Questions for AAP

While AAP indulges in euphoria, it's in fact the right time for them to answer some questions. Unfortunately only person left to ask them tough questions is Prashant Bhushan. Kiran Bedi and Shazia Ilmi could have stayed and made AAP a much better party with their criticism but they chose not to.

1. How will it remain corruption free - Much is being said about AAP - and to be honest I would vote for AAP whenever possible. But my doubts remain about whether it will be able to remain corruption free. From what I understand - there are some people who have some source of income and work part time for AAP. But no party can survive on part timers alone. So, there must be many volunteers who work full time for AAP.  How will those full timers make money? Or how are they making money now? If they have no means of earning money - how long will they be non corrupt? Even if they are being paid some nominal amount by AAP - will their human nature remain satisfied with it? Won't they try to make more money? What if they indulge in corrupt means?
2. AAP candidates(now MLAs) with dubious records - Prashant Bhushan had submitted a list of 12 candidates to AAP lokpal - out of which only 2 were removed. Rest went on to contest and win elections. Doesn't it mean that AAP has compromised with clean politics? What is the official stand of the party on those candidates?
3. Arvind Kejriwal promised that once in power he will initiate inquiry into the bogus companies which gave him funding worth Rs. 2 Crores. When will that happen?
4. Santosh Koli Murder Investigation - Why have Kejriwal and AAP not been vocal about investigations into Santosh Koli's death? Even Santosh Koli's father alleged that Kejriwal had been very indifferent after the murder - 

"Kejriwal didn't demand a CBI probe during his 49 days as the Delhi CM," he alleged. Santosh's relatives admitted to not having demanded any kind of investigation from Kejriwal. "He sat on dharna to support his law minister Somnath Bharti had no time for the mother or father of a person who had been associated with him and his NGO for 12 years," he said.

Why did BJP delay Delhi elections?

As the near certain win of AAP has posed many questions to BJP strategists - the biggest of them seems to be - why did they delay Delhi elections? Everyone seems to suggest that they would have won the elections handsomely if they had held it just after Lok Sabha elections - but BJP would have had very strong reasons to believe otherwise.

I would make some guesses here : 

There was a huge support base for AAP in Delhi even after Lok Sabha debacle and no matter what BJP did - AAP would have made sure that assembly elections were fought on local issues rather than national ones. Also, AAP is a quick learner. They realized very soon that attacking Modi was not beneficial and they needed to project themselves as a party capable of ruling as opposed to one which could only resist.

AAP's preemptive strike( or bluffing?) - no matter what time of the day it was - if you asked AAP when to hold Delhi elections - they would say now. They showed no signs of weakness or timidity. That would have made BJP leaders jittery as they were constantly being shown as cowards by a courageous AAP leadership.

Is Kejriwal the Shahrukh Khan of Indian Politics?

There was a time in Bollywood when Amitabh bachchan was long past his superstardom and a new heir for the throne was nowhere to be found. Then came SRK. Witty,emotional star of the new age who is unashamed to embrace his feminine side vs macho,angry action hero of yesteryears. Similar contrasts are noticeable in Kejriwal vs Modi. A tiny champion of poor vs 56-inch chested god of middle classes and rich. Ready to apologize profusely vs ready to leave the interview if posed with tough questions. Let's wait and watch.

5 Saal Kejriwal

I had earlier written about how Kejriwal's success has many parallels to Clayton Christensen's notion of Disruptive Innovation. As the time passes by I find more similarities between the trajectory of AAP and a successful startup.

• The first and foremost rule for a startup is don't die. After lok sabha elections when many members left them in a hurry - they could have shut the shop and gone back to running NGOs. But they kept their chins up through it all and let it pass.
• A common strategy popular among startups is fail fast and fail cheap. That's what AAP did in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Contesting the elections nationwide taught them that they didn't have enough resources to do so but also that they have a fertile ground in Punjab. After that they put all their energies and focus on Delhi refusing to contest even Haryana assembly elections.
• Customize and go local - reflected in their strategy to follow issues as per the seat they are contesting in.

Now that AAP is certain to win the Delhi elections or come a close second it's clear that Delhi has become a different territory from Rest of India. Strong NGO circuit, high political awareness and AAP would change the face of Delhi politics forever. It's surprising how have they done it when they have to counter Narendra Modi, BJP with all their money power and RSS.