Arvind Kejriwal – AAP – Fascinating success story!!

Till couple of months back, when Delhi elections were being announced, no one gave any outside chance for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or for that matter to Arvind Kejriwal.

Senior Leaders from the party were leaving; quite a few of them while leaving accused Arvind Kejriwal of being dictatorship, not listening to others etc. And opponents were dismissing them out rightly, stating Arvind to be ‘bhagoda’, one time wonder etc.

And on 10^th February, when nation was glued to news channels, what they got to see was a stunning result, that blasted the party ruling at centre, which was expecting Delhi to be easy win, something they had taken for granted. AAP got 96% of the seats (67 out of 70 seats), which is a monumental record in Delhi elections history. Something that has never been achieved, and that too by a new party which has established themselves just couple of years earlier.

These truly made global headlines, on how a small party, that does not has any major names or backing has defeated the mighty political party in power at their own den, so to speak.

When we analyse this success story, there are many areas that AAP & Arvind Kejriwal, in particular did very well, which touched the public. Of course, their win was also facilitated by their opponents, knowingly or unknowingly.

• Perseverance: Arvind/AAP never gave in to opponents, no matter how much they stooped themselves down to. They kept doing, what was correct as per them.
• Build your support system & leaders: Though Arvind was the face of party, there were equally strong support system, cadre, including the likes of Manish Shisodia, Yogendra Yadav etc.
• Clear ideology: AAP communicated its ideology & what they stand for, very early in their campaign. So there was no last minute manifesto or confusing signals to voting public.
• Common man image: Arvind’s image as a common man had etched strongly in people’s mind. There were no helicopters for aerial visits or fancy designer suits or fancy vehicles being taken around for campaigning etc. Arvind lived up to his right throughout and even his opponents could not attack him much on that image. This helped voting public to see him as one among them.
• Be positive, keep negativity at distance: Haters gonna hate. And in politics, no matter how good a person is, opponents will find reasons to hate. No two parties appreciate each other, even if they do not have anything to criticize. It is all about hate & hatred. BJP tried lot of negative campaigns and it backfired in this election, like, making fun of Arvind’s gotra, questioning AAP’s party funds, bhagoda (for Arvind quiting in 49 days in his earlier stint) and so on. But this only solidified public behind Arvind.
• Accept mistakes: In politics, generally parties do not apologies for their mistakes. Congress never apologised for Blue Star operations in 1984, BJP did not apologies either for 1991 Babri Masjid or for 2002 Gujarat riots etc., in spite of proven guilty. But Arvind apologised openly for his mistake of resigning in his earlier CM stint, that they faltered then in their judgement. While BJP tried using this to their advantage & criticized Arvind as Bhagoda, that did not cut any ice with public. Clearly, AAP were willing to make amendments and move on.

With great power comes great responsibility: While everybody is lauding AAP’s victory the real test begins now. Success brings along with it hope and responsibility. And this is true for us too. It is important to plan ahead of success. Handling these responsibilities and living up to the expectations is the only sure way to achieve the next milestone. Let’s plan and track our own progress on that front while the nation tracks AAP.

As the AAP victory goes down in history, we must carry these learnings with us. It’s time to take action and start writing your own success story now!