Since October 2013, Indians' adrenaline has been politically charged. India has witnessed a never seen before unprecedented interest in politics. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms overflowed with debates, discussions, arguments and trolls about various political leaders and parties.
Interestingly, these debates saw the emergence of numerous new words, which arose mainly for political deliberations, or merely for the sake of convenience to label a particular group having common interests. Words such as AAPtards, Modi bhakts, sickulars, paid media, aam aadmi, etc became household words and were used extensively.
One particular term "aam aadmi" (common man) was most slackly used, or if I may dare say, misused. It formed the basis of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, which aims to root out corruption and fight for the rights of the common man. When Kejriwal constantly campaigned around the country criticising the BJP and Congress to be parties of the rich and said "I am aam aadmi"; me and my friends wondered, how can a person who studied in IIT Kharagpur, was an Indian Revenue Services officer and winner of Ramon Magsaysay Award, be a common man? Although, we were buoyed by the idea of a new party and its idealistic objectives, it was at this point, disillusionment started creeping in within us, about the arbitrary usage of the term by Kejriwal to suit his whims and fancies.
During his inaugural speech in the Delhi Assembly after forming the government, he made statements like "Aam aadmi drives autos, politicians don't" and "This is the win of the 1.5 crore people who live in Delhi, the aam aadmi", which implied that every person in Delhi is an aam aadmi.
CommentAfter the Lok Sabha results, a string of leaders left AAP, citing lack of internal egalitarianism, and blamed Kejriwal for functioning like an autocratic. Many leaders even complained that they were not even allowed to meet Kejriwal and voice their concerns. Although AAP brushed off their criticism as a case of "grapes gone sour", it indeed raised many unanswered questions.
A few days back, AAP organised a fundraising dinner for the upcoming Delhi elections, having an entry charge of Rs 20,000/plate for any person who wanted to meet Kejriwal and rub shoulders with him. The event raised Rs 91 lakhs but it raised the question of whether an auto rickshaw driver or a common man possibly in AAP's dictionary can ever afford to meet him personally.
Yesterday, the definition of "aam aadmi" was again subjected to scrutiny. A photo of Kejriwal travelling to Dubai in business class surfaced, post which, the internet glitterati wasted no time in getting to action, with the usual BJP-Congress' supporters' attack of AAP being exposed. AAP released a statement saying that it was sponsored by the event organisers who invited him to Dubai. But AAP spokesperson's statement on Times Now "Why can't aam aadmi travel in business class?" raised many eyebrows.
Leaving aside the customary BJP-Congress attacks and criticism, Kejriwal is a free man, and travelling in business class or even a private jet shouldn't matter much. However, given the course of events ever since he entered the political arena, it noticeably appears that Kejriwal has deliberately created ambiguity around the definition of "aam aadmi", in order to advance AAP's political agenda at opportune intervals. B
ut who exactly is the aam aadmi? People travelling in business class? Auto rickshaw drivers? People who organise fundraising dinners in hotels? IIT graduates? Civil Servants? It is now imperative that "aam aadmi" needs to be given a precise definition by Kejriwal for once and for all, so that Indians don't fret, every time he indulges in any luxury at whosoever's expense. But this seems highly unlikely, because as observed in the past, AAP and Kejriwal have an uncanny knack to leverage controversies into a fundraising drive, as seen with #MufflerMan.
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