What Arvind Kejriwal Can Learn from Naveen Patnaik ?
What Arvind Kejriwal Can Learn from Naveen Patnaik ? With the announcement of result of Lok Sabha Election 2019, BJP clinched all seven seats of Delhi once again. Being the national capital, the Lok Sabha election in Delhi carried high importance. After the mud-slinging by both Aam Aadmi Party and BJP, the Lok Sabha Election became even more interesting in Delhi. However, the result proved to be disastrous for Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party which rules the Delhi assembly. The party stood at distant third in every seat after Congress. In 2015 Assembly election, the Aam Aadmi Party had won 67 of 70 assembly seats and eight months down the line, Delhi will again enter the political battlefield for the assembly election. The question arises, will Arvind Kejriwal be able to save his seat as a CM of Delhi? May be yes! May be no! However it will be unwise to consider that the results of Lok Sabha 2019 will be reflected in results of Assembly Election 2020 in Delhi. The reasons being:
- Aam Aadmi Party is a regional party with a limited outreach. Winning a Lok Sabha seat becomes much more difficult when the National Party like BJP is very much popular in the state itself.
- Lok Sabha 2019 was clearly a presidential type of election. People either voted for Narendra Modi or against him. Even the newbies in politics like Sunny Deol, Gautam Gambhir won.
- Election to Lok Sabha are fought on the lines of national issue while the State elections are completed focused on regional issues.
What went wrong for AAP?
The Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal, being in Delhi, always got undue share of publicity in media. However, the party failed to use it in its favour. The party took the path of negative politics and always kept itself busy having tussle with Central government. The level of negativity was so high that it accused every second politician to be corrupt and thereby had to face several defamation cases in which the party president himself had to apologize publicly at the end.
During the election campaign, the Aam Aadmi Party, without any proof, levelled allegation against Gautam Gambhir, BJP west Delhi candidate. Be the party leadership to the cadres on ground, everyone started campaign against Gautam Gambhir of spreading derogatory pamphlets against the AAP candidate Atishi Marlena. The result was that, the west Delhi candidate of Aam Aadmi Party not only was defeated by Gautam Gambhir but she even lost her deposit.
Arvind Kejriwal and his party occupied the centre stage of politics after the party vowed to fight against the corruption of Congress. Arvind Kejriwal himself assured the public of ending political careers of many Congress big guns including Sheila Dixit. However, during the Lok Sabha election the desperation of party and its leadership to have a coalition with Congress did not go well with electorates of Delhi.
What Arvind Kejriwal can Learn From Naveen Patnaik?
Naveen Patnaik, the Biju Janata Dal leader has been in power of Odisha for 20 years and is set to be the Chief Minister of Odisha for the fifth time in a row. Battling anti-incumbency of 19 years and Modi tsunami, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, won 112 of 147 assembly seats and 12 of 21 Lok Sabha seats reducing BJP to only eight seats. The Biju Janata Dal maintained its ground even when NaMo Tsunami swept the entire country. How Naveen Patnaik stood a clear winner even when the odds were against him.
- Naveen Patnaik has always been a man of less words and never indulged in tussle with the center. He holds no grudges against any politician and never indulges in any negative campaigning.
- He never hesitates to take help of the central government if it were for the people of Odisha. This was reflected when cyclone Feni struck Odisha and Bengal. The Bengal CM refused to take help of center because she thought it might benefit BJP electorally, however, Naveen Patnaik happily accepted the help of central government because it meant for the safety of people of Odisha.
- Naveen Babu have always worked silently. His schemes have always been centered for the benefit of people of Odisha. Be is the schemes like KALIA, which provides cash assistance of Rs 10,000 annually to around 50 lakh small and marginal farmers or the schemes that provides rice as Re 1, Naveen Patnaik has been a step ahead of every CM’s of nation.
- Naveen Patnaik has kept his personal image spotless. Not known for ostentation, Naveen Babu have always been one among the people of Odisha.
Outcome
The 2019 Lok Sabha election lead to Modi 2.0. It also ended to some extent the politics of caste and religion. However, the election also exposed the weaknesses of the regional party, at the same time the election also brought to limelight the strong organisational strength of Naveen Patnaik’s, Biju Janata Dal in Odisha. On the other hand, the election also exposed the how disconnected Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party is from the people of Delhi. The policy of hate and blame did no good to the party therefore the leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party need to learn from Naveen Patnaik that for a political party in power the main concern should be improvement of lifestyle of common people who in turn rewards the politician by voting in their favour. Mere keeping grudges in turn will lead to downfall of party.
TITLE: What Arvind Kejriwal Can Learn from Naveen Patnaik ?