Crash landing of a hot air balloon

Why the public may never support an initiative like the Aam Aadmi Party again

Some years back while in France I heard an interesting story - in a small town a hot air balloon had crashed on the sides of a lake. Two of the 10 passengers on board sustained injuries and were released after first aid. The remaining escaped unhurt. The real damage was done to the cars, which were travelling on the road by the side of the lake where the balloon crash-landed. I was told that most of the cars that suffered heavy damage were returning from the grounds where they had gathered to appreciate the take off ceremony of the hot air balloon. The travellers in the car vowed not to support a hot air gas balloon initiative ever again.

This story haunts me on a number of occasions. This election is also one of them. At times I think is the AamAadmi Party (AAP) a hot air balloon? As the election campaign for the Delhi Assembly becomes serious and voters start looking more at reality and less at rhetoric, it seems the AAP is finding it more and more difficult to keep its act together. First it was the overall mess in selecting candidates. Then came the press conference by a dissatisfied AAP member that was disrupted in a typical political fashion by a clutch of (so called) AAP loyalists. The press conference brought the dictatorial style of the AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal into focus. Close on the heels followed the throwing of ink on the face of ArvindKejriwal and PrashantBhushan during a press conference. And of course to top it all the love hate relationship with Anna – allegations of fund and name misuse- continues. Has the AAP lost the plot even before it could be enacted?

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has been speaking to media on a large number of issues – of course like a first time crusader and rebel he has all the aggression in his speech. He has managed to romanticize the entire idea of governance and has strategically placed himself as David in the legendary David vs Goliath fight to successfully capture enough eyeballs. But on a serious note, the entire AAP has very little to offer in terms of constructive suggestions. The media interviews of Arvind Kejriwal do not shed any light on how the serious problems of Delhi are going to be solved. Merely by harping on Jan Lokpal is not going to solve the problems of Delhi.

The general public has helped, applauded and cheered as the AAP took off and the rhetoric of Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushanet all has raised the expectation bar considerably. If the AAP does not come out with a concrete plan to live up to the expectation bar, it will suffer the same fate as that of the gas balloon.

What disturbs me most is not the crash landing of the AAP but the fate of the general public who may suffer collateral damage in this process and (like the car travellers in my story) vow never to support an initiative like AAP ever again.