Basic lessons from The Bible for the Aam Aadmi Party

Aam Aadmi Party's Gamble

In February I wrote a blog about how the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, had gambled away the Delhi Government for greater gains in a newly elected term. It is still too early to say about the results of this gamble.

AAP in National Elections

One of the reasons for the AAP to abandon the Delhi Government was to focus on the national elections without being tied down to administer the Delhi Government. Now the results are out and the AAP has got 4 seats out of the 434 seats it contested for in the national elections.

Count Your Costs

One thought in my mind is that AAP basically started doing things without counting its costs as advised by Jesus in the Bible. In Luke 14:28-30 The Bible says:

28-30 “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

This teaching expressed in The Bible 2000 years ago very clearly reflects in what has happened to AAP. Because AAP did not count its costs today there are many who poke fun at AAP. The AAP possibly has laid a foundation, but they are going to take much longer time and more resources to get the 100 plus seats that they were expecting initially in this election. Certainly AAP started some thing in the national election that it could not finish.

Judge Your Strength

Just because Arvind Kejriwal managed to defeat the former Chief Minister in the Delhi Assembly elections, the AAP leaders thought that they can repeat the performance in national elections. In Luke 14:31-32 The Bible says:

31-32 “Can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

AAP leaders Kumar Viswas and Arvind Kejriwal competed directly against leaders of two other national parties. Kumar Viswas came 4th and got only 2.92% of the votes, while the winner got 46.72%. The AAP mobilized all its national resources just for Arvind Kejriwal and he got only 20.3% of the votes, while the winner got 56.37%. The AAP leaders clearly did not judge their strengths and weaknesses of fighting national elections.

David and Goliath

I have seen some comparisons where AAP is referred to as young David fighting the giant Goliath described in The Bible. You can read The Bible incident in 1 Samuel 17. In The Bible event Goliath throws the challenge and David fights the challenge because it was against the God of Israel. What we have seen is the weak AAP throwing challenge to the established political parties and losing because they had no unseen support like the God of Israel in The Bible event.

You can read more about this God of The Bible that I believe in from an earlier blog of mine, "The GOD I believe in".