The newly-elected government of Delhi claims it is not political. On numerous occasions, leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have denied having anything to do with rajneeti; they claim they are here to serve the people and janta ki sewa is what they are going to do come what may.
 
Yesterday, even after contesting on a reserved seat, Rakhi Birla, a dalit MLA from the party, vehemently denied having anything to do with identity politics. She said she is above ‘caste-based’ politics or identity politics; and again, she insisted, she is here is for ‘janta ki sewa’.
 
What Birla forgets is that the reserved seat, and the representation of Dalits like her in the functioning of the government, is a result of decades of the same ‘caste-based’ politics she wants to distance herself from.

She – and her party – forgets that for generations, feminists have fought to make the personal political. Black leaders in the west have fought a political battle to end discrimination, and are still fighting. Child rights, immigrant rights, labour rights have all become a reality in many countries because of years of political struggle.
 
Politics is a struggle for rights. Of not an individual or a community, but for ‘a people’. When leaders take up a political struggle they work for a vision. The vision is to end an issue for the benefit for entire generations to come. It aims at paradigm change, in thinking, in treatment, in behaviour. It doesn’t just aim to correct the wrongs in the present, but also creates conditions for them to never occur again.
 
Shouldn’t then the issue of providing water, electricity and good living conditions to all be a political one for you, dear Aam Aadmi Party? If not, why are you fighting for good roads, water and electricity while you are in power? Why should Delhi, or now that you plan to go national, India invest its trust in you then? A local plumber, electrician and handyman can do that job. A good bureaucrat is more suited for this role. A good administrative department, that’s all they need for all of that.
 
To confuse politics with what politics has been reduced to limits the scope of AAP as being merely an administrative cleanser. It also risks the AAP becoming obsolete if other parties put their act in order and apart from any political agendas, and start doing  janta ki sewa.
 
AAP has been termed as the ‘most successful start-up (entrepreneurial venture) from an IITian’. In pure entrepreneurial terms, it has scaled its operations to the national level. Now is the time it refines its manifesto and includes some legislative functions to really provide a ‘political’ alternative to the people of the country.