Professionals joining AAP reflects change in the grammar of Indian politics

A slew of professionals leaving lucrative jobs to join Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) reflects the change in the grammar of politics the AAP has forced through. It could, thus, at worst be dismissed as a flash in the pan or, at best, seen as inaugurating a new trend in Indian politics.

Of course, professionals have joined political parties in the past, but the AAP, on the whole, is increasingly accepted as having made possible the entry of non-politicians, as traditionally understood, into politics.

This is a positive thing. In a system that is corrupt, dynastic and based on patronage and identity management, a political force cannot but be for the good when it stands outside this gross tradition and invites in outsiders, promising radical change.

The question of who enters politics and how it sustains them, and what relationships emerge between these new entrants and power, is an old one. Does one see politics as a profession or a vocation?

The social theorist Max Weber, during the early part of the 20th century, spoke of two ways of making politics a vocation: someone living “off” politics and someone “for” it, and suggested that the two weren’t so antithetical — making a living off politics can exist alongside living for both the “power” and sense of “cause” within politics. That is a simplification of the complex arguments Weber makes, but underlines the question on the possibility of “outsiders” joining active electoral-political life in India.

Weber also says that only the person who is committed, “in spite of all”, can answer the call of politics. In the Indian context, that would mean that politics must be accepted, contrary to traditional perception as the quick way to get power and riches, as a calling, a vocation that can provide a living, but precludes outright worshippers of Mammon.