Mufflerman; A blow to the dreams of Kejriwal
It is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
cadre which seems to have delivered the deadliest blow to the ambitions of
Arvind Kejriwal, by creating and hyping the imagery of the Mufflerman!
Just look at the situation
that prevailed when LG took a decision to dissolve the assembly.
He was believed to be an honest
politician who did not get the opportunity (Even a Raja could not have done
anything in 49 days), an opportunist who would not hesitate in taking support
from the people he has fought earlier, an ambulance chaser who would not
hesitate in eulogizing the terrorists and defaming a police officer if he could
get few more votes, an unprincipled one who would change his enemy from
corruption to communalism just because it was convenient to do so at that time
and a habitual liar.
In short he had an image like
any other secular politician which dot India’s political landscape. Electorate
everywhere, in every constituency, have many
of such run of the mill, corrupt, secular, opportunist politicians and they are
given a chance to loot in alternate terms. So no politician fades away, ever. Everyone
politician remains a serious contender, always and so was Kejriwal.
Though opinion polls did not show much support for him but as
the saying goes, “A week is a long time in politics” and he had three to four
months. Especially considering the fogginess of the state level leadership in
BJP, he nursed the hope of converting what was looking like a walkover into a semblance
of a fight.
But, Mufflerman changed all that.
His cadre started the trend on social media and it caught up
fast. The imagery of a ‘Batman style Kejriwal – brooding in the shadows, armed
with a deadly jhadoo, ready to ‘hunt corruption from every street in Delhi’ was
too overwhelming to be missed.
But it had a twist which the cadre had not bargained for.
The cadre forgot that politics is not a popularity contest of
comic characters where the 8 to 15 year olds take a decision on who should be
their hero. Election in India is serious business, it is about ability to
govern, it is about policy & programs, enforcement of rule of law and much
more. By running this campaign, AAP cadre converted him into a comic strip hero
and reduced him to an inconsequential, non serious player.
The brand they created was not of a leader but a persona whom
only kids can relate to, empathise with and support. By doing this, they put
off all those who have grown up as adults and would like to vote and support a
serious & visible leader; a leader who has the vision for the future, gut
to enforce the rule of law, gumption to take unpopular decisions but empathy to
help people when they need it. A character hiding in the shadows is not the
leader common man dreams of or is willing to support.
To buttress my point further, let me use another example of
a branding exercise which has the potential to be perceived differently by
different set of communities or groups.
Take the Kinley advertisement about a daughter telling her
father that she has gone to Lonavala with friends. Most of us are left moved by
the innocent truthfulness of the girl, presumably inspired by the mineral water
as the company would like us to believe.
However, consider a village where misogynistic khaps still
dominate. Do you think that the feeling this advt evokes in the heart of a
father of young girl would be same? I
don’t think so.
His feelings are more likely to be on the lines of an advt
teaching young girls to go out of towns (What?) without informing their families (utterly shameful)
with friends (male or female?).
In many villages and
societies, it is sufficient cause for an honour killing.
It is no one’s case that the AAP cadre knew about the
implications of this campaign. Poor souls probably had the best interest of the
party in their minds. But when all you are exposed only to the teens who have
just come out of their make believe world of cartoon characters (some may not
have come out of it, even now) it is likely that the your world view would
reflect this limited understanding and any such branding exercise would appeal
only to those kids.
Unfortunately though, voting age in India is 18 years.
By the time Arvind Kejriwal realizes that he has been done
in by his enthusiastic but childish followers, it would be too late. His artificial
attempt at rediscovery of himself, termed as Kejriwal ver 2.0 by many analysts
where he does not call every other politician as corrupt and every walking
journalist as paid may still not benefit him.
“A wise man gets more use from
his enemies than a fool from his friends.” : Baltasar Gracian
