1/3/14

A multi-class urban party - The Hindu

Opinion Lead
Published: January 3, 2014 01:09 IST | Updated: January 3, 2014 01:09 IST

A multi-class urban party

Srinivasan Ramani
The AAPs success in Delhi could possibly be emulated in similar urban pockets elsewhere, where civic concerns and a compact urban
community could enable it to attract the different urban classes

Having graduated from a political movement to a party in government relatively quickly, in the small but significant
State of Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now poised to address its next challenge that of attaining national
relevance. The partys success in Delhi had much to do with some unique factors related to the capital city such as the
extensive media coverage it received during the phase of its agitations for a Lokpal. But it was the partys strategy to
move away from a single-issue movement (anti-corruption) with an element of anti-politics to a populist political
organisation articulating real life issues of the ordinary citizens like inflated power bills and the inequitable
distribution of water, that catapulted it to centre stage. It transited from being a civil society organisation committed
to the realisation of the Lokpal to a political party seeking to implement the vision of Lokniti (decentralised,
communitarian democracy).
Support base
By seeking to mobilise the urban poor on issues related to livelihood and welfare, the party was able to build a multiclass support base, which included many sections of the urban salariat and the lower middle classes. The partys
calling card remains its stress on being anti-establishment, but its source of support among the poor is linked to
expectations of better welfare delivery and empowerment.
It is this mandate from the poor which has forced the AAP to form a government with the support of the very party
that it has been stridently opposed to. The decision to accept support from the Congress has certainly dismayed a
number of its adherents who identified the latter with malfeasance and as the primary enemy for the party, but for
the poor, the AAPs ability to make a difference by being in government outweighs such tactical concerns. The AAPs
garnering of support from Delhis urban poor except among Muslims who preferred to back the Congress possibly
as a bulwark against a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was without recourse to narrow identitarian politics
or patronage based on caste, religion or region.
The urban poor drawn from the working classes in the informal sector, small traders, hawkers, migrants, etc.
were also drawn to the emphasis on anti-corruption by the AAP as meaning better and direct welfare services and
opportunities without having to rely upon unscrupulous middlemen. The urban poor identified the AAP as being
different from the BJP and the Congress, who were seen as parties which had cultivated these middlemen and
patrons. The support from the urban poor is reflected in the electoral performance of the AAP in the various slum
clusters of the capital city. Conversely, in areas of Delhi which have a greater number of rural households and in the
urban villages where such politics of patronage and caste-community identity have a long history, the AAPs
primary political message did not find as many takers.
The AAPs success in Delhi could possibly be emulated in similar urban pockets elsewhere, where civic concerns and a
compact urban community could enable it to attract the different urban classes. But the party would certainly
encounter a more difficult challenge as an upstart in most places of the country which are predominantly rural or
semi-urban.
National challenges
Since the 1990s, the federalisation of Indias polity has followed a course set by three distinct and significant
phenomena. These include the dominance of Other Backward Classes and related caste identity politics following
implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations; an effective presence of the Hindutva right wing forces
following the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, and the maturation of neo-liberal developmentalism following extensive
economic liberalisation and globalisation. These phenomena have introduced various State-level dynamics and
changed Indias political party system. The AAP has emerged as a political player by addressing a constituency that
has been discomfited with the nature of the developmental process which has spawned corruption, crony capitalism
and a new elite. But, there are other constituencies particularly in rural India which still see the need for
patronage and identity assertion as a way out for the enhancement of their livelihoods. It is doubtful whether the
AAPs message can make an immediate political impact here.
Social democratic space
Evidently, the AAP expects that its performance in government in Delhi and an adoption of a more comprehensive
political and organisational strategy elsewhere would pay dividends in overcoming this challenge. For now, much
www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-multiclass-urban-party/article5530823.ece?css=print

1/2

1/3/14

A multi-class urban party - The Hindu

focus is on the contiguous States bordering Delhi such as Haryana, and urban centres like Mumbai and Bangalore.
Elsewhere, the party has sought to engage with and draw in groups from social movements in various States such as
Tamil Nadu and Odisha to expand its political reach beyond readily available support bases in urban pockets. This
strategy should keep it in good stead, but the immediate nature of the political party system should compel it to seek
more allies beyond the civil society. Engagement and issue-based alliances with other political forces which have a
similar anti-establishment message, such as the Left parties, would help the AAP in spreading its message more
effectively.
This is more so because there is a social democratic space in Indias national political spectrum that remains virtually
deserted. The Congress historically played this role of a social democratic party, acting as a transmission belt, as
political scientist Rajni Kothari called it, between the government and the people and having a distinct ideological
world view. The withering away of Indias grand old party and its reduction into a corporatist party, dominated by
special interests and one that seeks to practise social democracy more as instrumentalism and out of political
compulsion rather than purpose, is not lost on many.
The mainstream Left had once succeeded in occupying that space in States like Kerala and West Bengal where it
translated its radical rhetoric into purposive welfarism. However, the ideological transformation of the Left from a
radical, social democratic force in the 1970-80s to just another variant of developmentalism (most pronounced in
West Bengal) has led to its political decline. Moreover, the left parties could not expand their areas of influence
beyond three States due to their lack of political imagination in attempting to win over the many discontents with the
present status quo across the country. The regional parties, since the 1990s, have also metamorphosed into
corporatist entities themselves despite emerging initially as voices for backward sections that were not represented in
the establishment.
Need for a vision
If the AAP constructs a well developed vision on matters of political economy and even international affairs, it would
be able to occupy that vacant, social democratic space in conjunction with other like-minded parties. At a limited
level, its emphasis on decentralised and participative models of democracy, if put into practice, could bring about
better social audits of welfare services and delivery and could enhance the institutions of social democracy that are
already in place. Presently, the AAP has relied on an ad hoc approach to constructing an overall vision on economic or
strategic matters, with an emphasis primarily on political decentralisation. It has perhaps done so to limit any
internal differences between a largely left-of-centre leadership and an activist base drawn from the middle classes. But
the sooner it comes up with a thoroughgoing vision that places it as a firmly secular, social democratic party and one
that suitably addresses the uniqueness of Indias diverse political economy, the better it would be for the party to
increase its support base and influence. In other words, the AAP has to come up with clear views on how it seeks to
tackle issues related to the concentration of wealth, crony capitalism, jobless growth, crisis of the peasant economy,
etc. It must also delineate its views on more purposive ways of identity recognition, and eliminating hierarchies and
discriminations based on caste, gender and ethnicity.
The AAPs rise as an anti-establishment force and the opening up of a social democratic space in Indias polity is not
unrelated to global trends. In much of the developing world, a similar process had emerged in recent decades, as an
outcome of the discontent with what is broadly defined as neoliberalism. If in Latin America this took the form of a
pink tide against the elite, the anti-establishment emphasis sought to open up new spaces for democracy in the
Arab world. These developments and the national challenges the party faces make it all the more imperative for the
AAP to have a larger world view than it currently has.
(Srinivasan Ramani is senior assistant editor with the Economic and Political Weekly.)
Keywords: Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi government, urban classes, AAP political strategy, urban Delhi, urban
poor, middle class

www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-multiclass-urban-party/article5530823.ece?css=print

2/2