AAP to put common man at centre stage

• Delhi results encourages party to scale up
• Aam Admi Party aims to go national

New Delhi: After its spectacular debut in the Delhi Assembly elections, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) is aiming to go national. Given the resonance among the common people, AAP leaders are convinced that it will reverberate across the country. The Delhi assembly election performance is seen more as a trailer of the larger picture.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi virtually caused a flutter, when he acknowledged that AAP has involved people, who are conventionally not involved by mainstream political parties. AAP leadership comprises of professionals like Yogendra Yadav, a former psephologist; Prashant Bhushan, who is a legal luminary; Kumar Vishwas, a poet; Shazia Ilmi, a former TV anchor and journalist; Rakhi Birla, former TV anchor; Ashok Chauhan, a former junior cricketing star; and Surendra Singh, a former NSG commando, who was involved in the anti-terrorist operation during the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack.

Little is known about AAP stands for. Primarily it has drawn its sustenance from the Jan Lokpal agitation run by social activist Anna Hazare, which gave high visibility and served as a launching pad for Arvind Kejriwal. Building upon it, Arind Kejriwal chose to jump into electoral politics. The party, which bounced on the political centre-stage now, has caused a flutter, despite its ideology not widely known. The party seeks to put the common man on pedestal and weave its politics around him.

According to Shazia Ilmi, the Constitution was readied on November 26, 1949, but it was formally adopted on January 26, 1950. The Aam Asdmi Party was launched by Arvind Kejriwal on November 26, 2012, as the focus is on the Constitutional principles that have not been implemented. The Preamble to the Constitution starts on the note, “We the People of India.” However, the successive political parties and the Government have relegated the people to the background and started focusing on the politicians and officialdom.

AAP seeks to bring the focus back on the people, who really matter in a democracy. The people are the ultimate masters in a democracy and their primacy must be reestablished, she pointed out.

Somnath Bharti, elected from Malviya Nagar, pointed out how self-governance, community-building and decentralization are the key concepts of the AAP. He said the promises of justice and equality contained in the Preamble to the Constitution have not been fulfilled. The common man has hopes that AAP will translate it into reality.

Ashok Kumar Chouhan, who trounced former DPCC President and former Delhi Assembly Speaker Chaudhri Prem Singh, said, AAP took up the common man’s woes like electricity tariff, water problem and price rise. “When Delhi Government banned advertisements on autos in the Capital, AAP extended its support. Most of the auto-drivers supported AAP, as they found that it was supporting their cause,” he Ashok Chauhan said. High on the party’s political agenda are Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by Anna Hazare, right to recall, right to reject and political decentralization, he said.

Rakhi Birla, former TV anchor, who defeated former Delhi Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan iof the Congress, who was indicted by the CAG, insisted that AAP stands for transparency in all the processes of decision-making in the Government, which have all along been shrouded in Official Secrets Act.