Subtitle: AAP Should not Rely on the Chameleon Middle Class
Is there in any truth in saying that the AAP’s Delhi win was
majorly contributed by the messages of the party carried across the city by the
auto-rickshaws? Today, the Delhi auto drivers have changed their stance. They
have already started putting up Narendra Modi’s messages and anti-AAP slogans
on their autos. With these slogans help or not in sending across the message,
the opinion polls conducted by various agencies predict that there will be a
NDA led rule in the centre and if miracles do not happen, Narendra Modi will be
the Prime Minister of the country. In that case, what do these auto-messages do
in the public domain for swaying the public opinion for or against a particular
party? One cannot think that when the AAP was campaigning for the Delhi
assembly elections, all of a sudden all the auto-drivers became conscious of
the issue of corruption and they desperately wanted to bring in a change therefore
they put up pro-AAP posters on their vehicles. There must have been an
organized move through various independent auto unions to carry out such propaganda.
Today, when they change the colours and put up pro-Modi posters, it takes only
common sense to understand that these are organized and rather paid campaigns
undertaken by the propaganda wing of the BJP. As portrayed or commonly
believed, it is not a conscious decision by the auto-drivers to oppose the AAP
or its leader Arvind Kejriwal.
After becoming the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal
had called for a mega rally of the auto-drivers, where he had asked them to
take a pledge on the name of their children that they would never over charge
or indulge in any corrupt activities. The euphoria and optimism was such that
most of the auto-drivers promised then and there that they would obey rules and
would never over charge the commuters. But the truth is different. When
Kejriwal was in power, most of the auto people behaved. They thought that it
was their moral duty to abide by their pledge or at least by the slogans that
they had carried on their auto rickshaws. For forty nine days, auto people
showed some amount of sophistication and decorum. Even if their meters are
defective they at least showed the willingness to run by meter. But the day
Kejriwal went out of power, they changed their colours overnight. They started
over charging again. They have forgotten the pledge that they have taken. They have
forgotten the oath. Reason, Delhi has not changed. Kejriwal had asked people to
conduct sting operations. Even the policemen were afraid of asking for bribes
thinking that they would be caught in camera. But the day Kejriwal tendered his
resignation, Police came back to the Delhi streets in full force asking for
bribe. As Kejriwal puts it extortion corruption is back in action.
(Delhi autos against AAP today)
Delhi showed some symptoms of preparedness for revolution
when it voted for the AAP. But soon it realized that the country is not yet
prepared for any kind of revolution. People want revolution but people are not
ready to do any kind of sacrifice for that. When the Central Secretariat Metro
station was closed in January this year due to Kejriwal’s sit in protest,
majority of the Delhi middle class thought that Kejriwal was doing something
wrong. Middle class elected Kejriwal to mind his business; not theirs. They
thought like other politicians Kejriwal too would sit in the secretariat and by
making policy changes he would provide a corruption free governance. But he showed
the world that there were different ways of governance. Importantly, he told
the world that to do good governance, the government needs right kind of power
in hand. And to have right kind of power, people should have participation in
governance. But the middle class in Delhi failed to understand that. That’s why
most of the people today say that Kejriwal did something wrong by resigning
from the power. He could have continued in power and fought from inside. But to
fight from inside you need the support of the system. The system itself was
hostile when he was in power. He was the first powerless chief minister in
India.
More than the auto people, Arvind Kejriwal’s campaign was
supported by the social networking sites. Social networking sites play an
important role because many people believe that expression of opinion in the
virtual space is enough and if they have done something for the AAP and if AAP
has come to power, they feel good about it. Obviously, social networking sites
have helped forming the opinion of people. It is just like mass mobilization of
opinion in the real space. What evening rallies used to do once upon a time
does the same today in virtual space day in and day out. People are swayed by
mass likings and mass sharing. People are impressed by the number of followers
in twitter and they also want to be a follower. But this actually does not contribute
to the real revolution. Wherever revolution has happened, including Egypt and
Kiev, people have come out en masse to the streets. In India it has not yet
happened. People are arm chair revolutionaries. They speak their opinion in
twitters and facebook and leave it there. Unless and until they come out in the
streets and face the brutal power of the state, revolution is not going to take
place. People are not interested. The latest example is the desertion of Mamata
Banerjee- Anna Hazare rally in Delhi. People just refused to turn up. If Modi’s
rallies are attended by too many people, they are paid to do so. Those people
come out in the streets are either paid or are just professional protesters.
The mass is still at large. Middle class does not want to dirty their clothes. The
working class is absolutely disorganized. The auto people are just turn coats.
Where does the revolution lie then? In India, there is no
possibility of revolution in the near future. Unless and until the middle class
feel the need to do sacrifice on its part, revolution is not going to take
place. People in the grass root level are the real sufferers. Displaced masses
in the urban and suburban areas are the real sufferers. Though there are unions
for farmers, Dalits, Adivasis and so on, they do not agree on so many things
and do not come on to the same platform. When these dispossessed people awake
and run over the middle class and destroy the cosy life of the middle class
then only a revolution will take place in India. But in the meanwhile the
middle class will join the ruling class without looking at the colour of the
flag or the flavour of their ideology. They resist grass root revolution on
behalf of the government/state. Middle class will be used as a shield against
the possible working class unification and uprising. Auto drivers are the
misguided disorganized mass that aspires for middle class status by looting the
middle class. So they would in turn protect the middle class values only. AAP
has to start organizing people from the grass root level and they should
threaten the middle class with its ideology. And the future of India is in the
hands of Communists in which the AAP has a great role to play. But people
accuse the AAP of being ultra or Maoists. Maoists operate from outside the
system. AAP operates from within. So fundamentally the AAP is not ultra
leftists. But AAP is the dormant socialist and communist dream of India. We
just need to wait for it to become a reality. It may take a few years or even a
century. But I am sure that to turn that dream into a reality the medium is
neither auto-drivers nor the middle class. The future of the AAP lies in the
subaltern of all colours.
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