NEW DELHI: For political parties, propaganda is the lifeline of rhetoric. Elections are in the air in Delhi and huge packets of pamphlets and posters lying in Delhi AAP’s Patel Nagar office leave little room for workers to walk or sit. Making a human chain, volunteers were loading the bundles on to vans. “These would be delivered door to door,” said a volunteer. Door to door has been AAP’s patent campaign strategy, a direct communication method that used autorickshaws, mohalla meetings and RWA interactions; which it plans to repeat this time as well.
The shadow of Narendra Modi seems to have cast its spell over all parties in different ways. Development and not Corruption will be the AAP’s main plank. The BJP has decided seek votes in his name as the Messiah of Development. The Congress party is giving a new spin to the catch phrase—development based on local needs. Delhi BJP in-charge and the party’s national vice-president Prabhat Jha has clearly stated that like Maharashtra and Haryana, Delhi too would deliver Modi a hat-trick.
AAP and Arvind Kejriwal are looking for a comeback using a fresh strategy. Gone is Kejri’s showmanship and razai politics. A thoughtful, media-shy Kejri has emerged. After the Lok Sabha debacle, AAP almost collapsed with senior party leaders such as Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Shazia Ilmi, Kumar Vishwas and Yogendra Yadav opposing and questioning Kejriwal’s autocratic ways. Lakhs of disillusioned supporters and volunteers abandoned the party.
“We have forgotten AAP, writing it off as a bad choice,” said a former AAP MLA. Shazia Ilmi, who left AAP in protest against the lack of transparency, told The Sunday Standard, “I left AAP because of that and I still find things have not changed.” However, from “I am an anarchist,” the former Indian Revenue Services officer has now changed his maxim to “I am for development.”
This time Kejriwal has adopted a lofty strategy. AAP will not launch attacks on Modi but will focus its ire on local leaders, especially Jagdish Mukhi. When asked about Modi, Kejriwal said, “My politics is issue-based.”