"Aam Aadmi" and its Side Effects !

There is a question that has been troubling some of us right from the time the term “Aam Aadmi” is being used for political reasons. The question is- Who is an Aam Aadmi ? The question is- Why has 'Aam Aadmi' become a term so popular all of a sudden?

We cannot deny that marketing is required in everything we do in our life. When one faces an interview, the person markets himself as the best candidate; when one goes to a party, one markets his image in public for popularity; when one carries out a business for livelihood, he markets the product and the services offered by him. Similarly, when a political party comes into the arena of elections, it MARKETS its IDEOLOGY. You will agree that any marketing targets a SEGMENT, e.g. interviewee targets the interviewer, an individual targets the people attending the party, a businessman targets a SPECIFIC class of customers, obviously Audi cannot afford to target newspaper mongers as their potential customers. Similarly, a political party’s primary objective is to gain support in terms of votes, and for that they target the voters. How many of us will agree that each and every voter will vote for ONE political party, which means 100 % vote going to ONE party? Perhaps none of you will call it rational if I say that it can happen. And that’s where SEGMENTATION of voters comes into picture. A new political party first of all figures out who are the potential voters, who can be tapped. They make strategy about how to penetrate the market where there are already a number of seasoned players. THEN they jump into the electoral arena to implement the chalked out strategy. A voter to a political party is what a customer is to a shop, they assess the product (ideology in case of a political party) and then they buy it.

Recently emerged AAP without doubt is endeavoring to penetrate the market. For their good, they also needed to target a segment of voters who would be potential voters, and hence they started using the term “Aam Aadmi” to target the segment who considers himself an “Aam Aadmi”. Secondly, “Corruption” ! It’s another term which is used to target another segment of voters who understand what corruption is. They are the intellectual class of people who are either within the country or working outside India. The most pertinent question is whether this segmentation is SUSTAINABLE? After all who is an Aam Aadmi ? Are Aam Aaadmi the people who do not use A/C or a heater? Or, are only people who do not live in a decent apartment an Aam Aadmi? This concept somehow sounds flawed! Will a person living in a slum consider YOU, who live in an apartment, an Aam Aadmi? Haven’t you ever heard- “साहब, आपको किस चीज़ की कमी है ?”, Hasn’t your domestic help ever said- “आप लोग तो बड़े लोग हैं| ”. If we understand their perspective, we are NOT an Aam Aadmi! For a moment can we imagine the perspective of a domestic help about an individual who is working abroad? Can you convince that that individual too is an Aam Aadmi? After all it’s the individual who is abroad knows how easy life is in a foreign land for most of the Indians. Life certainly isn't that easy, no matter where and who you are! For people living in a slum, people living in apartments are not Aam Aadmi; for people living in an apartment, people who live in spacious bungalows are not Aam Aadmi; for people living in bungalows, people who live in bungalows in a BETTER LOCALITY are not Aam Aadmi. This class difference continues and the question remains unanswered- After all WHO is an Aam Aadmi? Is Mrs. Meera Sanyal, former CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland an Aam Aadmi? Or Mrs. Shazia Ilmi is an Aam Aadmi, who has  declared assets of more than 31 crores? Is the word “Aam aadmi” not getting on to the nerves now? 

If we understand the term “Aam Aadmi” in right perspective, there is NO ONE who is not an Aam Aadmi. Every individual is Aam for the class he belongs to. So, when a party tries to target the segment of “Aam Aadmi”, the intention is to create the LARGEST segment possible to garner MAXIMUM number of votes. The question is- Can such party, which finds itself in power all of a sudden, resist creating a further class among people on the basis of consumption of electricity and water? Can such party cater to all its voters who as an Aam Aadmi voted for the Aam Aadmi Party? Perhaps the party has realized that it CANNOT. Hence, further segmentation is being tried, like AAP leader Prashant Bhushan demanding referendum in Kashmir on deployment of army to handle internal threats. Is Kashmir the only state where AFSPA is in place? Now, which segment can be pleased by such demand is anyone’s guess. The question is- Is this kind of politics in the interest of the country and is it something NEW?

Youth like us have really been impressed by anti-corruption movement. We all appreciate that at least someone like Anna Hazare stood up against corruption. However, the question is – Can segmentation of voters on basis of anti-corruption sentiment really SUSTAIN? If yes, then how long? Mr. V.P. Singh became PM of India due to his fight against corruption, today very few of us know. He was the one who raised his voice against Bofors scam! However, his party had to resort to an alternative segmentation by creating Mandal Commission on Reservations. And in the very next general elections the same anti-corruption ideology was battling for life. Corruption is as comprehensive as the air in atmosphere. Corruption not only means an officer taking bribe but also a customer not returning an extra rupee given by the shopkeeper. It is a fact that not all situations have instant solutions. It is also a fact that corruption and development are among those issues which do not have quick-fix solutions. 

The question is- Whether such EXTRAORDINARILY broad segmentation of voters is NOT an inclined plane on which constant decline is unavoidable, unless corrective step of FURTHER segmenting the society is taken?  ...स्वयं विचार कीजिए !

Is it Apolitical Politics or it is just Politics?

India has been witnessing a phenomenal change in how today’s youth perceives politics and ideology of political parties. The Anna movement has been instrumental in awakening the people of country and in inducing a belief in them that they are strong enough to speak against corruption and against their representatives.  You will agree that two reasons, inter alia, that  Anna  successfully touched people’s sentiments was that he managed to generate faith in people for himself and that people felt challenged that if an old man can dare to fight why can’t they do the same. It was a movement which did not have any name and was not organized by a political party, perhaps this was one fact which generated more enthusiasm among people and gave a feeling that the nation is rising. If we imagine same kind of fast unto death by same Anna Hazare for any political party, do we see the same energy and zeal and same number of people at Jantar Mantar? The answer is NO, and that’s because we are SHY of expressing our political affiliation. Nobody wishes to be seen participating in an activity organized by a political party unless one is a cadre.

The recent Delhi elections and the AAP campaign would be a perfect case study for management schools. The Anna movement and birth of a political party in no time reminds me of train running on a track. When we travel in train, the train changes track a number of times but we feel that it’s running on the same track until it reaches the destination. The smooth transition of people who supported Anna movement as an individual, into an AAP cadre is similar.  It has led to a state where the intellectual supporters now cannot see what is there in disguise. People who will never deny the principle- “One should get what one deserves” are now vehemently defending the principle of “One should get what he requires irrespective of whether he deserves it or not”. One of the examples is the policy of 667 Lit free water /day. Policy states that if one uses more than the prescribed limit, ENTIRE CONSUMPTION will be charged with an ADDITIONAL 10% surcharge. If one sees it in perspective, it means that people who have washing machine, a good bathroom and sanitary provision etc. will pay not only for their consumption but will be punished with additional 10% increase in the tariff  for earning the living standard that he possesses. And the amount he pays is used by the Government for paying on behalf of the people, as a subsidy, who have not achieved that standard of living by their own hard work. This is what COMMUNISM means!

The conversion of an amazing movement into a political party has caused some damage which must not be ignored. The movement and the activism could have done much more benefit to the nation by forcing the existing political parties to mend their ways. The movement could have become a religion and anyone could have felt free to adopt it for the sake of the Nation. This will not happen now because like any other party it has also become a ‘package’ of good and bad where one can only choose all or nothing at all. It is a very general argument that one needs to dirty his hand to clean the dirt, not one political party denies that. Not one party supports corruption or justifies it. The question is whether everyone who is joining AAP is INCORRUPTIBLE? The question is whether everyone supporting this party is HONEST? How many people who are supporting the new party have NEVER tried to save income tax? How many of us have NOT unwillingly made investments in insurance plans, just to save income tax? Being lawful does not always mean honest. The question is of moral. The question is whether everyone who is joining the new party, including Congress leaders, becomes a real SAINT as soon as they pay ten rupees and wear a cap? The question is whether new leaders will be brought from another planet or will be inducted from this society itself?  Forming a political party immediately to convert the appreciation gained into votes and the supporters into cadre, for seats in Legislative Assembly has only raised questions.  An individual  who supported the Anna Movement and could not be converted into a cadre is bound to ask- Did you have plans to form a party when you protested at Jantar Mantar and asked people to join Anna Hazare ? It is difficult to believe if one says ‘No, we didn’t have plans at that time’. Can a party that speaks the language of SEASONED political parties be so naïve and so spontaneous? It’s challenging to believe. The extent of the damage is that if another Anna someday stands up to fight, one will ask first of all- Are you going to form a political party and fight for power? It will be difficult to believe! The assessment of performance of a government is not the purpose here, the question is whether it is a sacrosanct APOLITICAL POLITICS or it's just POLITICS? 

No matter how the government performs, some damage has been certainly caused to the faith of Aam Aadmi.