Why AAP's victory shouldn't be made bigger than it is

It's been a little over 24 hours since #67:3 began trending on Twitter. News of the Aam Aadmi Party's landslide victory in New Delhi was the stuff fairytales are made of. Just over a year ago, its party chief Arvind Kejriwal stepped down as chief minister of New Delhi after failing to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly. This resignation led to resentment and anger amongst the masses, who felt that Kerjiwal had taken the easy way out. Noted journalist Vinod Mehta in his second book, Editor Unplugged, said that Kejriwal had failed the people who had believed in him and his ideology.

Following Tuesday's win, the media has reported how AAP is the new face of politics and how the people of India need not look at the BJP and Congress as the only alternatives. While it is true that there is another alternative, AAP should realise that they have to look at least 10 years before they consider to enter the fray as a possible contender to win the Lok Sabha elections. Let's look at the reasons why.

First, while the Delhi victory was phenomenal and could give Kejriwal and his team the much-needed confidence after the disaster in the general elections, let us remember that Delhi is a city state. Unlike other state governments, the Delhi government has no hold over the city's police. While campaigning, Kejriwal and his team focused primarily on eradicating corruption and ensuring proper water supply and electricity. While speaking to NDTV yesterday, Meera Sanyal also mentioned how the party spoke to some private schools in the capital to open their gates after school hours to provide open playing areas to children. If you take a step back and look at the Delhi elections, it's a glorified municipal election where AAP has focused on the primary necessities that the people of Delhi need.

This brings us to the pan-India campaign. If AAP wants to succeed in the rest of India, they should primarily focus on the municipal elections before progressing to state-level and national-level politics. The reason for this is simple: apart from national-level parties such as the BJP and Congress, AAP has to also face a number of local parties. Given India's vast diversity and political beliefs, they will have their work cut out. They will have to understand how parties such as the SP, BSP, TMC, CPI (M), Shiv Sena, AIADMK, TDP, JD(U), BJD and JMM – just to name a few – operate. From there, they will have to understand the basic needs of the people and slowly build their trust base if they want to succeed at a national-level.

The advantage AAP has is that it's a political party, which means large numbers. They have the reach, the bandwidth and the potential funding to reach all sections of society. They need to look into the hyper-local issues before looking at the big picture.

If they follow this mantra and work, then AAP will definitely be a party to watch out for in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. If they believe that they can create a national sensation overnight after this Delhi victory, they will be in for a rude shock.