AAP’s win is a David-vs-Goliath story

Jug Suraiya
11 December 2013, 02:57 PM IST

The Indian political scene is all abuzz at what's been happening. Or, more aptly, what's been AAP-ening. Arvind Kejriwal's spectacular Delhi debut as leader of a movement that is in the process of becoming a proper party has political pundits and other crystal ball-gazers scratching their heads in bemusement. How did little, seemingly lightweight AAP take on not just one but two heavyweights, the Congress and the BJP, and knock one of them out for the count and give the other a black eye. Inevitably, AAP's victory invites comparison with the Biblical story of David and Goliath, the small shepherd boy who, armed only with a slingshot, defeated the huge, heavily armed Goliath.

Political analysts, military strategists and market researchers have all used the David and Goliath analogy to try and explain how and why it is that the little guy wins with surprising frequency over the big guy. Shorn of professional jargon, the answer seems to lie in a reverse asymmetry: Goliath's overconfidence in his sheer size, and David's can-do attitude which compensated for his smallness.

Where spectators of the David-Goliath encounter saw a giant confronting a stripling, David only saw a target – all the better for being so big – for his slingshot. The moral of the story is that whether on the political battlefield or in marketing warfare, the smaller contender succeeds because of trying harder than the larger adversary. One of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time was that for the American car rental company, Avis, which was the second largest in the business after Hertz. Turning its apparent disadvantage – its smaller size – into an advantage Avis launched an advertising campaign which proclaimed: 'No. 2 -- that's why we try harder'.

In boxing parlance there is an old saying: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Proponents of guerrilla tactics have demonstrated the truth of this observation in fields as far-flung as Vietnam and Afghanistan. Widespread voter anger against rampant corruption and misgovernance led to the Congress debacle in Delhi, where the BJP narrowly missed being beaten by AAP, the perceived underdog whose USP – Unique Selling Proposition – is its promise to usher in a new style of politics which is not dependent on money or muscle power, both of which are the prerogatives of big parties.

AAP is now planning to spread its wings and go national. Its growing number of supporters will applaud this decision. But what if, in time, AAP itself becomes a big party, with its attendant trappings of money and muscle, as Arvind Kejriwal's mentor, Anna Hazare, had warned? Having beated Goliath, can David become a Goliath himself? Not necessarily. But should it happen, another David will turn up to challenge the neo-grant. The small guy, the aam admi, will always be the nemesis of the big guy, the corrupt and complacent neta.

jug.suraiya@timesgroup.com

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