In the run-up to the Delhi elections, I spot autos blasting jingles of several political parties and see posters strewn across the city. With poll preparations gaining momentum, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal added a cool feature to his online campaign – an interactive website.
And while most Indian websites are sorry excuses, Kejriwal’s is actually pretty smooth. But what I absolutely couldn’t get over, was his sweater. Any student or former student of Delhi Public School can recognise that sweater from a mile away.
The homepage of the website opens to Arvind Kejriwal approaching someone’s door – that someone being us, the voters. As he looks through the peeping hole, and asks us politely if he could talk to us, I am convinced that I must let Mr Kejriwal come in, because he’s sweet and unlike the Harpic commercial guy, it doesn’t look like he’s about to barge into my bathroom to see how many “kitaandhus” live there.
I am also going to take a moment to appreciate the production quality of the videos on the website . THAT QUALITY THO.
Moving on, after Mr Kejriwal comes inside ‘our’ homes, sips on some water (that I assume he has offered to himself), he simply cuts to the chase. There’s no small talk – he doesn't care what your weekend was like or what you ate for lunch, he wants to talk business. BOOM.
Seven options appear in front of the viewers, from where they can choose to know what work his government has done in these sectors -water, health, electricity, education, unauthorised colonies, women’s empowerment and infrastructure.
After I clicked on the ‘water’ option, Mr Kejriwal talks a bit about the water crisis that the city’s facing, concluding his statement with “Kya aap imagine kar sakte hai” (Can you imagine?).
Well if he was really sitting in my living room asking me that question, I’d tell him that I had never imagined that even seventy years after the partition, the country would be polarised on religious and communal lines. And as the crickets would creek, we’d both awkwardly sip on our teas in silence. He would then leave as politely as he’d entered.
ANYWHO.
I assure you there are hidden gems across those seven options, and I urge you to go through them all, because boy I know I did. The topic I chose to end our homely chit chat was ‘women’s empowerment’.
Mr Kejriwal talks about how the CCTV cameras, that are being installed across Delhi, are reducing crimes against women, or as he calls it- “galat baat”. Adding to the claim, he mentions how these cameras have helped Delhi Police identify criminals and catch them, that is of course when they’re not too busy identifying and catching the innocent. BUT, despite some glaringly obvious eye-roll moments, this website is a great initiative for online engagement.
Now, whether it is effective or not, will only be known once the results are out!
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