Though I frequently write analytical pieces about elections, this is NOT one of them. It’s pure unbridled opinion.
I had mentioned this a couple of years back before the elections in 2013, and I mention it again now. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) should win Delhi. To rephrase, Delhi should be “sacrificed” to them. If only to illustrate how ridiculous some of their policy ideas are, and why them having a larger role in Indian politics is a terrible idea.
Now, from my timelines on twitter and facebook, I see that a lot of people I know are big fans of AAP. What attracts them to the party is their image of being “clean” and “beyond corruption”. There is also the TINA factor – the Congress has proved time and again that it is incapable of governance and the BJP has this looney fringe with ridiculous social ideas which they actually pay attention to. Given such worthy alternatives, people are plumping for AAP as a party that can provide superior governance.
Except that they seem incredibly commie, except perhaps in name. Look at some of their policy prescriptions (free power, free water, etc.) and you can imagine one of the communist parties coming up with the same. They want to bring back big government in areas where government interference has been cut down after significant effort. They believe that the solution to corruption is more layers of bureaucracy (Jan Lok Pal, etc.). And as the Somnath Bharti incident showed, they are not paragons of virtue when it comes to social freedom, either.
The problem with the AAP is that they haven’t got enough opportunity to show their incompetence, which is why people worship them. They got an opportunity last year, when the Congress supported their minority government in Delhi, but they perhaps wisely saw that their incompetence was being shown up, and Kejriwal resigned in a hurry. And from what opinion polls show, this gambit seems to be working for them. The problem with gambits is that they are tactical weapons, and usually don’t work over a long-drawn period.
So it is time to give the AAP another opportunity to show off their incompetence and bad ideas. Delhi is in that unique position where there is the central government and the municipal government that tread on over one foot of the state government, so the state government can’t do too much damage. And Delhi is also a small state, so any damage will have limited scope.
From this perspective, it is a great idea to “sacrifice” Delhi to the Aam Aadmi Party. I hereby call upon voters in Delhi to vote for the muffler broom.