NEW DELHI, Dec 8:
Dismissed as a political greenhorn, engineer-turned-civil servant Arvind Kejriwal has cemented his place in politics with a stunning political debut for his nascent AAP and emerged as a giant killer to sweep Sheila Dikshit out from not only office but also her constituency.
Belying all claims of being a “non-actor or no factor” in the Delhi Assembly elections by Congress and BJP, Kejriwal was largely instrumental in snapping the 15-year rule of incumbent Chief Minister. Adding to her misery was the defeat in her own turf–New Delhi constituency–by a huge margin of 25,864 votes.
Often poked fun at by politicians, the 45-year-old former Indian Revenue Service(IRS) officer was challenged by none other than senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal in — not to criticise the political system as an outsider but join it to cleanse it from within.
In the past one year, if there was one person who sent the entire political spectrum into a tizzy it was undoubtedly Kejriwal, who attacked both BJP and Congress on the issues of corruption, exorbitant rise in power and water tariff, safety of women and had managed to make a dent in the vote banks of both the parties.
Soft-spoken but a man with strong conviction, the Ramon Magsaysay award winner came into prominence from the agitation by 75-year-old activist Anna Hazare in support of Jan Lokpal Bill in 2011.
He was part of the Team Anna, along with first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and others. He was the civil society representative member of the committee constituted by the Government to draft the Jan Lokpal bill, following the campaign for introduction of such legislation.
After feeling “betrayed” by the government when it rejected their draft, Congress and other leaders challenged them to join politics, win elections and come to Parliament if they wanted to “fight system from within”, root out corruption and get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed.
Known for taking on challenges, the indefatigable activist decided to take a plunge into politics and formed “Aam Aadmi Party” on November 26 last year, after a formal split of Team Anna.
The party name — Aam Aadmi Party — reflects the phrase Aam Aadmi or “common man”, whose interests Kejriwal proposed to represent and got its poll symbol “broom” in July this year. The party started its poll preparation way ahead in April with an emphasis to field only candidates with a “clean image” for all the 70 Assembly constituencies.
For taking on seasoned politicians like three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and other BJP leaders, Kejriwal and his party tried different strategies like going on 15-day long hunger strike on the issue of power tariff in May.
And to inject some drama, the anti-corruption crusader even filed his papers on November 16 on the last date of filing of nominations, after Dikshit filed her nomination, just to ensure a straight fight with her.
To woo the electors, the party put up posters on auto-rickshaws against Dikshit flagging burning issues of women safety, corruption and high power and water tariffs.
Thousands of AAP volunteers, from Delhi and outside and even abroad, joined him in the hope that Kejriwal would do a miracle. They even took sabbaticals to join his movement.
The volunteers conducted street plays, put up banners hanging across flyovers to gain the attention of 1.19 crore Delhi voters.
Stressing on transparency, the party did which was unthinkable of putting their funds in public domain and making it accessible to all.
Among the other firsts, he and his party decided to come up with 70 assembly-based manifestos and a common one for Delhi, which was followed by the BJP but it failed to bring out more than one or two. (PTI)
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