Announcing his resignation from the Delhi Chief Minister’s post was a natural step for Arvind Kejriwal, not just to contest the Lok Sabha polls, but to push his stature higher and legitimise himself as the inheritor of a historical legacy that pits an extraordinary individual against the corruption of the ruling elite.
AAP’s apparently inexplicable brand of activism is typical of the churning that intermittently takes place in India’s political landscape, when the common man becomes a crusader and a leader emerges with the avowed goal of cleansing the system.
History proves that such collective idealism in the absence of a coherent ideology has been short-lived. For the moment, however, AAP and its storm troopers are ready to take on the system and its corruption.
From a pathologist in Mumbai to a businessman in Ambala, Haryana, to a women’s rights activist in Karur, Tamil Nadu, there is a common strand in the variegated assortment of individuals who constitute the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) outside Kejriwal’s towering shadow in Delhi.
Besides the occasional flirtation with student politics, none of them has ever been affiliated with a political party. But a majority have run NGOs or been part of civil society efforts to run schools, oppose big dams, lead anti-liquor movements or spread awareness about elections.
The civil society members have found a point of convergence with others in the amorphous idea of ‘corruption’ to rally against the apparently uncivil political class. So, while they are preparing to contest the next elections, the common belief is that each of them is a satyagrahi, much in the mould of the common Congress workers in the time of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the agitationists in Jayaprakash Narayan’s anti-Emergency crusade and, more recently, in V. P. Singh’s Jan Morcha against systemic corruption, symbolised by the Congress.
A lot of them, like Anjali Damania, Ashawant Gupta and Christina Samy, may well contest elections like other politicians. But their goal is somehow higher than merely seizing political power. Like many of their historical predecessors, they have arrived on the scene on the promise of change. And for a while, the promise will ring truer than those by existing players.
In this special report, Business Line profiles a few of the AAP’s State-level convenors.
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B Ramakrishna Raju, Andhra Pradesh
Age: 57 years
Designation: AAP Convenor, Andhra Pradesh
Also known as: RTI Raju
Profession: Was a businessman; has been an activist for the last 10 years.
Political experience: Former Convenor of the National Alliance of People’s Movements; Civil society representative on AP Govt’s panel on RTI; worked with Aruna Roy on the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information.
Reason for joining AAP: Attracted by its ideals.
Responsibilities: Identifying issues at the State, district and local level and building campaigns in the run-up to the upcoming elections.
Ad-hoc committees set up in 23 districts to take up the responsibility.
Strategy for political mobilisation: The Delhi success has helped in forming a base. The objective now is to take this to the next level, cashing in on the acceptability. - KV Kurmanath
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Prithvi Reddy, Karnataka
Age: 43 years.
Designation: AAP Convenor, Karnataka
Profession: Engineer and social entrepreneur. Started a manufacturing company and now runs a rural school (SWABAL) in Srinivasapura, Kolar district.
SWABAL is a skill-building initiative for Class 10 dropouts, to help them find employment in small and medium manufacturing companies.
Political experience: “I was politically alive but had never participated in any party or electoral politics. From 2008, I have been active in a citizens’ initiative known as ‘Smart Vote’, targeted at improving voter turnout or making people know why they should go out and vote.”
Reason for joining AAP: He was struck by what a young Swedish Parliamentarian once said: “I have a dream about the city — how it needs to be; my country — how it should be; my world — how it should be.”
Mainstream politics remained elusive and out of reach but the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party excited him.
He was a little hesitant in the beginning. But after AAP’s victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, he was convinced that the country had a viable political alternative genuinely reflecting the concerns of the people.
Since then, he has been totally engaged with the party and its various activities.
Work assigned to him: Currently, he is a member of the AAP’s national executive and has been entrusted with building the party’s base in Karnataka. He is also active in the party’s committee on economic policy.
Strategy for political mobilisation in the state: AAP is still considered a North Indian party in Karnataka.
Hence, a door-to-door campaign titled Mane maneyalli Aam Aadmi, mane manege Aam Aadmi (Aam Aadmi in every home) has been initiated in the state. The success and spread of the party has been phenomenal — from an initial base of 56,000, membership has touched 300,000.
A dedicated call centre has been set up and a band of 7,300 volunteers has come forward to explain the party and its objectives to the voters. - Anil Urs
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Ashawant Gupta, Haryana
Age: 47 years.
Designation: AAP Convenor, Haryana
Profession: An engineer by training, Gupta runs a business with his four cousins in Ambala.
Political experience: Gupta had never been active in politics before Anna Hazare started his anti-corruption movement in 2011. He traces his association with the movement to the deeply ethical family values and high standards he sets with regard to his business. “For the past 30 years, we have run a clean business. That is our morality,” he says.
Reason for joining AAP: A “natural progression” from being part of the anti-corruption movement. As part of the movement, he felt for the first time that a genuine collective effort was under way to change India for the better.
He had never thought of joining politics but his engagement with the AAP has made him forget his business.
Responsibilities: Gupta’s responsibilities as state convenor go far beyond the usual work assigned to state conveners in the AAP because the party has a much better organisation in Haryana than in most states. Along with Yogendra Yadav, who oversees the affairs of the state from the central party, Gupta has initiated membership drives, organised rallies and protests, and is now engaged in organising the launch of AAP’s national campaign from Rohtak.
Arvind Kejriwal will launch the campaign at a rally there on February 23.
Strategy for political mobilisation: Besides organising small-scale meetings in every district of the state from December 15 to January 15, Gupta launched a membership drive which involved daily interaction with people. AAP’s membership base in Haryana has touched a million, says Gupta.
He plans to carry out a Jhadu Yatra from February 18 to February 22 to expose corruption in the system, ending with a rally in Rohtak. Although the February 23 rally was meant to be a culmination of the state-wise Jhadu Yatra , the events of the last week, which saw Kejriwal resigning as the Chief Minister of Delhi, have turned it into a launch-pad for the party’s national campaign. - Poornima Joshi
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Anjali Damania, Maharashtra
Age: 45 years
Designation: AAP Convenor, Maharashtra
Profession: A trained pathologist, Damania ran a successful diagnostic centre in Mumbai till the formal launch of the AAP in November 2013. Since then, she has quit her active practice and joined the party full time. Damania was associated with AAP’s predecessor, India Against Corruption (IAC), from April 2011, when Anna Hazare began his indefinite fast against corruption.
Political experience: Damania made a name for herself by first exposing irregularities in the award of the Kondhane dam in Raigad district, where her 30-acre plot had been acquired for construction of the dam.
A series of RTIs and PILs filed by her and other activists, especially Vijay Pandhare, a former technocrat who has dedicated several years to probing corruption in government projects, exposed what is now known as the Maharashtra irrigation scam.
Damania’s campaign against former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, especially her allegations against misuse of political power to further his business interests, led to the latter having to quit his post.
Although Damania reportedly hails from an RSS background, she is as much disillusioned with the BJP as with the NCP and the Congress.
Reason for joining AAP: Damania says political parties have formed an exclusive club that ensures equi-distribution of power and pelf.
She has publicly claimed that owing to his business relationship with NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Gadkari stopped his party leader Kirit Somaya from filing a public interest litigation on the Maharashtra irrigation scam.
In this context, she says, AAP has come as a “breath of fresh air”. After a long time, a political party has offered an opportunity to the common people to be involved with policy-formulation and is practising honest politics.
Responsibilities: Damania is the convenor of the AAP in Maharashtra. She has been entrusted with expanding the party’s popular base in the run-up to the next general elections.
Strategy for political mobilisation in the state: Damania has travelled to 28 of the 33 districts of Maharashtra and organised small public meetings and door-to-door campaigns.
According to her, the party has an instant recall even in the rural heartland. “Even I am pleasantly surprised by the level of enthusiasm among people,” she says. Damania says Arvind Kejriwal’s fight against corruption is AAP’s biggest political plank.
“We are seen as people who want to do something positive, unlike most politicians, who are just clamouring for power,” she says. - Poornima Joshi
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Prince Pathak, West Bengal
Age: 35 years.
Designation: AAP Convenor, West Bengal
Profession: An MBA in Marketing and Finance, Pathak runs his own business.
Political experience: Was active in student politics and a member of the Students Federation of India in college.
Reason for joining AAP: Disillusioned with mainstream politics, Pathak was drawn to the AAP’s anti-corruption movement. He found the party’s goals, agenda and leadership were different from current political formations, including the Trinamool Congress, which he says is “just a change of colour” from the Congress.
Pathak has been very enthusiastic in his support for the party and volunteered to work for the election campaign in Delhi. He joined many others from outside the capital to canvass for the AAP.
Responsibilities: Pathak is the AAP’s convenor in West Bengal and is in charge of expanding the party’s base and mobilising support.
Strategy for political mobilisation: For Pathak and his team, the immediate focus is on building a team in West Bengal to campaign in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Along with him, AAP members have been conducting meetings at different wards in the urban areas of Kolkata, Burdwan and Malda.
Unlike the traditional political parties, Pathak’s understanding of AAP’s attitude towards mobilisation is that it is direct, one-on-one communication.
He feels conducting meetings at the ward-level helps connect and communicate better with people. - Ayan Pramanik
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Christina Samy, Tamil Nadu
Age : 58 years.
Designation: AAP Convenor, Tamil Nadu
Profession: Social and political activist.
Political experience: Samy formed the Women’s Front in Karur, Tamil Nadu, which put up candidates in Karur and Dindigul in the 2009 general elections.
She is also among the founders of the Society of Women in Action for Total Empowerment, a social group that carried out street protests on the issue of atrocities against women.
Samy is widely known for spearheading the Tamil Nadu Anti-Liquor Movement after the sale of illegal arrack led to the deaths of around 60 people in Panruti in Cuddalore District.
Besides her anti-liquor campaign, Samy has been involved in protests against illegal sand mining along rivers Cauvery and Amaravati since 1990. She was one of the petitioners in a 2004 illegal sand mining case in which a ruling ended such mining in seven quarries in Karur district.
Reason for joining AAP: Samy was working for an NGO, Lok Rajneeti Manch, which was engaged in consolidating political movements in the country, when she met Arvind Kejriwal in September 2012.
The AAP leader, along with Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, was holding consultations with various NGOs across the country about the prospect of launching a political party. Samy discussed various aspects of the proposal with Kejriwal, and was convinced that a political platform is essential to effect positive social change. She agreed to join Kejriwal and told him: “This is what I have been looking for.”
Responsibilities: Besides being the convenor for Tamil Nadu, Samy is also a member of the AAP’s national executive committee. She is active not just in Tamil Nadu but provides political direction to the party units in Puducherry and Kerala as well.
Her mandate requires her to ensure that constituency campaign committees work in concert with the national elections team. Currently, Samy is training volunteers in preparation for the elections.
Strategy for political mobilisation: Having worked with legendary dramatist Badal Sarkar, Samy plans to use theatre to deliver political messages.
Door-to-door canvassing and plays at bus-stops, malls and parks have already begun in the State.
The party plans to field candidates in 13-15 constituencies where “highly corrupt” politicians are entering the fray.
AAP membership in the state had already touched 260,000 volunteers by January 26 this year. The party plans agitations against rising inflation of essential commodities, as well as “promotion” of alcoholism through the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC).
It has demanded the closure of bars attached to liquor shops and wants a consensus from inhabitants of a locality before any new TASMAC outlet is opened.
The party plans to launch more campaigns on the issue of transparency in land acquisitions and promotion of agriculture. - Bharani Vaitheesvaran