(Opinions are of the author. Kindly point out factual inaccuracies if you find them)

I remember conversing with a tour guide in Spain some years ago; the guide — a very smart & relatively bohemian Australian - explained passionately about Spain’s political history, the attempted coup in 1981, and how the country is unique in a way that the present king (King Juan Carlos) is considered among the greatest kings in its history. I never expected to be able to apply the same logic in my home country India. But in the India of today, a mere couple of years later, we have a national political movement underway which everyone in the world needs to be aware of, and the man behind it — Arvind Kejriwal.

India got independence in 1947 with prevailing conditions of extreme poverty, and it has had a very bumpy ride since then. The patriotic spirit after independence and enthusiasm of building a nation switched to despondence and helplessness as a rift developed between the powers & the powerless, between politicians & citizens. Politics became communal, familial and extremely corrupt. This hopelessness, lawlessness and growth-lessness manifested in various forms in Indian society. Crimes against women, against poor, billions of rupees of corruption scandals, policy paralysis, apathy from politicians, all became an everyday affair. Getting any administrative task accomplished was a fight with the bureaucracy and required paying a negotiated bribe. Heaven forbid if you have a serious issue and need the help of the state or the law, especially if your tussle is against a richer, more influential party. The press and judiciary, which are supposed to be the saving grace of the citizen in such a quagmire, had been rendered compromised or rendered useless.

It was in such circumstances that one frustrated engineer-turned-social activist, by the name of Arvind Kejriwal, decided to do something at all costs to himself. He rounded up support with other social activists, framed a parliamentary bill for setting up an independent ombudsman, and in one extremely well crafted mass movement managed to engage and get nationwide support in a country where people have paranoia as their first nature.

The national & regional parties in their hubris (you have to be an automatic arrogant when you have been fleecing the country for 60 years and the people are still voting you back to power) pooh pah-ed the movement and instead challenged these guys to fight the upcoming New Delhi Assembly elections in an year’s time. Little did they know.

Now if you are not from the traditional big parties, fighting an election with any hopes of winning is unheard of in India. The big brothers have all the cash, connections with vested industrialists, with the mafia, and also control of the press. One the other side, we had ONE determined individual & his dedicated team. In one year they collected funds from Indians all over the globe (details of each contribution is available online on their website). An army of volunteers came up to help. Right up to the day of the election, the big parties were using their full might to sully the reputation of these activists — raising hypocritical objections to their funding sources, organizing fake sting operations (with doctors voice-over) — all of which would be hilarious if it were not so outrageous. At the night before the elections, Aam Aadmi Party’s volunteers were patrolling the streets of New Delhi to check illegal tactics of these big parties (like distribution of cash or alchohol).

The results of the polls were very encouraging. AAP got 40% of the seats in the Delhi Assembly Elections in Dec 2013 and more than 50% of vote share. Even though Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) got 45% seats, this is record-breaking for a debutant party. The other two parties, BJP & Congress, were left scrambling and re-calculating everything.

I am an engineer and in some ways I cannot help making the analogy with a technology startup. AAP is an lean, agile, internally aligned, startup. The incumbent parties are big bureaucratic bodies slow to change, unable to build a concerted defence strategy. It is obvious that a lot of infighting would be going on inside them right now.

As a response to AAP, BJP said they will not form the government, and Congress has said it will support AAP’s bid to form government in Delhi. While it is unknown how long they plan to maintain support & if they will allow any work to be done, AAP has scored a major moral victory. It has passed the litmus test & now plans to go nationwide. They have not shifted from their original goal of removing corruption and providing grass-roots governance.

Going national will have its own big challenges. Staying true to its mission while managing ambitions and personality clashes not least of them. But AAP has rekindled the hopes of the common man in India who had become resigned to the fate of the country’s government. Arvind Kejriwal, now Chief Minister of Delhi, is not ready to compromise on any of his earlier statements. He wears the same topi, uses the local transport, takes a hardline against corruption and walks the talk on effective governance.

I, as a citizen of India, feel lucky and honoured to have him as our leader.