AAP should learn from Janata Party experiment

AAP should learn from Janata Party experiment

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Thursday, 9 April 2015 AT 12:47 PM IST

    

The recent unprecedented  victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi state polls reminded me of the landslide victory of the then unborn Janata Party in the 1977 general elections. At that time, for the first time, the country's sitting prime minister Indira Gandhi was defeated and the Congress was routed in nine northern cow-belt states. I, then still a higher secondary school student and so non-voter, was an active participant of this political bloodless revolution (as naively we had then called it). I was one of the polling agents representing the Peasants and Workers Party, one of the constituents of the Janata  Party, in the counting of votes held at Satara. Congress candidates in Satara and Karad Lok Sabha constituencies were  Union Minister Yashwantrao Chavan and Pramila Chavan, mother of former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, respectively. As the counting of votes continued, at around 2 pm, we learnt that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was defeated by Raj Narain in Rae Bareily constituency and our celebrations knew no bounds. 

In the 1977 polls, the Janata Party of the Jan Sangh, the Charan Singh-led Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD), the Morarji Desai-led  Organisation (Syndicate) Congress and the Socialist parties led by George Fernandes and Madhu Limaye had contested polls with the BLD's  Haldhar (farmer carrying a plough) poll symbol. After their poll victory, Morarji Desai was sworn in as prime minister. The Janata Party formally came into existence only a few months later when the major non-Congress parties were merged into the new  Janata party, now led by Chandra Sekhar.  The new government at the Center soon called for fresh polls in the nine northern states and Janata Party attained power in those states too. Supporters of  Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan, who had led the political campaign against Indira Gandhi had then dreamt of a Sampoorna Kranti (total revolution). Alas, their joy and aspirations too shattered within few months! 

The squabbling within the Janata Party led to the fall of the Morarji Desai government and another short-lived government of Charan Singh who earned the notoriety of being a prime minister who never faced Parliament. Later, within two and half years after she was defeated, Indira Gandhi returned to power with a majority, which she had never got in the previous polls.

Sketching a similar visual in the eyes of those who lived through this dream of total revolution, the AAP was recently elected to power in Delhi, winning 67 of the total 70 seats.  Soon after assuming the power, AAP  leaders – Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan - have been indulging in mud slinging, much to the annoyance of the party's supporters. The AAP leaders would do well in learning from history and provide a stable and efficient government for the next five years. The voters from all over the country have been watching their performance with high expectations. These people and also the Delhi voters who reposed their faith in AAP should not be left disappointed. 

Now, all eyes on Delhi polls

Now, all eyes on Delhi polls

Sakal Times Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Saturday, 8 November 2014 AT 01:10 PM IST

    

Delhi state assembly, Delhi polls, Jammu and Kashmir, BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Camil Parkhe, blog

Finally, elections to Delhi state assembly will be held soon. The state assembly  which was in suspended animation for the past over seven months has been dissolved, much to the chagrin of the BJP  which had been avoiding the fresh polls under some or the other pretext. Although the elections to the Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand will be held prior to Delhi polls, the elections in the national capital are of more vital importance due to obvious reasons.

The three major political powers in Delhi- the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party- are already preparing for the state polls even before the declaration of the election schedule. It is clear that the poll campaign in this tiny state will be keenly watched by political observers and also people in the rest parts of the country.

Soon after formation of the Delhi state, the BJP had formed the first government  in the new state. But the party gave three chief ministers to the new state, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj in a short period of 1993 to 1998. Swaraj who quit her Union minister's post to be the chief minister to lead her party's poll campaign lost the state elections, thanks to the high prices of onions in Delhi at that time.

Sheila Dixit of the Congress wrested the power in 1998 and retained it for a record 15 years. The 49-day regime of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following the hung assembly in December 2013 elections and subsequent political incidents are too fresh events to forget. The question now is which of the three main political players will emerge the winner in the forthcoming Delhi poll battle.

The hesitation of the BJP government at the Centre to hold fresh polls and thus end political uncertainty in the state – even after its impressive show of winning all six Lok Sabha seats in Delhi- was clear indication of the party's lack of confidence in winning the assembly polls.

On the other hand, the AAP which was humiliated in the parliamentary polls has been working overtime to do well in the state polls. The Congress has its organisational network which may help the party in wooing its traditional votes. The BJP will again have to harp on the Narendra Modi magic to wrest power in this politically most  important state. The warm-up to the Delhi elections has just began and it promises to offer an interesting poll battle.