Himanshu Pandit was 19 years old when he was lathicharged for protesting outside Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan바카라s house, and later detained by cops. It was August 2012 and his Class XII pre-boards were due soon. But something came up that changed his plans forever. A nondescript man without any political clout had given a call for a new, corruption-free India. 바카라Needless to say, like thousands of other students and aspirational youths of the time, I got inspired,바카라 Pandit says.
Soon, Arvind Kejriwal arrived in Bhopal to sit on a hunger strike and court arrest. 바카라His personality and dedication struck a chord. Here was a leader who was not afraid to get arrested or lathicharged like us,바카라 Pandit adds. Now 29, he has been working with Kejriwal ever since, first as part of the India Against Corruption (IAC) team, then as a cadre of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Pandit works with the data team and social media cell of AAP, which was launched in November 2012, following an alleged fallout between Kejriwal and social activist Anna Hazare, who had been the two main faces of the 2011 IAC movement, which had been formed earlier that year to demand the passage of a Jan Lokpal Bill. Today, AAP is the incumbent party in Delhi and basking in the glory of its recent poll sweep in Punjab. It is also entering Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, which are soon to go to the polls.
In Delhi, AAP has over 13,000 booths manned by 10,000 men, Pandit says. Another 8,000 people work at the mandal and ward levels. Earlier in April, the party claimed to have inducted three lakh members within 20 days in Himachal.
AAP바카라s cadres are distinct from its rivals. While the BJP cadres have roots in the RSS, the Congress is powered by high-profile political lineages and a traditional worker-base that can be traced back to the Independence movement. But Kejriwal바카라s party relies on a different and seemingly more formidable force of 바카라aam aadmi바카라.
Building a cadre base takes decades. The AAP is based on a voluntary cadre system wherein most members work part-time. A majority of the workers have day jobs and come from various backgrounds바카라academe, law, tech, IT, business, social sector. The glue that binds these disparate people is the vision of anti-corruption and populism.
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Preeti Mehra, a high court lawyer, has been working with AAP since 2013, because she wanted change. Mehra said that in Delhi, the party put a lot of effort in going to each and every neighbourhood and connecting with residents not only for votes but also to understand their problems and seek local volunteers to work with them.
Mehra says unlike in other parties, where political clout, dynasty and money play a huge role in swaying ordinary workers, a local-level community leader had the chance to reach the top easily by just doing hard work. She adds that apart from the desire to improve the lives of fellow citizens, she works for AAP because it gives her 바카라respect바카라.
By recruiting ordinary people into the party fold and allowing them space to share their ideas on governance and strategies to work for hyper-local improvement, AAP has also created a reserve of political leaders among its ranks that may not look like the stereotypical crony neta but perform consistently in their own constituencies.
Shalimar Bagh MLA Bandana Kumari is an example. A former LIC agent, Kumari has grown up in the area she now governs and lives with no airs or additional security, despite being elected as MLA thrice. In 2011, when she was working as an activist for children바카라s education, she had met the then education minister to request him to secure accommodation and education for an underprivileged child. 바카라He told me 바카라If every child becomes literate, what will we ministers do?바카라 That incident left an impact on me,바카라 Kumari recalls.
바카라The new party did not just promise freedom from corruption that was choking us at all levels, but also promised public welfare and social responsibility of leaders to ensure the same. That was the real draw for many of us who may not have initially cared about politics but wanted to work for the nation,바카라 she tells Outlook.
Despite becoming an MLA, Kumari says she remains accessible to her neighbours and subjects. 바카라My doors are always open. For a political leader to be like this in India is a fresh change, and people like me better for it,바카라 says Kumari.
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This, says AAP바카라s Delhi convenor and state Cabinet minister Gopal Rai, is what sets AAP바카라s cadres apart. 바카라Most of our volunteers have their own lives and are do-gooders in their own community, but are willing to spend 바카라quality time바카라 working for the party and the country,바카라 Rai tells Outlook.
He stresses that while most of AAP바카라s cadres are voluntary, the work they did was key to winning elections in new states. 바카라In Punjab, we worked on building our cadres ground up because we needed to ensure that news of the good work we had done in Delhi reaches the voters there. We even have cadres at the booth and council levels,바카라 he says.
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Visibility, as Himanshu Pandit put it earlier, is key to grabbing voter바카라s attention, and a face at every booth during elections ensures that. But apart from visibility and promoting the party manifesto or achievements, the cadre바카라s role is also to fight fires. 바카라When other parties in Punjab tried to launch a campaign maligning Kejriwal as a 바카라terrorist바카라, we could sustain our campaign because the cadre system we had built ground-up ensured everyone knew what the facts were. Having people on the ground is crucial to winning polls,바카라 Rai says.
Deepak Kumar, who has worked with AAP in Punjab since its early days, however, is upset with the recent expansion of AAP바카라s cadres. 바카라Many like me have been working in AAP for the past decade. We have helped form the foundation of the party in the state. However, new cadres who are joining from other parties are bringing in their own ethos, which is distinct from AAP바카라s,바카라 Kumar tells Outlook. 바카라The grievance is that the party seems to be favouring them for electoral benefit,바카라 Kumar says.
Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman and Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj disagrees. 바카라Bringing in new people from different walks of life including different parties adds to the heterogeneous fabric of the party and brings us new ideas and perspectives,바카라 he tells Outlook.
While trying to expand its footprint, the party now faces a new challenge. With aggressive recruitment strategies and a bid to become the national alternative to the BJP and Congress, AAP has to resolve how to induct more cadres without surrendering its core values. While in Punjab, the party found favour with voters바카라 anti-incumbency mood, making forays into states like Gujarat and Himachal will require organisation, manpower and support at a gargantuan scale. Reports of AAP workers joining BJP en masse have already started circling. Will Kejriwal바카라s aam aadmi withstand the poll heat?
(This appeared in the print edition as "Season for Mangoes")
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