Hats off Kejriwal !!!

Two weeks of fast has cost him 6-7 kgs of weight, however, this has definitely catapulated Kejriwal to the league of politics. Sacrifice has been the key to success in Indian politics as it touches the emotional aspect with the voter. Not only has Arvind Kejriwal managed to grab the eyeballs at primetime, but also he has been able to strike the chord with the the average middle or even lower class. 

The fast which started on Mar 23 appeared to be a damp squib as compared to previous fasts, agitation or exposes (most importantly those of Robert Vadra and Nitin Gadkari). His fast has ended, but this has given a lot of credence to his crusade with over a million pledging their support for not paying the inflated power and water bills.

I strongly feel the following points would certainly give a thumbs-up to Kejriwal in his yet another attempt to make it to the big league of Indian politics and start the process of cleansing the stinking system.

Strategy : Old wine in the new bottle. Kejriwal has understood and utilized this concept pretty well. DLF-Vadra nexus was highlighted in Economic Times on Mar 14, 2011 in this article. Kejriwal made the most of this issue by exposing this in the press conference, giving multiple interview on news channels and almost convincingly answering a lot of questions. The issue of electricity and water prices has been raised by BJP (though on a muted note) in the past. Kudos to Kejriwal for hijacking the issue from BJP, adding a pinch of salt in the form of fast, campaign signatures, the required media coverage. He has been the super strategist with identifying the existing issues, re-packaging them and taking it to the doorsteps of Indian public.

Objective : Kejriwal will continue to get stronger with every event, be it be an agitation, fast, expose or whatsoever. The reason for his success can be attributed to the objectivity laid out. This objectivity has been able to give a direction and an approach to his campaigns and also a mechanism to measure the success or failure. Anna Hazare, on the other hand has been subjective. Anna comes with a very clean image and has a great appeal in the youth. However, people want RESULTS. They want QuickWins. His Lokpal campaign in Ramleela maidan was one of best seen in last 5 years or more. However, the campaign wasn't able to deliver the results, thanks to the chameleon parliamenterians. Kejriwal's decision of forming a political party has been a bold one and will certainly provide a path of delivering the results for the countrymen.

Basics : Undoubtedly, Kejriwal and his core team were able to devise the right strategy for the core issues. Electricity and water do form the basics of any household. In the past few years, the inflation has virtually made the middle and lower class gasping for breadth. Coupled this with rising prices of electricity and water has just added to the woes. Kejriwal has hit the bulls eye with these issues in order to touchbase with atleast a million delhi households. Election would certainly be a different ball game, but atleast, he has made his presence felt in Delhi with a million people supporting his campaign.

Team : I was watching a debate a week back on NDTV, anchored by Ravish Kumar. The debate had candidates from Congress, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (Yogendra Yadav was the participant from AAP). Yogendra Yadav was the clear winner. Kejriwal has been able to garner the right candidates, even though, very few in number, for his party. Any political party needs people with exceptional oratorial skills. Yogendra Yadav has been THE man with astute know-how of indian politics, it's pitfalls and possibly the agenda and the strategy that can be devised to beat the political parties at their own game. I would expect Kejriwal to bring in people with similar or more stronger credentials to his movement.

There is a lot at stake for Kejriwal's party AAP in the upcoming Delhi elections. Political pundits rightly say that election remains a different ball-game as it requires monetary and muscle power. Fasts, agitations etc may not necesarily translate in votes. However, irrespective of the results, Kejriwal has been able to make a dent in the existing parties' image, atleast to a certain extent and has been able to connect with the aam aadmi on the basic issues. He will have to establish his credibility further in the form of deliveries/ results to convince further the balloter.

Challenges ahead and so is the way.

Hats off again.