On Sunday, when the temperature was 2 degrees C, streams of people queued up at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York to listen to Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. The activist-politician’s U.S. debut was billed as a lesson on governance and political reform in India, and was expected to make up in substance what it lacked in pomp and show. Instead, it ended as a somewhat weak pitch for the Aam Aadmi’s Party’s Delhi 2015 poll campaign.
The AAP chief peddled his regular lines about the accomplishments of his 49-day government, development without corruption, women’s safety and his party’s limited manifesto for the upcoming polls. Given that the moderator, Professor Alfred Stephan of Columbia, has co-authored a book on Indian democracy with AAP’s de-facto ideologue Yogendra Yadav, one had hoped to hear the activist-politician speak about his conceptual and ethical underpinnings.
Unassuming charisma
The only sense one had of Kejriwal’s own vision was when he responded to a question on his spiritual leanings. He said that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption in August 2012 had made a believer of him. He attributed the success of the movement in drawing millions of people to the streets of Delhi, as well as AAPs success in the Delhi polls, to a divine power. While that profession could be a display of intellectual naiveté, it characterises Kejriwal’s unaffected, unassuming charisma.
He was candid, if not entirely convincing, in answering many questions. In response to a comment that he betrays a sense of apology by describing himself as politician of last resort, Kejriwal smiled and said he was being honest. He admitted that the primary purpose of his visit to the US was to boost the party coffers (which currently stand at a modest Rs 6 crores) and that there was no doublespeak on that. He was prodded on the loss of face and faith, following the debacle of the Delhi resignation. “We have made mistakes, not committed a crime,” he said.
Kejriwal may have said little to revive the flailing momentum and support for his movement, but optimism was not in short supply. Someone rose to ask what role the diaspora could play in this effort. At the end of his lecture, others surrounded him, seeking and offering encouragement.
High credibility
To the young, upwardly mobile student, Kejriwal represents a credible administrator, one whose talents have been screened through two of the most competitive mechanisms in the country – the IITs and the civil services. This visit may have been a missed opportunity in solidifying that appeal. What Kejriwal managed to re-affirm was his authenticity and sincerity of intent.
By his own admission, politics in India is a function of personalities rather than ideology. Either way, for AAP, both medium and message now seem jaded. The chief ministerial hopeful will need more than the legacy of being the poster child of August Kranti 2013 see him through next election.
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The AAP chief peddled his regular lines about the accomplishments of his 49-day government, development without corruption, women’s safety and his party’s limited manifesto for the upcoming polls. Given that the moderator, Professor Alfred Stephan of Columbia, has co-authored a book on Indian democracy with AAP’s de-facto ideologue Yogendra Yadav, one had hoped to hear the activist-politician speak about his conceptual and ethical underpinnings.
Unassuming charisma
The only sense one had of Kejriwal’s own vision was when he responded to a question on his spiritual leanings. He said that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption in August 2012 had made a believer of him. He attributed the success of the movement in drawing millions of people to the streets of Delhi, as well as AAPs success in the Delhi polls, to a divine power. While that profession could be a display of intellectual naiveté, it characterises Kejriwal’s unaffected, unassuming charisma.
He was candid, if not entirely convincing, in answering many questions. In response to a comment that he betrays a sense of apology by describing himself as politician of last resort, Kejriwal smiled and said he was being honest. He admitted that the primary purpose of his visit to the US was to boost the party coffers (which currently stand at a modest Rs 6 crores) and that there was no doublespeak on that. He was prodded on the loss of face and faith, following the debacle of the Delhi resignation. “We have made mistakes, not committed a crime,” he said.
Kejriwal may have said little to revive the flailing momentum and support for his movement, but optimism was not in short supply. Someone rose to ask what role the diaspora could play in this effort. At the end of his lecture, others surrounded him, seeking and offering encouragement.
High credibility
To the young, upwardly mobile student, Kejriwal represents a credible administrator, one whose talents have been screened through two of the most competitive mechanisms in the country – the IITs and the civil services. This visit may have been a missed opportunity in solidifying that appeal. What Kejriwal managed to re-affirm was his authenticity and sincerity of intent.
By his own admission, politics in India is a function of personalities rather than ideology. Either way, for AAP, both medium and message now seem jaded. The chief ministerial hopeful will need more than the legacy of being the poster child of August Kranti 2013 see him through next election.