It is December 28, 2013. It is historical. It is unbelievable. It is the dream of Delhi’s aam aadmi that came true.
Coincidently, it is the date when Congress had come into existence in 1888. And now it has become the date when the government of Aam Aadmi Party came to power with the support of its few MLAs after defeating Congress.
After a political tug of war of 20 days, eventually aam admi’s leader was sworn in as Chief Minister of Delhi and it was the first time when aam aadmi was invited to the ceremony. Perhaps it was the time when a chief minister took oath in the presence of aam aadmi who had elected him and the members of his cabinet.
It is a dream of becoming free from the clutches of private power discoms. It is a dream of getting 700 litters of water free daily. It is a dream of getting medical treatment in government hospitals without any approach. It is a dream of educating every child. It is a dream of making Delhi safe for women. It is a dream of making government officials accountable and system transparent. It is a dream of making India corruption-free. These are the dreams aam aadmi dream of.
Delhi’s newly elected Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his six ministers took oath of office at historical Ramlila Maidan. Along with him Manish Sisodia, Somnath Bharti, Girish Soni, Satyendra Jain, Rakhi Birla, Saurabh Bhardwaj took oath of office.
At the time of swearing-in ceremony Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan was over crowded with the aam aadmi all around. Every inch of the maidan was occupied by around one lakh people in front of whom Kejriwal and his cabinet members took oath of office. It is the first time when a chief minister took oath at place other than Raj Niwas.
It is historical in the sense that it is the same place where Arvind Kejriwal along with Anna Hazare had taken oath to make Delhi and India corruption-free two years and a half ago. Formation of this government is based on a promise to make the society corruption-free. But it is with the outside support of 8 Congress MLAs against whom Kejriwal and his party contested election.
It is magnificent in the sense that corruption-aggrieved aam admi raised his voice against the hot bed of corruption in society and extended their overwhelming support to AAP. It is power of aam aadmi which uprooted the three-term old Congress government in Delhi and made Arvind Kejriwal chief minister. It is like the breeze of change which will uproot everything connected with corruption and oust everyone corrupt in the government machinery.
Though Kejriwal had started his fight against corruption with Anna Hazare at Ramlila Maidan, now both are separated. Both had demanded an ombudsman to stop corruption in the country. Political parties challenged Kejriwal and Hazare to fight election at the time of second movement for ombudsman at Jantar Mantar.
After forming Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal stood against Shiela Dikshit and her wrong policies. Kejriwal contested election against Shiela Dikshit from her stronghold New Delhi seat. Not only he won the election but won it with a huge margin of more than 25,000 votes.
Aam Aadmi Party won 28 seats out of 70, but was not sufficient to form the government. Not only Kejriwal but everyone in his cabinet demolished the fortress of Congress. Kejriwal, a former IRS officer, defeated Shiela Dikshit, Manish Sisodia defeated Anil Choudhry, Somnath Bharti defeated veteran Yoganand Shastri, Girish Soni defeated Mala Ram Gangwal, Satyender Jain defeated Shyam Lal Garg, Rakhi Birla defeated Raj Kumar Chauhan, a loyalist and minister of Shiela Dikshit.
Aam Aadmi party is a new-born party that contested election against veterans like BJP and Congress and performed perfectly well and secured 28 seats by defeating biggies like Shiela Dikshit whereas BJP secured 32. Congress was confined to only 8 seats. BJP, even after winning 32 seats, refused to form government but at the same time built up pressure upon AAP to form the government with the support of Congress in view of coming general elections and expected Modi wave.
Though the AAP was 8 seats away from forming the government but still it dared to take the decision. AAP wrote letters to both Congress and BJP mentioning 18 conditions on the issue of support. Congress leadership gave its unconditional support on the basis of these conditions. After getting the unconditional support from the Congress, Kejriwal again went to the aam aadmi to seek advice on the issue of formation of government. AAP organised online survey to know the decision of aam aadmi who qualify it by giving 74 per cent marks. Only after the nod of aam aadmi, AAP took the step to form the government.
Thus AAP has made a history in Indian politics and is likely to play a major role in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.