A real time experience of election campaigning by Aap party leader Arvind Kejriwal,that very few seasoned political leaders will dare to discuss in public. As shared in media, on Saturday morning Arvind Kejriwal visited one locality, a narrow lane adjoining Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s residence, for local manifesto meeting.
There were 100-odd slum dwellings jostling for space just enough for parking at the so many SUVs in a line. An alert Pradhan of the slum cluster,Chchiddan Lal narrated the threatening possibility of being relocated to far off Bawana in the name of rehabilitation. He presented his fear, “People here work in bungalows around here. Delhi government has planned to relocate us to Bawana. Can’t the government policy think how these men and women commute from far off places?”
The prompt Kejriwal promised, “We will ensure that slum dwellers are given pucca houses and are not relocated to far off places,” .
The meetings started with Kejriwal telling the gathering as to why they were prompted to form the political party in the first place, then he reminded people about their latest survey findings and finally reiterated the announcement of the special assembly session at Ramlila maidan on December 29 to pass the Janlokpal bill.
Explaining on the party’s unique approach of preparing manifestos for each constituency as per the local area’s requirement, Kejriwal then opened stage for residents to list out their problems. It was a pattern that Kejriwal followed at all the local manifesto meetings.
At the meetings in Gole Market and Sunehari Bagh lane he discussed local issues and also the general issues plaguing Delhi.Kejriwal said,“It is such a sad thing that this Gole Market colony, barely one kilometre from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, has water supply problems,”
After finishing his talk at Tughlaq Lane jhuggi cluster, he asked the people to list their issues, and promised to fulfil whatever is possible for his party. At that moment a gutsy resident of the jhuggi cluster, Bimla Verma asked him outspokenly, “Political leaders have come and gone. After elections, don’t vanish like others. I need your office address so that I can come searching for you,” . That showed people's doubt on political class in general.
INDIA HONEST feels sorry for this status of our political leaders. They have lost the trust of common man. The incumbency factor always remains a curse for most of the political parties in India. Though Aap is saved from this, but still without any past experience to show off, of their working performance, such questions, being raised is most logical. This a boon or curse, they have to fight it out, but still Aap have to be cautious of making only practical promises to ensure trust of innocent voters on democracy and political parties, a task missed always in the past.