Use your political mandate wisely

Dear Arvind,

What's with you man? Stop behaving like Rahul Gandhi. Like his elder brother. People have been comparing the the two of you to Santa and Banta Singh. You've become an embarrassment to your supporters. Stop being a Kujliwal.

Use your brain man! You are an IITian. Stop acting like a garden variety politician. Look, the BJP wants to squash you, for you are a threat. That is no secret. Get off your soap box criticizing Modi. He is your Prime Minister too. So stop whining and complaining and figure out how you can outsmart Modi, the BJP and survive. Or is this your swan song while you are seeing your future evaporating?

Come on, you are made of better stuff. Your job is to serve Dilli and further the prospects of AAP. Forget MODI bashing. You have the mandate of the Dilli people. You are up against the LG who is an appointee and has more constitutional power than you. So what? Make his non performance a liability Rally the people of Dilli to shame the LG if he is delinquent in serving them. Go into problem solving mode. You're an engineer. Use your engineering skills. Engage in Gandhigiri.

Identify the person(s) responsible for delivering a service to the constituency. Publish their mobile number, e-mail address and office address if they are not performing. Get the people to call, protest. Put all this on a website. Issue, Proposed solution, hurdles and obstacles, who is responsible parties, mobile number, office number, home number, e-mail address, office address, home address.

And treat every community equally. Identify, publish and address genuine grievances that are hampering the community. Do not engage in vote bank politics by pandering to the communities. Equal Rights, Equal Opportunity, Equal Treatment ought to be the ethos.

May the force be with you.

Perception Counts

Publicity creates perception. Publicity is Good. Good publicity is definitely better than bad publicity. Bad publicity can be leveraged to create good publicity.

The following link is to an article that indicates an issue Kejriwal faces.

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/arvind-kejriwal-trolls-odd-even-pollution-ad-aap-delhi/story/1/8364.html

What can be done to overcome the perception problems Kejriwal faces:

1. He is an engineer and needs help with marketing.
   http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shailesh-dobhal-marketing-lessons-from-the-odd-even-experiment-116011201172_1.html
2. His PR needs to be upped. Barkha Dutt is a fan of his and he should work with her to get his message across.
3. People resist change and oppose their “entitlements” being taken away. The odd-even scheme affected the “middle class” single vehicle owners the most.
4. Most of AAPs “people oriented” programs help the poor and are viewed as populist. So when you take away privileges of the rich and aid the poor, the middle class in between sees no benefits.
5. Being “boxed in” by the LG and the BJP is curtailing his span of control and effectiveness.

So what should Kejriwal/AAP do?

1. The goal is to maximize and optimize service for all. Each constituency – economic, ethnic, religious, minority, business, has its pet beefs. Use the Political capital/mandate to bring about the changes required.
   
   
2. To bring about change:
         o Request
         o Demand
         o Fight
         o Shame

3. Requesting, Demanding and Fighting is not working. 
    
4. Get over the “Ends Justifies the Means” approach and use intellectual prowess and people power to circumvent the hurdles and barriers.
   
   
5. Start with the overall objective in that the role of the government is to serve the people. No one can argue that. Point out where the LG govt is not performing, Present the people's demands and ask for an alternative or proceed to subtle shaming.

Granted Greater Dilli deserves Statehood. How and when that is achieved is not going to have an immediate impact. So the immediate goal is to deal with the current situation. Here are some specific suggestions:

• The role of the police is to protect the people. If that is not happening then have data that shows these lapses and “stimulate” the people to exercise their power by way of protest. Fight the real fight of delivery of services as opposed to who controls the delivery.
  
  
• The recent ruling on “un-aided” schools may have some long term repercussions. The privileged see this as government over reach. Instead a more meaningful approach might be to give them the autonomy they desire and have them adopt a municipal school and improve it. The rich are willing to help the poor by giving them the opportunity to do so, not by taking away from them.
  
  
• Pollution is a bigger health problem in Dilli than traffic. Encourage Electric Cars, reduce their registration fees and exempt them from the odd-even regulation.
  
  
• Co-opt the business community. In a competitive environment, businesses succeed by serving the people. The simplification and transparency measures being implemented help the people being served indirectly. 
   
• Corruption is a multi-headed Rakshasa like Ravana. You cut off one head and it is soon replaced. It is impossible to cut off all the heads in one swoop. The goal should be to put “Ravana” in a box and slowly squeeze him so that his influence is reduced. This is done by policies and procedures. The advantages of eGovernance and Apps is well understood and therein lies a major component of the solution. 
   
• Finally co-opt the press and cultivate good relationships with a few supporters and disregard the detractors. Hold monthly Press Conferences and Town Hall meetings, some of which are televised. The more people know and the more relevant facts are presented the more upside will be accrued.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/why-indian-media-loves-hate-aap-201412955910486791.html