? What happens, for example, when Kejriwal tries to do justice to his promise to reduce electricity bills by 50 per cent, only to find that the government still needs to respect other financial commitments elsewhere? Squaring circles like that is tough, but it is the everyday fare of political life. If the AAP tries to act as an opposition within the government, then things in Delhi could get messy very quickly. If the AAP is going to survive the period before the next general election intact then it needs to master three specific challenges. Firstly, the AAP is (crystal) clear about what it doesnt like. It is a party that is defined by what it is not. The notion that it is rejecting the old, clientelistic politics that the BJP and Congress have allegedly practised is all well and good, but sooner or later the AAP will have to come up with a more positive narrative of change. Thats something its not yet done. It will also have to explain who it rejects much of what Congress stands for and yet is now prepared to work with it in government. Such an explanation is possible, but it will
Delhis regional election has certainly shuffled the pack in terms of Indias party politics. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and particularly the Congress Party are having to deal with a prickly new customer. Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP are riding the crest of a wave. Thirty percent of the vote in the Delhi regional election on 8th December has translated into 28 seats and the prominent role in forming the next regional government. Judging by the partys increasingly popular resonance elsewhere in India, the AAP can also look forward with confidence to the upcoming regional election in Maharashtra as well as the 2014 gen-
take considerable political skill to make it. Secondly, the AAP sees itself as a shining beacon of anti-corruptionism, disdainfully rejecting the process of comprising on its principles to help craft consensus-orientated outcomes. Politics, however, is a process where those who disagree come together and find mutually acceptable solutions. Rejecting the process of politics is the stance of the populist, and rejecting the messiness of daily political life will ultimately make the party look like a heckling outsider rather than a serious political organisation. Compromise outcomes, in other words, might well be frustrating, but unless a party wins an overall majority of the seats in parliament then compromises are the very DNA of the political process. The AAP will have to show that it can compromise and yet remain true to its principles. Again, this is possible, but it'll once again take considerable skill to pull it off. Thirdly, the Delhi election has attracted considerable attention both at home and abroad. But it is only a regional election. A look at the political science of regional election outcomes tell us at least two important things. On the one hand, the incumbent party will nearly always fair badly. It is the incumbent that is (rightly) held responsible for government policy whilst the opposition can gleefully point out all the mistakes that have been made. Where this differs from national elections is that incumbent party supporters are more likely to stay at home something that is less likely to happen when more is at stake in general elections. That Congress suffered badly in Delhi should therefore not come as a surprise. On the other hand, more voters again because there is less at stake are likely to experiment just a little more with their votes. The national government wont be changing, so sending out a statement that, say, youre really not happy with perceived levels of corruption or with the apparent malfeasance of high-ranking politicians becomes a more attractive proposition. Parties such as AAP should therefore be in their element.
If the AAP is going to carry its success into the national electoral arena then it will subsequently have to deal with these three issues. It needs to begin explaining what it stands for over and above tackling corruption. It needs to work out how it is going at some point in the mediumterm to develop a working relationship with Congress and, finally, it needs to avoid the curse of being a flash in the pan party. Counterintuitive though it may seem at the moment, the odds are probably against it. The author is Professor of Politics and Director, Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex.
Kejriwal as Chief Minister: The challenges ahead
dent Congress more than BJP

As Arvind Kejriwals party seeks to form a government in Delhi, there are risks for all three parties. AAP is a threat to the BJP in 2014; but in the long term it is a threat to the Congress.
Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi CM may
s Arvind Kejriwal is sworn in as Delhi Chief Minister after much swearing at the Congress and BJP, the important thing to acknowledge is that this is the result of three antagonistic parties playing a cat-andmouse political game contrary to their natural inclinations.
R Jagannathan, December 24, 2013 single largest party in Delhi is prompted by the need to be seen as not power hungry before the Lok Sabha polls. Any covert or overt moves to buy MLAs - not easy in the given scenario anyway - would have been held against it. The party, though it wont say so, may be willing to sacrifice a win in Delhi in order to win bigger in the Lok Sabha polls. It is difficult to assess whether this was the right choice to make, for, after all, Kejriwal is also making the same choice of heading a minority government and seeking to rule only for a few months. The BJP could also have hoped to rule for a few months, and legislated some populist things like a Jan Lokpal, announced a power tariff audit before the polls, and regularised illegal colonies. It could have stolen Kejriwals slogans and called an early election after the Lok Sabha polls.
While Congress and BJP have declined to make a lunge for power, which is their natural inclination, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been coaxed into giving up its opposition role something it was born to play. All three parties have assessed their costs and benefits in making their moves and are hoping that in the next couple of months, the dice will roll their way - at the Lok Sabha elections due in April-May and the Delhi assembly election rerun perhaps around the same time. All three have, in the process, courted considerable risks too. The BJP's political calculation in not staking a claim to form a government despite being the
Another factor the BJP probably took into account was the possibility of having to face a belligerent Kejriwal disclosing one corruption scandal after another under its watch. Even if it did not pertain to the BJP, the mud would stick, since the BJP rules the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Perhaps the party is gambling on the fact that in government, Kejriwal will be under greater scrutiny for missteps - if any. It may also be gambling that a Kejriwal who has to run government will not be able to spread the AAPs tentacles to other metro cities quickly enough before the next Lok Sabha polls. The risk the BJP is courting is this: what if Kejriwal manages to consolidate on his aam aadmi positioning and the BJP loses not only Delhi, but also a few Lok Sabha seats? After all,
how much effort does it take for Kejriwal to announce all kinds of anti-corruption probes even while being CM? Kejriwal, after all, has to rule only for two months and few people can presume that he will lose all his goodwill in two months. No party that has just won a big mandate ever loses public support so early. In fact, public support will tend to move in the direction of a likely winner. To be sure, Kejriwal has probably been cornered by a tactical Congress move to give him support and the BJP's unwillingness to risk a minority government before the Lok Sabha. After playing holier-than-thou to Congress, Kejriwal risked being seen as someone unwilling to shoulder responsibility when offered a chance. However, if Kejriwal has bitten the bullet, it is not without his own assessment of a cost-benefit analysis. He has two months to make his moves - on Jan Lokpal, free water supplies, and power tariff audits. In a crunch all this is possible to demonstrate before the Lok Sabha election code kicks in around end-February. Even if he cannot achieve all his goals, he can claim he needs a majority to make his moves and most Delhi voters may give him the benefit of doubt. Kejriwal may also be hoping for some Congress errors excessive belligerence, daily hurdles in the functioning of the government - to call an early election. Early CVoter opinion polls show that Kejriwal may well win an absolute majority in the next assembly polls. One cannot also rule out the possibility of even cannier calculations on the part of Kejriwal. The jan sabhas held to decide whether AAP should form a government which turned out to be free publicity melas for Kejriwal were extensively covered by the media, while both Congress and BJP are left out in the cold. In the next few months, Kejriwal will get saturation coverage by the media both because of his novelty value, and also because in some segments of the anti-Modi media establishment AAP appears to be the only force that can dent Modi. The risk Kejriwal faces is the kind of mistakes
he himself may commit while in office but this is a low risk. Among the three parties, AAP has the lowest risk in forming a government simply because it will be forgiven all its faults as it is the new kid on the block. Lastly, one needs to assess what the Congress calculations are in supporting Kejriwal. Clearly, this could be one of the things Rahul Gandhi said we will not even be able to imagine about what the Congress will do after its 4:0 drubbing at the Assembly polls. A more down-to-earth reading would be this: since it was AAP that thrashed the Congress rather than the BJP, linking up with Kejriwal will demonstrate to Delhi voters and Muslims in particular that Congress does not compromise with communal forces. Moreover, by aligning with AAP, the Congress can hope to claw back some of the votes it lost to the upstart. Lets remember, Congress still has around 25 percent of the Delhi vote share and if AAP is going to do better in the next elections, the votes have to move away from the BJP rather than the Congress for the latter to stem the Modi tide. The Congress knows that 2014 is not its year. Its best hope is to give the BJP such a slim win maybe something like the UPA-1 mandate for the Congress so that it is unable to function. In the process, the BJP will be stuck in a difficult economic situation. This will set the stage for a Congress bounce-back after 2016-17. However, the risks for the Congress are greater than for the BJP right now with this gambit. Reason, AAP is almost the same kind of leftwing populist party that the Congress always wanted to be. It would not be unfair to say that Congress minus corruption equals AAP. The differentiation with the BJP is starker. BJP too cannot claim to be corruption-free, but it is widely seen as less so, and it is also a rightwing party, and more pro-business. Plus it has a leader who seems to be vibing well on governance right now. Anti-corruption platforms are difficult to sustain, while governance is a larger platform to own for a political party. The Jayaprakash Narayan and VP Singh anti-corruption movements helped the Janata Party and VP Singh
do well in just one election. After that, both lost out the former to Indira Gandhis Congress, and the latter to Mandal-Masjid politics and the BJP. Anti-corruption alone is not a good enough plank for the long-term, for it is governance that matters. This does not mean AAP will not dent the BJP in 2014. But it does mean that over the long term, its economic plank will become more important than its pure anti-corruption rhetoric. As a left-of-centre party, AAP poses a bigger longer-term threat to the Congress than to the BJP, though in the short-term it can be major threat to the BJP as it can eat into the Modi magic and deny BJP a good seat count.
If I were Kejriwal, I would target the Congress more than BJP, for AAP's real voter base is in the Congress. If I were BJP, I would target AAP as much as Congress, as AAP has the potential to deny BJP a clean win in 2014; and if I were Congress, I would do my best to scuttle AAP. The rise of AAP is more threatening to the Congress.
The real political genius is Kejriwal

Heres how the AAM Aadmi Party can go into the 2014 polls stronger than ever.
Step aside Modi, Rahul:
Ivor Soans, December 24, 2013 ove over Modi and Rahul, Kejriwal may be the real political genius still playing hide and seek game with the people of Delhi. They are unable to decide how they shall fulfill the expectations of the people with which they voted for AAP. This party should clearly tell the people whether it will form the Government or not?" He also complained about the bureaucracy in Delhi unable to do anything in the absence of any government and moaned about it hindering the progress of Delhi since the working of Government in the capital has completely stopped. But now that the AAP government seems all set to take over, Harsh Vardhan is singing a different tune. What got the BJP's goat is the way Kejriwal went about it. By putting the onus on the people through a referendum of sorts and by appearing extremely reluctant to take power, unlike the average Indian politician, he seems to have lulled the BJP into complacency. Thanks to Kejriwal's reluctance, today when the AAP has decided to form the government, even Delhiites who didn't vote for AAP in the recent polls would not believe that Kejriwal is desperate for power. Kejriwal has shrewdly conveyed a picture of being reluctantly placed on the throne despite his protestations by people carrying him on their shoulders. And that's a powerful picture. The BJP's bigger worry is that the payoff of not appearing desperate for power in Delhi and taunting Kejriwal may now be tougher to come by in the quest for the bigger throne in Delhi-that of the Prime Minister, if Kejriwal manages to do a Delhi in other urban and semi-urban constituencies across India. Kejriwal had earlier dismissed a Modi wave in Delhi pointing out that the BJP's vote share in Delhi had actually fallen by 2 percentage points in the recent elections as compared to 2008, which meant that not even everyone who voted BJP in 2008 voted
Behind that utterly simple and benign aam aadmi look ticks a brilliant mind. While that's not exactly breaking news, considering Arvind Kejriwal is an IIT graduate, now it's clearer than ever that he also has a brilliant political mind and that the strong showing of the AAP in Delhi under his leadership was only the beginning.
Consider this--the BJP which was literally taunting the Aam Aadmi Party to form the government in Delhi is now wailing like a petulant child. Delhi BJP leader and CM candidate Harsh Vardhan is crying from the rooftops that the AAP has betrayed the people of Delhi and is hungry for power. The rich irony thats not lost on anyone is that just a few days ago Harsh Vardhan was saying the exact opposite. In his reply to Kejriwal's poser to the BJP and the Congress, Harsh Vardhan raised his own questions stating: "Eleven days have passed since the results of the elections were declared. Mr Arvind Kejriwal had met the Lt Governor five days ago but he is
BJP in 2013. Kejriwal's reluctant act was so well played that even his friend turned possible foe Kiran Bedi grudgingly admired Kejriwal for this despite some sniping by claiming the AAP was taking a big risk in forming the government. Bedi said Kejriwal had made a smart move by taking a referendum on whether to form the government with Congress support and added that this would help him escape allegations of being a political opportunist as is being alleged by some parties. The Congress, a party that could easily win gold medals if lending support and pulling the rug from under the feet of non-Congress governments were a competitive sport, is in a bind too. AAP senior leader Prashant Bhushan has said that the AAP will not accept any conditions from the Congress, adding that they were only interested in fulfilling their agenda. And while the Congress has been crying hoarse that support to the AAP is not unconditional, beggars cannot be choosers in this scenario. If the Congress pulls the plug and it results in the fall of a government led by a man whom the aam aadmi thinks is not power hungry, the resulting fire will only singe the Congress. And if the AAP opens up the Common Wealth Games (CWG) can of worms, the Congress can ill afford to refuse support to a party seen as investigating one of India's corruption milestones. Not after what has happened in Mumbai where the Congress-NCP government's refusal to accept the Adarsh Commission report that named politicians and bureaucrats may haunt it during the upcoming elections, and especially if the judiciary gets into the act as the BJP has promised. The Adarsh report mess has even sullied the reputation of Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, one of the few Congress politicians respected for his clean image. BJP PM candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is already heaping ignominy on Congress VP Rahul Gandhi for his idealistic talk on corruption but refusing to walk the talk when it comes to the very suspicious actions of the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra. After all, what CWG is to Delhi, Adarsh is to Maharashtra.
Any Congress move thanks to AAP being proactive on investigating corruption will only backfire on the Grand Old Party and the AAP will come out smelling of roses and as a player seen as fulfilling its promises on corruption. Some Congress leaders are already planning backroom moves but not much may come of these plans. And it's not that the AAP needs years in government to prove it can govern. Governance is no rocket science, Kejriwal told mediapersons a few days ago, but the AAP seems to be looking at doing as much as it can in as little as two months since the Election Commission will implement the Model Code of Conduct by end-February for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. A tough Jan Lokpal bill for Delhi which neither the Congress nor the BJP can afford to reject unless they want further association as parties neck deep in corruption, some more noises about reducing power bills with some arm twisting of private utilities, announcing free water per household up to 700 litres a day as promised in the AAP manifesto, are all achievable within two months. And the average Indian doesn't care much for economics and fiscal deficits at a time when inflation is wrecking his finances. Then there's lifestyle itself, a factor that is not insignificant to the urban, educated Indian voter. Kejriwal drove to meet Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in his Maruti Wagon R, a fact that was not lost on media or the average Delhiite. At a time when even my local municipal corporator in Mumbai drives a BMW, the average Indian's admiration for Kejriwal's lifestyle will only increase. After all, his lifestyle is the completely opposite of a normal Indian politician's who the average Indian sees as completely mired in corruption. Plus, there's security and cavalcades and lal battis, all part of the VIP culture, which the average Indian detests and sees as more signs of corrupt politicians who are completely out of sync with the real India that's furious about corruption and luxurious lives led by politicians at the taxpayer's expense. Kejriwal has already refused security and it is very likely he won't move to the official residence of the Chief Minister too. India may well get its first ever Chief Minister
who uses public transport like the Delhi Metro. A disciplined and austere lifestyle in power will endear Kejriwal to even more Indians. I remember running into Maharashtra politician Raj Thackeray at Mumbai airport a few years ago. I was waiting with 5-6 others in queue for security screening when some security men came and started making way for someone. "There comes another VIP," I thought, and within a few seconds, Raj Thackeray popped up. He saw us, saw the queue and after a moment of indecision decided to stand in the queue, right behind me. Since his security men were frantic, I told him he could break the queue if he was in a hurry, but he graciously refused and said he would stand in queue. When I mentioned this on Facebook, some friends said they would actually vote for him because of his gracious behaviour. What's gracious about queuing up, I remember thinking, but now I realise that the average Indian hates the VIP culture of our politicians so much that even a divisive politician who evokes strong reactions becomes palatable if he is seen as not being part of the VIP culture. And Arvind Kejriwal seems to be miles ahead of Raj Thackeray on this one. And miles ahead of the BJP and Congress on other aspects. Clearly, he has outmanoeuvred both the national parties. Now it's his game to lose.
gets to be CM and leader of oppn

The problem for the Congress is that it has walked into a trap it laid for AAP. It began with Kejriwal calling the Congresss bluff and deciding to form the government, without toning down the anti-Congress rhetoric.
Congs big headache: Kejriwal
he Congress has possibly never faced a worse predicament. The party that has repeatedly humbling its rivals in games of brinkmanship over the past six decades suddenly appears a confused lot, that too when pitted against the Aam Admi Party, a political upstart.
Sanjay Singh, December 25, 2013
lower down the order when they shot off two letters of support for AAP? Or is it that the dissenting voices and the official admission that Congressmen are divided over the issue are strategically choreographed? Or perhaps, by talking about a contrarian perspective within the party, it is now trying to find some respectability amid a rather humiliating situation.
After all, it is not everyday that Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi speaks on record. He speaks only when it becomes a top priority issue. He speaks with clearance from the top. He weighs every word in the most miserly way. It was therefore construed to be very interesting, even intriguing, when Dwivedi came out to speak at length on the party's support to Kejriwal:"There is also an opinion that perhaps the decision to support AAP The party first showed an undue hurry in ex- in this manner was not correct. Some peotending unconditional support to the Aam ple feel this. Their argument is that Delhi Admi Party, handing over a letter to that voters have not given their support to Coneffect to the Lt Governor of Delhi, following gress to the extent that the party could win that up by committing, again in writing, to only eight seats and it has not even got the Arvind Kejriwal that it agreed in letter and post of leader of the opposition. Perhaps, it spirit with 18 stern demands posed by him would have been appropriate that we would to Sonia Gandhi. Then, even before the gov- have left it to others to form government ernment they promised to support assumes whoever wanted it. The Congress governoffice, they have started worrying about ment in Delhi in last 15 years changed the their fate. face of the city. Despite this voters did not accept us ... It was not our duty ... whether The question is, did the Congress leadersomebody forms the government or not." ship not know of the sentiments in the party
Actually, the problem for the Congress is that it has walked into the trap it had laid for AAP. It began with Kejriwal calling the Congress's bluff and deciding to form the government. Without even toning down AAP's venomous rhetoric against Congress. The Congress ploy for some moral grandstanding, offering to provide unconditional support to a young rival after Rahul Gandhis public pronouncement that his party needed to learn a lot from the nascent AAP, badly boomeranged. Kejriwals tactic to go for a referendum, even if it was self-seeking, enhanced his public standing. Kejriwal's strength lay in the simple wisdom that he wins both ways -- if Congress continues to offer support he could function like leader of the party which had absolute majority and where he could take decisions without caring for presence of other parties in the Assembly, and secondly, if the Congress pulls the rug then he would go out as a martyr claiming he was always so right about the Congress's treachery and corruption. The Congress too knows the follies of any misadventure at this stage, at least till parliamentary elections are over. So a stalwart Dwivedi was forced to add that since the support has already been given it has to continue like that. Sonia Gandhis political secretary Ahmed Patel too reiterated support to AAP. Off record, senior Congress leaders are now blaming Sheila Dikshit for first voicing an unconditional support to AAP. Other party leaders followed suit in in-house deliberations thinking that was Rahul Gandhis line because he had spoken highly of AAP. This also fitted perfectly in Congresss approach to do anything that might put roadblocks Modis onward march. Kejriwal came as a force that could act as spoiler in some areas to rising prospects of BJP. It had also hoped to get certain quid-pro-quo respectability from AAP, if nothing else. But since then Congresss script has gone awry and even their leader Rahul Gandhis wisdom is be-
ing questioned by leaders and workers lower down the order in the party. There is also a great deal of resentment over initial use of work unconditional. They have now been trying hard to attach conditionality to their support. There is strong a view that the party should have called it unilateral than unconditional. The term unilateral stated a factual position and could have been construed to be guided by some strategy. Instead, initial usage of the word unconditional was taken as subjugation to AAP, which is not the case. Kejriwal and his team treated that as subjugation and by the time the Congress think tank realised the inherent follies it was too late in the day. Since a letter of support for Kejriwal had already been given to the Lt Governor, the support could be countermanded only by another letter announcing withdrawal of support, with or without citing reasons. Incidentally, AAP leaders are thoroughly enjoying the Congresss discomfort. The AAP quietly tamed the possibility of an in-house Vinod Kumar Binny revolt through some quiet late-night diplomacy. By constantly talking of Congress and the BJP in negative terms even as he is about to assume office of Chief Minister, Kejriwal is trying to achieve an impossible feat be the de-jure Chief Minister and be the de-facto Leader of Opposition. Thats an excellent strategy for now. How long it works that way is anybodys guess.
Why divorce isnt an option

While Congress might be re-evaluating its decision to support the AAP, political experts that Firstpost spoke to feel that such a decision wont be good for the overall image of the Congress.
Congress alliance with AAP:
Shruti Dhapola, December 25, 2013 Firstpost spoke to feel that such a decision won't be good for the overall image of the Congress in Delhi and perhaps even beyond. Sanjay Kumar, professor at Centre for Study of Developing Societies told us, "If the Congress had taken a stand earlier that they will not offer support to the AAP, that would have been fine. However at this stage if they say they want to withdraw support, that will harm the image of the party. Supposing they do this, they withdraw support and there is re-election in the state, I feel the Congress will do very badly and go down to half of what they are right now in Delhi." However, he feels this current drama wont have any impact on the national stage at least where the Congress is concerned. According to Pradip Kumar Dutta, professor at the Delhi University, the matter of Congress withdrawing support from AAP would have a negative effect for the grand-old party. He points that firstly, "This isn't a private understanding between two parties. There is a constitutional element to it as the Congress has gone to the LG and written that they will extend support. If they withdraw support, that would be compromising the Constitutional credibility of the promise they have given." Secondly he says, that at the popular level it would reflect the Congress as irresponsible and suspect. "It would seem like the Congress has something to hide. The AAP has promised to investigate charges of corruption and if the Congress withdraws support, it reflects badly on them. The AAP will be seen as a party that is ready to act on corruption and that they are ready to practice politics with a difference."
ew Delhi: AAPs government hasnt even been sworn yet and it looks like the outside support alliance from Congress is already in trouble. In the current Delhi Assembly AAP has 28 seats, while Congress has 8 seats. BJP has 32 seats. All parties are well short of the 36 half-way mark required to form the government. With outside support from the Congress, the AAP looked set to form the government. However that may not be so easy.
On Tuesday, there were reports that the Congress is seriously considering withdrawing support from AAP. Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi was quoted as saying, "There is also an opinion that perhaps the decision to support AAP in this manner was not correct. Some people feel this." He also emphasised that, "... Outside support is never unconditional. It is always issue-based." While Congress might be re-evaluating its decision to support the AAP, political experts that
An alliance with the AAP is important for Congress image, feels Dipankar Gupta, former professor at JNU and author of the book Revolution from Above: India's Future and the Citizen Elite. Gupta says, "From an organisational point of view, the Congress needs the AAP to shed its image of a corrupt government. If they do withdraw support, it wont be good for them at all. They need to repair their image before they move on into the general Lok Sabha elections." He also points out that not everyone in the Congress will be happy with this and says, "There will be people in the Congress who wont be happy with the decision to support AAP. Theres a fear that AAP will call for inquiries into corruption-related issues and it will affect some people in the Congress." As far as the nature of the AAP and Congress alliance Kumar points out that this isn't going to be an easy relationship. He says, "It will be turbulent set up. This is a very, very uneasy alliance and Congress has been pushed into a corner into offering outside support. Over the months, Congress is likely to read up the AAP manifesto in detail and go after them on each point. There might be a lot of protests and dharnas from the Congress."
Dutta also points out that that the withdrawal of support from AAP would not be good for the BJP either. He says, "The anti-Congress vote would swing more in favour of AAP and they are likely to benefit. BJP will also be badly affected as they are the other party to benefit from antiCongress votes." "Symbolic power becomes even more exaggerated. If Congress withdraws support, it will be self-destructive for them," he points out. As far as defection and the possibility of breaking up the AAP is concerned, Kumar says this is very unlikely. He says, "Defection will highly improbable under the current anti-defection law. One third of AAP MLAs would have to leave the party and that seems unlikely. Binny is a one off case where an MLA is unhappy. It is highly unlikely that there would be others as well." For now, it seems the Congress is in a tight spot. Withdrawing support from AAP might not be good for its image at all while on the other hand AAP is likely to launch investigations into corruption charges against former Congress MLAs. As Gupta points, out that, "For the Congress, the decision to support AAP isn't risk-free at all."
The real test for Arvind Kejriwal: Will Babus be his friends or foes?
Delhis bureaucrats have an infinitely superior knowledge of the working of Government than Kejriwal and his Cabinet of novices. Kejriwal needs to reach out to them.
Dhiraj Nayyar, December 26, 2013 he life of Arvind Kejriwal's government in Delhi - to be sworn in on December 28 -- will obviously depend on its armslength ally (or is it a cuddled-up foe?), the Congress party. The government's performance, however, will crucially depend on another, less acknowledged foe - Delhi's gargantuan bureaucracy. Kejriwal and his ministers will enjoy the luxury of making policy, but in India's system of Government, it is the bureaucracy which actually does the work of implementation.
to an IAS officer, the Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. It is not unreasonable to expect some tension between Delhi's senior officials and Kejriwal. How will Delhi's lower bureaucracy react to the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal? AAP's voters are likely to have been frustrated with petty corruption as much if not more than the grand corruption of high offices. AAP's mandate is to crack down on petty corruption along with high level corruption. If Kejriwal and his new Jan Lokpal train their guns at officials of the lower bureaucracy - who may not believe that their small time corruption is deserving of strict punishment - the Government can expect a backlash from junior babus. It would be foolish for any politician to underestimate the power of the lower bureaucracy - a file can go missing or be stalled for indefinite periods effectively stalling decisions. Now leave aside any animosity factor in either the upper or lower bureaucracy. The fact is that Delhi's bureaucrats have an infinitely superior knowledge of the working of Government than Kejriwal and his Cabinet of novices. At least Kejriwal has some experience in Government having served as an IRS officer for several years. But the other ministers in his Cabinet will depend on the bureaucracy to guide them through the complicated beast that Government is. This asymmetry of knowledge will favour only one side, and that is not AAP. Perhaps Kejriwal and his ministers could spend the next two days watching the old British comedy series Yes Minister to prepare themselves for what lies ahead. Arvind Kejriwal doesn't hide his almost rabid
On this score, AAP has more than a few reasons for concern. For a start, how will Delhi's higher bureaucracy (Chief Secretary, Secretaries of Departments) composed of IAS officers react to Arvind Kejriwal, IRS (resigned)? In the hierarchy within babudom, the IAS believes it comes first, above the other all-India Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service and much above the Indian Revenue Service, whose senior-most officials in the Government of India (Chairmen of the Board of Direct Taxes and the Board of Excise and Customs) always report
dislike of the establishment. On the campaign trail, this usually referred to the Congress and BJP. But the reality is that the bureaucracy is as much a part of the establishment as the established political parties. Kejriwal would have no love for the bureaucracy, but if he is interested in running a performing Government, this is one part of the establishment he needs to reach out to, be conciliatory with, and win them over. Every successful Chief Minister in India, whether from the BJP or Congress or a third party, has managed to propel the bureaucracy into productive action. What matters for citizens is the delivery of important Government services (from law and order to education to health) and these can only be delivered by an empowered and effective bureaucracy. Once in Government, Kejriwal needs to stop making new enemies. He needs a few new friends if he intends to keep his promises.
Kejriwal should take up 1984

AAP must set itself up as a liberal force devoid of any baggage. Ensuring justice for the violence of 1984 in well thought out fashion is one way. Justice for 2002 will follow.
Hartosh Singh Bal, December 24, 2013
Time for real liberals: Why
uch has been said about the priorities for the new AAP government over the next six months. But commentators have not made much mention of what remains the greatest stigma on Delhi the 1984 massacre of Sikhs and the subsequent response by the Indian state which is the most extreme case example of our administrative and legal system colluding in a denial of justice.
re-opening of wrongly closed cases, they need to consider cases that were never filed in the first place or punish those indicted by previous commissions which would include many in the senior leadership of the Delhi Police. These concrete steps, along with similar proposals for what needs to be done for the victims of the 2002 killings in Gujarat, must then become part of its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. A protest by Sikhs against the acquittal of Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Firstpost Focusing attention on the issue is what is necessary today, at a time when a great number of Congress supporters who have brought the term liberal into disrepute seek to dismiss the relevance of 1984, at a time when both Congress and BJP supporters play the your-killings-wereworse-than-ours game. The latest to join the fray is Amartya Sen, who argued that Congress leaders, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, who were fighting elections today, were not the people responsible for the anti-Sikh riots. No one had accused them of that, whereas Modi was the chief minister when the riots took place. Moreover, he said that the anti-Sikh riots were not something that fitted into the Congress philosophy. "There is no philosophy of killing Sikhs in the Congress," he told NDTV in an interview. Quite apart from the fact that it would come as no great relief to the families of victims that the deaths of their family members were not philosophically motivated, this is simply untrue. Since 1984 all those who collaborated in the violence have systematically been rewarded within
This is an issue that figures in the AAP manifesto as a commitment to 'providing justice to victims of 1984 riots' and 're-opening wrongly closed cases'. Directly there may seem to be little that the AAP government in Delhi can do. It probably cannot even announce another commission of inquiry because public order does not lie under the ambit of the Delhi government. But there is nothing to stop the party from setting up a time-bound consultative process with the citizens of Delhi on the steps that need to be taken urgently to ensure justice for 1984. These steps need to go beyond the
the Congress, a process that has continued even today. Sajjan Kumars son was given the ticket for the recent Delhi elections and the recently announced chief of the Delhi Congress Arvinder 'Lovely' is the son of a man who distinguished himself in the city by his fervent attempts to ensure that HKL Bhagat was not blamed for the 1984 killings. The sins of the fathers must not visit the sons but how can they be ignored when the sons continue to benefit from the sins? When Amartya Sen talks of those fighting elections today, he forgets Kamal Nath who headed a mob that burnt two Sikhs to death outside Gurdwara Rakabganj within sight of Parliament. What explains such amnesia, or the inability to acquaint himself with even a semblance of the truth in a scholar such as Amartya Sen? The same amnesia is evident in a book written by his good friend, the philosopher Martha C Nussbaum, who actually has stated that rape and killing-by-incineration were not central elements of the violence in 1984. And there was no gas in the gas chambers Ms Nussbaum? From high philosophy to trivial commentary these sentiments abound, without provoking the outrage they would have if they were made about a party other than the Congress. In the Business Standard Mihir S Sharma, whose bias in this matter borders on the communal, actually went on to argue that he would consider 1984 relevant today 'when I see a spate of attacks on Sikhs by Congressmen across north India in 2013'. This denial of the truth by otherwise respected members of the secular class in Delhi is understandable. Long years of social commonality through collegial friendship or interactions that start as professional linkages between bureaucrats and Congress politicians and then go down generations have tied together Delhis secular elite with a certain section of the Congress leadership. This is the elite that is often represented in most of the well-heeled NGOs, in certain TV channels, or the opinion writing section of the media. This is the elite that cant tell the difference between being liberal and being supportive of the Congress. This is also the elite that is paving the way for Narendra Modi, much as the hollowness of the secular elite in Turkey paved
the way for an autocrat and demagogue such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In such a climate the AAP must set itself up as a liberal force devoid of this baggage. And taking up 1984 in well thought out fashion is one way of beginning to do so. The case for ensuring justice in incidents of communal violence must begin with 1984. To be able to obtain justice for the violence of 2002 in Gujarat without addressing 1984 will always leave us open to charges of selective justice, on the other hand, if justice for 1984 is ensured, justice for 2002 will have to follow. This is a cause that goes well beyond electricity bills and the Commonwealth Games scam, are you up to the challenge Arvind?
AAP looks beyond Delhi
target Bihar, UP for 2014 LS polls

Even as the Aam Aadmi Party gets ready to be sworn in to form the government in Delhi, the party workers have their energies equally focused on the upcoming Lok Sabha Election in 2014.
Soumik Mukherjee, December 27, 2013
Exclusive: How AAP plans to
ew Delhi: Even as the Aam Aadmi Party gets ready to be sworn in to form the government in Delhi, the party workers have their energies equally focused on the upcoming Lok Sabha Election in 2014.
sues like unemployment, communal unrest and a declining standards of living - are ideal for the AAP as it tries expanding its base. "People in Bihar have and UP have only seen corruption and muscle-flexing by political leaders. AAP will come as a breath of fresh air to these people who have the BJP, RJD, SP or BSP as options," says Hari Vash and senior journalist, political analyst and editor of a national daily. AAP seems to have zeroed in on the most economically and socially deprived section of voters in the said states. "In Bihar, we will be focusing on 14,000 villages where the population is less that 200. Hardly any development has taken place in theses villages. We will try take them along in our stride," says the AAP source.
Keeping the same in mind, the party seems to have completed a recce of the a handful of states in central and northern India. Having taken stock of the poll issues in these states, the party is mostly likely to now focus exclusively on the Bimaru states - the ones reeling under poverty, caste violence, corruption and administrative failure. "In Bihar, we found that people are very eager to join the party. Not only are they prospective voters, they are even willing to work as grassroots cadres," said a party insider who has been overseeing the support mobilization process in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. According to experts too, states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - crippled by a combination of is-
The party also has its sights set on the the tribal belt in the Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh. "The district convenor in Sonbhadra is a tribal himself," he adds. AAP insiders admit that their party would have already created a stronger support base in these areas had the recognized leaders like Kejriwal himself got a chance to campaign. However, they are busy making amends and a campaign will kick off soon. "Sanjay Singh and Pankaj Gupta, two of our national leaders will head a committee to set up a strategy for the sates in the upcoming election. And very soon the leaders will start travelling in these states outside Delhi," said Yogendra Yadav of AAP. Even though AAP has declared that it is yet to finalise a strategy for the general elections, the
party seems to have started making inroads and an impact already. For instance, in Bihar, RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad recently created a stir when he said that his party will not give a ticket to one of its ally's candidates as she is the wife of a muscleman. "This incident definitely shows that the political discourse is changing. And the political parties are also stressing on the clean politics factor," says SK Tyagi of JD(U), who claims that the AAP effect will barely dent their vote-bank. "Bihar is not Delhi. There are caste dynamics and communal issues that need to be considered. It will be difficult for AAP to repeat what they did in Delhi, in Bihar," he said.
two-month deadline for Delhi manifesto

The party has made it clear that the-pro people manifesto, which has catapulted them into power, will be the utmost priority for the new government.
Lok Sabha polls in mind, AAP sets
Soumik Mukherjee, December 23, 2013 According to sources in the party, it will be of pertinent for the new government to stop corruption creeping into the bureaucracy. "The ministers and our MLAs will have to set example for the bureaucrats then only you can expect them to be clean," said a source in the party. Other than the Lokpal bill, other priorities for the Delhi government will be to handle water and electricity issues. "Since we will have the initial two months to implement the new policies, we will have to make haste," the source said. The party, however, tried to wash off the controversy created by Prashant Bhushan's comment that the longevity of the AAP government will not be much. "His words have been used out of context," said a party member.
ew Delhi: After agreeing to form the government in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party is giving itself a time frame of not more than two months to implement all the key agendas of the party and to fulfill the promises it made in its election manifesto.
The short deadline of two months is understandable as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has realised that the Model Code of Conduct will be in vogue for the coming Lok Sabha polls in 2014 by the end of February. Once the Model Code of Conduct is implemented by the Election Commission no government in the states will be allowed to bring about any new bill or policies. The party has made it clear that the-pro people manifesto, which has catapulted them into power, will be the utmost priority for the new government. "Our priority is to pass the new Jan Lokpal Bill for Delhi, which will repeal the old Lokayukta," said AAP leader Sanjay Singh. "The key agenda is to end corruption and the new bill will deal with corruption with an iron fist," Singh said.
The party claims that there is no point in speculating the longevity of the government as it will not bow down to any political party if it has to make compromise to implement any of its agendas. "The government can last for a day or it can for next five years," said a party insider in condition of anonymity. "But the party will not let any political pressure come into the way of implementing its agendas," he said. AAP is now focussed on the formation of the government. "We had a word with the Lieutenant Governor where we told him that the we wanted to organise the swearing in ceremony at Jantar Mantar but the he told us that it should be held in a
bigger place. So we chose the Ramlila Maidan instead," said Yogendra Yadav of AAP. The party, however, claimed that a public ceremony will be held only to keep the common people in mind. "We cannot deprive the aam aadmi from being there during the swearing in," Yadav said.
Sabha polls: A Rs 100-crore kitty

The party may contest about 100 seats, and needs Rs 1 crore per candidate according to internal estimates.
FP Staff, December 26, 2013 t least one minister-to-be in the Aam Aadmi Party Cabinet in Delhi, Somnath Bharti, was on national television stating his poll campaign expenditure was less than Rs 5 lakh though he eventually vanquished some political heavyweights from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections. However, that has not stopped the Aam Aadmi Party from preparing to raise funds to the tune of Rs 1 crore per candidate as it makes a pitch for the general Parliamentary elections to be held in the summer of 2014.
What the AAP needs for Lok
AAP volunteer Pankaj Gupta, who handles the partys finances, told ET that according to AAPs calculations, they would need about Rs 1 crore per seat. "For the Delhi elections we decided to have an expenditure ratio of 1:2 between the candidate and the party," said Gupta. Currently, the Bhushan family comprising lawyer Prashant Bhushan and his father Shanti Bhushan, are among the largest donors to the party. Shanti Bhushan has reportedly made a second donation of Rs 1 crore to the party, after the Delhi polls. Meanwhile, the issue of foreign funds continues to nag the AAP with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs now readying a new questionnaire for the party. The MHA had earlier sent 30 questions to the AAP after the Delhi HC ordered an inquiry into allegations that the party had received foreign funding, a violation of the FCRA. According to a report in The Hindustan Times, a clean chit to the AAP may be inevitable apart from maybe a few cases where an Indian origin foreigner may have made a false declaration about his citizenship to make a donation. The AAP has already clarified that that it does not accept anonymous donations.
The AAP is likely to contest from a minimum of 100 seats nationally -- though some reports have pegged that figure at closer to 300 seats, since Arvind Kejriwal has himself been quoted as saying the party has presence in 309 different units across the country. For its 100 candidates, according to a report in The Economic Times, the party is targetting a resource pool of Rs 100 crore, five times what it raised for the Delhi elections.
BJP can dream about our social media reach, cant achieve it: AAPs IT chief
Firstpost speaks to Ankit Lal, who handles information technology for the party, on AAPs plans for social media in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and beyond.
he Aam Aadmi Party is all set to form the government in Delhi with Arvind Kejriwal as the chief minister. Part of its success in Delhi can be attributed to the kind of buzz that AAP enjoyed in the online world and social media. On both Facebook and Twitter, AAP has managed to make its presence felt. And the numbers aren't too bad either. For instance, the Delhi election result week was the most popular week for the party on Facebook. Also AAP's Facebook page which had 535,264 likes till 3 December now has close to 825,121 likes. The page is seeing nearly 67,000 new likes per week, according to the Facebook chart.
Shruti Dhapola, December 27, 2013 tion technology for the party, on AAP's plans for social media in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and beyond. The party has already begun working on local pages for cities and districts and is getting ready to experiment with some newer platforms as well. What will the social media campaigns for the 2014 elections be like for the AAP? Hopefully, we will be fighting 200 plus seats. That is the speculation right now. Even if we fight on all the 545 seats, then also we will be concentrating on urban and semi-urban seats where social media has greater outreach. Those seats come to around 250 to 260. For example, in Delhi all seven seats will be on the radar. Maharashtra, Gujarat have some seats. In UP. there are around more than 10 seats which will see an impact of social media. We'll try and get more traction on these seats. We have already got our state and district pages in place. We are in the process of distributing the charge of these pages to our local teams. They will be managed by the local teams and will be supervised by our core central team. We are trying to implement our swaraj model in social media as well.
On Twitter too the party did exceptionally well as election day saw hashtags #Vote4AamAadmiParty and #AAPSweepingDelhi trending consistently on the site. While the social media strategy for Delhi clicked for AAP, the question now is what next. Firstpost spoke to Ankit Lal, who handles informa-
All the pages are ready for the respective districts and states . You can see them at facebook. com/aap followed by the name of the district or state. We also be holding Google Hangouts soon with Arvind to spread the message of our 2014 campaign.
For the Lok Sabha elections, which party would see as the biggest challenger on social media? For instance BJP is pretty well established on the Internet. How will you counter that? We don't need to actively counter BJP. What we will do on social media is show the people what the AAP is already doing in Delhi. For example, Dinesh Mohaniya is already tackling water problems in Sangam Vihar. We'll try and show that on social media and put across the message that even though our people don't have the power, they are working to solve the problems at local levels. Plus in the last few days, the kind of social media activity our channels have seen is stupendous. BJP can dream about it, they can't achieve it. You also had a Call-Delhi campaign for Delhi elections with volunteers calling people. Is that likely to return? Also will you try out newer platforms online? This (Call Delhi) will be back in a bigger and better organised way.We'll also be trying out some new avenues. Till now we have not used Instagram and Pinterest as well and we'll probably start using these as well.
Now that there's an AAP government in Delhi, are we likely to see a more active government on social media? Is there a plan for this? I hope so. Right now have not talked about it to anyone. As per the party policy we have been very active on social media. We'll try our best to get it implemented. If the Delhi government needs any help my team and I will be available for it. Of course there are several ways in which social media can be used to help and interact with the local people. From water to road problems, all of this can be tracked and counter through social media in Delhi. We'll have to sit down with the departments and see the kind of resources they have and perhaps then chalk out a plan. Currently though we haven't talked about it with anyone department. For instance, Delhi traffic police has been using social media. How effective they have been is something I would want to know. Arvind has always been open to new technology. I'm hoping something like this will be done.
Is the Aam Aadmi Party a revolution?
French or American?
The Reign of Terror following the French Revolution has not happened, but AAP bears a striking resemblance to the Jacobins, who were officially called the Society of the Friends of the Constitution, and were radical and left wing.
Iconoclast, December 27, 2013 ie-hard supporters of Arvind Kejriwal call AAP a revolution. But is it really one? And, if yes, is it inspired by the French revolution or the American? I can already hear his supporters shouting. What a blasphemy. AAP is a revolution alright, but in its own right. Cant you guys think Indian? You toadies of slavish mentality!
RSS. Rahul Gandhis approach was becoming more and more platonic, not in its love for the masses, but in its philosopher king refrain. His pontifications were becoming more and more a butt of jokes, and the populist space that the Congress had so assiduously built for itself was being ceded with an alarming speed. Congressmen in Delhi had no clue who they were championing, and in a famous gaffe, Sheila Dixit asked, who Kejriwal? The convenient and cosy political arrangements among rival parties of not targeting their top leaders had been blown to smithereens. Now let us read an encyclopaedic entry on the French Revolution: Popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy, aristocracy and the King's court at Versailles combined with an economic crisis following the expenses of the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War and years of bad harvests. Demands for change were couched in terms of Enlightenment ideals and led to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and an epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. The next few years were dominated by struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. A republic was proclaimed in September 1792 and King Louis XVI was executed the next year. Does all this bear an uncanny resemblance
AAP is a symbol of protest, and in many ways has rewritten the rules of the game. To many political analysts, AAP has revolutionised the political space by emphasising many of the aspects that our political class never thought possible: the non-VIP politician, transparent sources of funding for elections, a passion against corruption, unorthodox electioneering, zealous probity, and a connect with its target voter. These are the very things that the established political parties had lost sight of, specially Congress and regional parties. BJP still had a modicum of connect through its mentor,
to the AAP phenomenon? To me, everything looks the same except the element of violence. Though one must say that the political witchhunt being planned by Kejriwal is nothing but metaphorical violence against its opponent. What one needs to remember even more is the Reign of Terror followed the uprising, led by the Jacobins and Maximillien Robespierre, and culminating in Robespierre himself going under the guillotine. The Reign of Terror was characterised by mob justice. Graphic accounts of how the victims were brought to the guillotine camp, and how blood thirsty mobs delivered instant justice, have enlivened the accounts of history. The mobs did not follow any procedure. Their innate hatred of the aristocracy, the privileged, the rich and the famous, led to an unimaginable bloodbath without a single canon of procedure being followed. Zoom to 2013 and the referendum exercise by AAP. It bears uncanny resemblance to the mob decisions of 1793-94. So, is Kejriwal the new Robespierre and AAP a reinvention of the Jacobins? Please remember, the Jacobins were officially called Society of the Friends of the Constitution and were radical and left wing. Again, an uncanny resemblance with AAP. Remember again, the Reign of Terror ended with Robespierre himself going under the guillotine, and the extreme left policies being discredited. AAP has not yet started its Reign of Terror, but the signs are all but evident. Kejriwal is left, he is radical, he is opinionated, and deeply ambitious. The American Revolution, on the other hand, was a rightist phenomenon, and due to a 7 year war fought against the British, the political formations which took charge were not populist, left, or radical. They were pragmatic people who forged a strong republic which has withstood every test and made it a superpower. The AAP is, therefore, not the American hue but the French colour. The ideas engendered by the French enlightenment fed the French Revolution, and the ideas engendered by Anna Hazare made AAP the phenomenon that it became. The way AAP is shaping up, road from here on is one of ruin and perdition, given the style adopted
by AAP, interestingly being all style and little substance. Does anyone remember how the French Revolution formally ended? The directory was bankrupt and ineffective, the country longed for a decisive ruler, and Napoleon Bonaparte took over on popular sentiment. Is Narendra Modi reading this? (Iconoclast is an insider with a ringside view of matters that matter. He is a keen observer of political and administrative intrigues as also of sports and culture.)
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Table of contents

AAP says it will form Delhi government

The reactions to the AAPs decision

Can AAP keep its grand pre-poll promises?

Kejriwal as Chief Minister: The challenges ahead

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AAP looks beyond Delhi

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AAP says it will form Delhi government

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AAP says it will form Delhi govt, Kejriwal to be next CM

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Photos: Arvind Kejriwal stakes claim

to become Delhis youngest CM

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Manish Sisodia. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost

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The scene outside Arvind Kejriwal's house. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost

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Young and first-timers: USP of Kejriwals cabinet in Delhi

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Arvind Kejriwal to form govt in Delhi, but can he deliver?

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Letter from AAP to the bride-to-be

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The reactions to the AAPs decision

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#AAPCon: Twitter slams Kejriwal

for accepting Congress support

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Decoding business communitys fear and awe for AAP

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AAP is walking into a BJP-Cong trap by forming the Delhi govt

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Problem of AAP: Why Kejriwal is more of a mouse-that-roared

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Can AAP keep its grand pre-poll promises?

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will help fund Kejriwal freebies

How Sheila Dikshits fiscal prudence

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wont give better governance

AAPs high moral ground alone

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Why AAP faces self-destruction

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AAP may be on the wrong track

Perils of direct democracy:

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Kejriwal as Chief Minister: The challenges ahead

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dent Congress more than BJP

Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi CM may

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The real political genius is Kejriwal

Step aside Modi, Rahul:

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