When the Supreme Court granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on September 13, the party said he would now be in charge of the election campaign in Haryana. It has been eight days since then, and a lot has changed in those eight days. Arvind Kejriwal has become the acting chief minister of Delhi.
Kejriwal will kick off his campaign today with a roadshow in the Yamunanagar Jagadhri parliamentary constituency. The Aam Aadmi Party has lined up 13 programmes of its biggest leader in 11 districts. The question is, how well does Arvind Kejriwal, who has been at the helm of Delhi for nearly a decade, fit in in Haryana politics? This can be understood from five points.
1- Emotional Politics
Under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party has formed the government in Delhi for three consecutive terms. The party has also completed its ruling journey in Punjab and formed the government. But the political atmosphere in Haryana, which lies between Delhi and the Union Territory of Punjab, is different. Sentiments play a major role in Haryana’s politics.
In this election, the Congress tried to play up the emotions of Jats, wrestlers and farmers in a big way. The Aam Aadmi Party also played the local boy card of Kejriwal. While Kejriwal was in jail, his wife Sunita Kejriwal, who was in charge of the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign, kept calling him the son of Haryana and herself the daughter-in-law of Haryana at every rally. Experts attributed this to the emotion-based party-building strategy.
2- Classes and Actors
If we look at the politics of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party, it seems to be class-based. Talking about Delhi, the Mohalla Clinic took steps like free water and electricity and free rides for women that transcended caste and religious sentiments and helped the Aam Aadmi Party create two class-based voter categories – the poor and women. An important role.
From Punjab to Gujarat and Goa, the Aam Aadmi Party has targeted only two sections: the poor and women. The promise of monthly cash for women was part of the BJP’s manifesto to the Congress in Haryana and was the first initiative taken by the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab. In Haryana, the Aam Aadmi Party does not seem to have succeeded in creating a voter bank by building a strong base in any caste or class.
3- Local leaders
Be it Delhi, Punjab or Goa-Gujarat, the Aam Aadmi Party has a local leadership in every state. There is a commanding presence. Bhagwant Mann is not only a comedian but also a pan-Punjabi face in Punjab. Ishudan Gadhvi, a TV star from Gujarat, is also a familiar face and leaders like Chaitra Vasava have joined the party. But the situation in Haryana is different. The Aam Aadmi Party also has an organisation and cadres in Haryana but lacks a strong local face.
The Aam Aadmi Party lacks such a face in Haryana whose stature is even close to that of the Congress party’s Bhupendra Singh Hooda. The Aam Aadmi Party has influence in urban areas, especially in the NCR region and areas bordering Punjab, but the party’s lack of a strong face in the local leadership is a challenge for it.
This could also be the reason why the Aam Aadmi Party is playing the local boy card of Kejriwal. Kejriwal himself hails from Kheda village in Hisar, Haryana, and the Aam Aadmi Party seems to be implementing a strategy of using this connection of his to fill the leadership vacuum in the local area.
4- Against the vacuum
From Punjab to Goa-Gujarat, wherever Delhi’s ruling party performed strongly, one thing seemed common: the opposition vacuum. The party benefited from the Shiromani Akali Dal’s weakness in Punjab. The Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the main opposition party in 2017, and since then workers have focused on issuing security cards to every household. In Gujarat, Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party also went all out, starting the campaign six months in advance and began distributing security cards door-to-door, the benefit of which was winning five seats. But the situation in Haryana was different. The opposition Congress party had a strong face in the form of Bhupendra Singh Hooda.
Also read: Congress vs BJP: Whose promises are there in Haryana manifesto: farmers, wrestlers and youth?
5- Trust and acceptance
Trust is a big factor in elections. Whenever the Aam Aadmi Party goes to any other state to fight elections, it cites the work done in Delhi as an example. This seems to be the axis around which the party is campaigning in the Haryana elections as well. Senior journalist Pradeep Dabas said the situation in Haryana is such that if the Aam Aadmi Party makes the same promises, like free electricity and water, then people will trust it more. Kejriwal’s acceptance in national politics is not yet that high.
Also Read: Haryana Election 2024: Arvind Kejriwal to start his first election rally from Jagadhri, enthusiasm among AAP workers high.
It will also be a challenge for the Aam Aadmi Party and Kejriwal, who are contesting separately in the Haryana elections, to attack the Congress aggressively. The Aam Aadmi Party has been a vocal critic of the Congress before the Goa-Gujarat and Punjab elections. Kejriwal’s party, which is based on anti-Congress politics, has been incorporated into the national-level Indian Alliance, which is led by the Congress itself. This factor may also work against the possibility of Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party emerging strongly in Haryana politics.
Follow us On Social Media Google News and Twitter/X