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Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January. The former journalist took on former Union minister Kapil Sibal and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the national election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi.)
What has been the biggest criticism of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)? That it is a one-issue party and it does not have a vision and policy framework for the development of future India .
This is one of the most misconceived notions about a party which claims to be futuristic and wants to bring back political gravity to India.
AAP has a vision document and comprehensively deliberated-upon party manifesto which was released during the Delhi assembly elections in December, and later improved upon at the time of parliamentary elections 2014. Still the crusade against corruption was so overwhelmingly aligned with the identity of AAP that nobody has time to give a thought to these documents.
There was another misconceived notion, invented recently, that the entire middle class has deserted AAP - this section's robust support was seen as the reason for the party to emerge as a mega phenomenon and its unprecedented success in December 2013 elections. There is no denying the fact that a section of the middle class is upset with the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister, but to dub it as total desertion is a smartly-manipulated lie to create a smoke-screen to hoodwink voters.
'Delhi Dialogue' is an answer to the propaganda, lie and manipulation of rival political parties, an attempt to reposition AAP's brand power among its most ardent supporters and to challenge conventional politics.
Delhi Dialogue has proved to be a super-duper hit in its opening week especially among the internet-savvy and literate middle class. It has attracted 1.2 lakh views on Facebook and 25,000 retweets within a day; Delhi Dialogue and Youth Dialogue were among the top three India Twitter trends.
It was focused on the youth and the issues of education and jobs. There will be five more such chapters at regular intervals till the elections happen - they will focus on other pressing issues like gender security, electricity, water, sanitation, housing and modern infrastructure. The idea behind doing the Dialogues in installments is that every issue should get sufficient time for public discussion and the issue should properly sink in before other issues are raised for further debate
The block-buster opening of Delhi Dialogue did help the party to cement its connect with the educated class and reposition itself as a party which continuously innovates and sets the agenda for participatory and transparent democracy.
To an audience of thousands, Arvind Kejriwal promised more colleges, wi-fi across Delhi and was seen dancing for a bit.
Till Delhi Dialogue, policy discussions during election times were confined to manifesto releases, photo ops. And once the manifesto was released, documents were thrown to dustbins. These policy documents were made within the four walls of AC rooms. A few intellectuals would sit in cozy comfort and ink a few pages without any consultation with the real stake-holders - that is, the
Aam Aadmi.
Delhi Dialogue is revolutionary in the sense that it has started the process of policy discussion in an open forum involving interaction between the common man on the street and experts of the fields.
It is bold as there might emerge an issue which does not go down well with the masses and the party concerned could have to fold back its policy proposal. It might create a backlash also, but then that is the beauty of the democracy.
It is to be remembered that India Against Corruption started the process of inviting people's suggestion in policy-making by opening Jan Lokpal Bill to one and all through a web site. The bill was regularly updated and improved upon with every suggestion. Interaction between UPA government and civil society in the form of a draft committee for Lokpal was another improvement in the process. Though it did not bear much fruit, a good beginning was made.
Delhi Dialogue takes this initiative to another level and challenges traditional political parties to also open their gates for common man and involve them in policy-making.
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