Kumar Vishwas is among the least likeable of the AAP leaders. He is loud, he is reckless while expressing opinions and in public interaction he certainly does not exude the sense of quiet dignity senior party leaders such as Yogendra Yadav do. Among a bunch of passion-driven, no-nonsense people he, given to unrestrained exuberance, appears a misfit. However, let's ignore the personality flaws. He has taken on the task of challenging Rahul Gandhi on the latter's home turf, Amethi, and Vishwas deserves to be applauded for that.
There's a big possibility that he would lose – that is if AAP makes him the official candidate in Amethi - in a David vs Goliath contest. Surely, Rahul is no pushover in his pocket borough and Vishwas, the outsider, is an untested quantity, but that should not matter. If he raises probing questions on the performance of the former as the local representative and makes people in the constituency think along the same line before they cast their votes, that should be good enough.
Rahul Gandhi. PTI
Of course, if he wrests the seat from Rahul or causes his defeat by splitting the support base of the Congress, it would be the icing on the cake for him. We are not going that far yet. And yes, we are not buying without evidence and only from the rhetoric of a potential political rival that the sitting MP is a non-performer. The point here is to highlight the need for a public discussion on the performance of political representatives at all levels. If AAP ensures that across the country, that will be its biggest contribution to the 'gone-astray' democracy.
"How many times have you raised issues pertaining to Amethi in Parliament? Where are good the roads in your constituency?" Vishwas raised the questions about Rahul during his rally in Amethi on Sunday. Valid questions indeed and there could be many more, not only for Rahul but for all MPs and MLAs. "What did you do with your MPLAD funds? How many villages in your constituency are without water and electricity supply and what have you done about it?" The questions can go on. It is time we demanded answers from our leaders.
Our representative democracy is steeped in the inter-related cultures of complacency and low expectation, the first one has to do with leaders and the second with the electorate. Low expectation from the voters results in low delivery from the former. Politicians enjoy the arrangement and want to perpetuate it. Even when parties are voted out and new ones take over, the arrangement continues, with only superficial changes if at all there is change. Parties try to ensure that expectation from the electorate remains at the minimal level so that the demand for accountability remains low.
The AAP, which is more of a protestant movement against whatever is wrong with the moral-ethical aspects of the polity than a conventional political outfit aiming for power, has the potential to bring the culture of questions from below into the polity. It has made people relevant in politics again, there's no reason why it cannot enable them to be confident enough to seek answers from the leaders. There are signs that parties and leaders are already worried at the prospect. The BJP, which was on a roll with Narendra Modi in the lead not a month ago, is rethinking its game plan for 2014, so is the Congress, which is planning big ticket organizational changes keeping the AAP impact in mind.
The air of irreverence about Vishwas actually helps matters. Language and gestures of his kind bring down the level of awe with which people view their leaders. He should challenge Rahul in Amethi, as should someone else challenge Modi in his constituency. Questions from below are good for the democracy. They have been absent in the political discourse for long. Now there should be no holding back.
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