Instead of directly contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls or joining any opposition alliance, psephologist and farm rights activist Yogendra Yadav’s fledgling political party, Swaraj India, has launched a new platform to encourage ordinary citizens to intervene in electoral politics, set an agenda and select independent candidates who will speak on behalf of farmers and youth.
The party is holding talks with farmers’ groups and people’s movements, as well as high-profile individuals such as film icon Kamal Haasan, farmers’ leader Raju Shetti and youth leaders Jignesh Mewani, Kanhaiya Kumar and Akhil Gogoi to come on board and possibly stand as candidates.
Crucial elections
“This election will shape the country’s future for the next few decades; it is too important for us to play for our own small stakes. Given our limited strength and resources, we thought the best way to utilise them would be to become a conduit for citizens’ energy and participation,” said Mr. Yadav, on the sidelines of the launch of the Indian Citizens Action for Nation 2019 (iCan19) platform.
With its catchy slogan: Hindu na Musalman, Bas Kisan-Naujawan (Neither Hindus nor Muslims, [focus] only on farmers and youth), the iCan19 campaign aims to mobilise and train more than 1,000 volunteers by January. It also aims to draft an agenda of “real issues” with concrete solutions that candidates must pledge support to. An independent panel of well-known, “neutral” persons will be set up to choose candidates by early March.
“If we can get 10 farmers’ representatives and 10 youth representatives into the Lok Sabha, we will be satisfied,” said Avik Saha, secretary general of Swaraj India.
Lessons from AAP
Describing the initiative as an option that “straddles the divide between people’s movements and electoral politics”, Mr. Yadav said he had learnt several lessons from the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) attempt to straddle the same divide five years ago.
“You cannot overthrow a flawed political party system by replicating it. Internally, it cannot be personality cult driven. And externally, we must build links with existing agitations and grassroots movements,” said the poll pundit-turned-politician who founded Swaraj India in October 2016, soon after being expelled from the AAP.
Mr. Yadav vehemently opposed the idea of joining hands with any mega alliance or magathbandhan of political parties set up to oppose the current BJP-led regime. “The magathbandhan has no policy, principle or determination. It is simply about bargaining for seats; it offers no hope to the people,” he said.
He admitted that iCan19’s campaign timeline is ambitious, with less than six months to general elections, and minimal funding. “It is less than ideal, but in politics, it’s all about a moment. A few months ago, who would have guessed that farmers issues would have grabbed the top spot on the national political agenda? We need to use this moment,” he said.
