A slap too many

Physical assaults on Kejriwal, AAP have to stop

THIS time it was sad. Like him or hate him, but the look on Kejriwal's face sitting at Rajghat after being slapped yet again would make anyone take a pause and think about what is happening. The first time some people found it amusing, then it was called politics in Gujarat and Varanasi, now this is just too much. Here is the head of a party that is contesting more than 400 seats, no matter what its prospects. The country cannot just let him be slapped around. This is not how you express your resentment or disagreement in a democracy. Vote is the way. The man who hit Kejriwal may be an individual caught in his own life's misery, but this has to be condemned roundly by one and all. Not the way certain Congress and BJP leaders did it, qualifying their outrage by adding there was anger against AAP.

There is probably more anger against the mainstream parties and their leaders as they have a history. Why only he is targeted, Kejriwal has asked. For one, simply because it is possible to hit him. Most other leaders are ensconced in layers of protection. Also, perhaps because people who became his followers did it from the heart, not out of material interest or political calculations. If disappointed, the wrath of such people also comes from the heart. For AAP this is reason to celebrate as well as fear. Its voters are real.

The attacks and the challenges Kejriwal and other AAP candidates are battling — like little money to travel, canvass or advertise — also bring out the contrast between what they stand for and what the competition is aiming at. The grimy unshaven face of Kejriwal walking in the sun, as against the immaculately groomed Modi in designer eyewear, jackets and kurtas, embodiment of power and confidence in the slickly executed advertisements. Rahul stands somewhere in-between the two extremes. In election time, all of this will work differently on different voters' minds. Some will naturally go for a rebel, others for a symbol of power. The slap would only have sharpened the divide.

Source Link: http://www.tribuneindia.com