the topi became the crown

8/13/2019 The Topi Became the Crown

1/3

The Aam Aadmi Party has sent out key messages aimed at alleviating the powerlessness that large

sections of Indians feel in the face of corruption. Making the common man feel heard has been its prime

agenda.

The journey from learned helplessness to empowerment is aone-way street. Once empowered, the people cannot go back

to feeling helpless or powerless

As the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as Chief Minister of Delhi

on December 28, 2013. Of the lakhs of voters in Delhi who gave such a strong mandate to afledgling party, or the hundreds of thousands of supporters across India and the globe who

participated in this struggle and made this happen, the emotion was jubilation, exhilaration and a

feeling of having made the near impossible happen. Others who were on the fence and earlier

doubtful that a new party with such impractical ideals of transparency and accountability couldmake any serious inroads into the entrenched political game of money and muscle, will be

feeling a grudging admiration and a feeling of wow, not quite sure how they pulled this off but

these people are certainly worth taking seriously. Many such people are flocking in largenumbers to join this political revolution as this wave for clean politics sweeps across the nation.

The emotion in corridors of administrative offices in Delhi where corruption was an accepted

everyday phenomenon may surely be one of trepidation and unease as they see their bastions ofpower crumbling and an uncertain fate ahead. There are media reports of files being shredded

and tossed and officials scrambling to get transfers out of Delhi.

So, how did such a transformative change happen in such a short period of time, defying allconventional political wisdom? This is the question on the lips of many as they scratch their

heads in wonder. What was the secret recipe for success in the stunning victory of the AAP?

Even political opponents, established parties such as the Congress and the Bharatiya JanataParty, are doing some soul-searching and taking lessons from this turn of events. Rahul Gandhi

himself has acknowledged that the Congress will need to learn from the AAP.

What was the goal that the AAP had set out to achieve? To first rid Delhi of corruption and then

do the same for the rest of the country. Their slogan or mantra was A corruption-free India is

not our request, but our demand and obsession. Go to their website and this is the first messagethat greets you. There is clarity and firmness of purpose here.

But why should this be so difficult to achieve? Are not most people in India on the receiving endof corruption and only a small fraction beneficiaries of it? So, why should it be difficult to

correct this state of affairs in the worlds largest democracy? Would not every Indian naturally

want this and vote for clean politics? What forces had created a system where only the corruptcould survive in politics and people are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils? Was it

that those indulging in corruption were really smart and hid their tracks and fooled the people

most of the time? That does not seem too plausible in an environment where mega corruption

scandals are exposed with alarming frequency and skeletons tumble out of the closet as aneveryday occurrence. So, what was it that was causing this state of affairs to continue? What

forces were keeping this system from moving to the desired state of a corruption-free country?


2/3

Removing barriers

Experts in change management talk of two ways that you can make change happen. By putting inplace drivers that create a force towards the desired future state or removing barriers that

prevent a system from moving to the desired future state. In fact, its often easier to change a

system by removing barriers rather than putting in place drivers. The desire of a majority ofIndians for a corruption-free country was a driving force for change, but at the same time there

was a sense of helplessness or powerlessness, a belief that its the way it is and nothing can

change it, that became a key barrier to this change. Removing this barrier was critical to allowthe system to change.

Psychologists have studied the phenomenon of learned helplessness, where people who havebeen put in a prolonged situation where they are unable to get results from their actions, give up

trying, and thereafter, helplessness becomes a learned behaviour. I would venture to say that

large segments of Indians had succumbed to the phenomenon of learned helplessness, and felt

powerless to change the state of affairs regarding corruption in the country. That being the case,

a central task for the AAP was to undo this sense of helplessness and make people feelempowered to rise up and fight for change. A lot of key messages of the party were aimed at this.

The very name of the party created this sense of empowerment. It made every Indian who

donned the Aam aadmi topi(cap) feel that they were the partythat they owned the party.

The topibecame the crown that made them feel like the king of the party.

Central messages of the party also built on this feeling of empowerment. The aam aadmiwill

go to Parliament and clean corruption, the aam aadmi will be selected as a candidate,theaam aadmihas won from this constituency and will live not as a minister but as an aam aadmi

rejecting the trappings of a VIP political culture.

Not only did the aam aadmifeel empowered, he felt heard. The tragedy of Indian politics in the

past several decades since Independence has been the growing irrelevance of the aam aadmiand

his troubles and woes. Politics became a game of buying and manipulating votes to win electionsand then driving the very people who voted for you into a corner, extorting from them through

any unfair and corrupt means, and making their lives difficult. The AAPs door-to-door

campaign made the aam aadmifeel heard and empowered, as did the Mohalla Sabhas of theAAP to create Assembly manifestos. Even the decision to form the government in Delhi was

taken to the aam aadmiin one of the largest referendum exercises in politics. Even while the

Opposition scoffed at this, it struck a chord with the aam aadmi. If any other political party

wants to learn lessons from the AAP, they need to learn the ABC of empowerment.

How long will the euphoria last?

As we celebrate this moment that may very well be remembered in the years to come as theturning point that changed the trajectory of Indias development and made the common man

relevant, many are also asking the question, how long will this last? How long will the Congressallow this government of the people to continue? How long before the corrupt forces band

together and strike it down?


3/3

My answer to this question is that the journey from learned helplessness to empowerment is a

one-way street. It cannot go backwards. Once empowered, the people cannot go back to feeling

helpless or powerless. The people of India have woken up; they feel empowered and will notsettle for less any more. They will demand clean candidates, they will demand transparent

political funding, and they will demand that money be spent on the needs of the aam aadmi.

They will insist on their voice being heard and participating in the political process. Hail to thepower of the people in the worlds largest democracy!

(The writer is an organisation development consultant in Chicago and has been coordinating theAAP Global supporter group)

the topi became the crown

Documents