Autowallahs: Why AAP’s original aam aadmi feels abandoned

By Debobrat Ghose

New Delhi: The hand that had propped Arvind Kejriwal up not too long ago, helping him win an unprecedented victory in the Delhi assembly elections, turned to slap him in full public view on Tuesday. The exact identity of the attacker is immaterial, what matters is it was an auto-rickshaw driver, member of a community that had extended absolute, unconditional support to Kejriwal’s party four months ago. This is the community Kejriwal abandoned while chasing bigger ambitions. In many ways, the autorickshawallahs were the original aam aadmi.

Have they turned against him and his party now? The auto-rickshaw driver’s public display of anger against Kejriwal seems to suggest so. Though the latter has alleged that the incident is a ‘political conspiracy’, the auto-rickshaw wallahs believe it was a genuine expression of anger against him. The accused driver, Lali, a resident of Nalanda district in Bihar, later told reporters in a police station that his action was not politically motivated and was a result deep-rooted frustration. He said Kejriwal had deserted them without fulfilling a single promise he had made.

Unlike many of his comrades, the auto-rickshaw drivers supported Kejriwal and his movement, not to procure seats in assembly polls, but considering him as a ’true honest aam aadmi politician’ who would fight for their cause. They put up AAP banners on their autos and pledged full support to him with the faith that once he became the chief minister, he would put an end to the ordeal that they faced regularly.

“No promise was fulfilled after Kejriwal became CM and he quit after 49 days to contest Lok Sabha election eyeing the post of prime minister. This is breach of trust. He didn’t even bother to take care of our biggest problem, the harassment we face from the traffic police,” says auto-rickshaw driver Shyam Singh of Sangam Vihar.

Prior to the Delhi assembly election, Kejriwal promised the auto-rickshawwallahs that he would put an end to the draconian Section 66/192A under which the traffic police impound auto-rickshaws and force them to pay challans at courts. “A traffic police impounds an auto-rickshaw on flimsy grounds and only after paying challan in a court, which ranges between Rs 5,000 and 10,000, the vehicle is released. In addition, one has to bribe the traffic police and during the entire process. The aurorickshaw driver ends up losing a week’s earnings or more,” says Sunil Kumar Yadav, an auto-rickshaw driver hailing from Champaran, Bihar.

The AAP promised that once they came to power, they would construct nearly 4,000 auto-rickshaw stands, issue permit to Delhi auto-rickshaw drivers to ply in the National Capital Region, facilitate bank loans to buy autos, increase number of auto-rickshaws on roads to generate employment, etc. “Kejriwal made big promises, but once he came to power, he forgot about them. He didn’t take any step to improve the condition of auto-rickshaw drivers and service to passengers. What’s the difference between Kejriwal and any other politician whom he criticises?” questions Rakesh Agarwal, secretary, Nyaya Bhoomi, an NGO working for the cause of auto-rickshaw wallahs.

Though autorickshaw drivers are almost like daily wagers and don’t get involved in politics, they didn’t approve of Kejriwal taking Congress support to form the government. “He contested election to end evils of the Congress Raj, but instead he took their support to become the CM. Instead of resolving any of our issues, he created ruckus only over the Jan Lokpal Bill and used it as a pretext to resign to contest against Narendra Modi. Can he be further trusted?” questioned Santosh Kumar, a south-Delhi auto-rickshaw driver.

A section of auto-rickshaw drivers dismissed the slapping incident as a ‘political drama’ of Kejriwal. “In politics, no one is absolutely clean. It seems to be a stage-managed act of Kejriwal to malign his opponents and gain public sympathy,” alleged Babloo Yadav, who is also a member of one of the auto-rickshaw unions in Delhi.

Kejriwal, during his public addresses and on television channels, had always sworn by the name of common man and said AAP’s candidates would be selected from among aam aadmi. “To prove his point, he gave ticket for assembly election to an auto-rickshaw driver Bhaag Singh, but later withdrew and gave it to someone who lost and has now defected to the BJP,” alleges Agarwal. Agarwal, who was initially working in tandem with Kejriwal as his team members, alleged that despite making promises not only to auto-rickshaw drivers, but other sections as well, the AAP chief never bothered to have a democratic mechanism or a road map in place towards fulfillment of promises. “AAP clearly lacks transparency and understanding of governance. As a result, the auto-rickshaw wallahs had to bear the brunt,” Agarwal says.