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With hundreds of Oximeter centres, AAP gets ‘closer’ to people in Bihar
Taking the message from Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, party workers have fanned out with oximeters and are testing and counselling people to take precaution or approach the nearby hospital should their oxygen count be lower than 95%.
Not a big player in Bihar politics, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has adopted a unique way of drawing peoples’ attention in the state. In the midst of Covid-19 pandemic and scourge of flood in nearly half the state, out of box thinking is what is driving the political parties in Bihar to connect with the masses in the interiors, where online connectivity may not be easily possible.
Taking the message from Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, party workers have fanned out with oximeters and are testing and counselling people to take precaution or approach the nearby hospital should their oxygen count be lower than 95%.
A pulse oximeter is a device that measures blood oxygen level. Coronavirus patients need to be hospitalised if their oxygen level reaches 90 per cent or below, according to health guidelines.
“The healthcare facilities and truth of testing in Bihar is not hidden for anyone anymore. We have opened hundreds of oximeter centres at the booth level to let people at least know their health condition so that they could act in time,” said Bihar AAP chief Sushil Kumar Singh, adding that AAP workers’ gesture had drawn people closer, as they were also concerned about Covid, but did not know where to go.
Kejriwal had in August appealed to AAP volunteers across the country to distribute oximeters in every village, as it had helped save lives in Delhi. He also urged people to donate oximeters. The strategy has been adopted in poll-bound Bihar in a big way.
“Many people have donated it, while our volunteers also buy it. We are also simultaneously carrying out our ‘hum badlenge Bihar’ yatra and rendering our service to the people in getting tested for oxygen saturation level, which falls if a person is infected,” said Sushil Singh, adding Covid-19 management in Bihar and the way the state tackled the migrants’ issue would certainly be a big poll issue in the state, as it has affected the people.
Amid the hype surrounding alliances, party hopping and seat adjustments in the two big coalitions, NDA and the Grand Alliance (GA), Singh said that the AAP was working quietly to get closer to the people by “talking about their issues in their language”.
AAP’s banners and posters promise free education, free healthcare, employment to youth, corruption-free system and happiness to farmers to build a new Bihar, citing the Delhi model.
“We are working on over 100 seats and we are aware we won’t be able to fit in any of the two alliances due to inherent contradictions. We will decide later how many seats we should zero in on. Our message is clear ‘Hum badlenge Bihar’ (We will change Bihar), just as AAP did in Delhi. We ask the people to compare the change with Delhi - be it in Covid management or in dealing with people’s basic needs. People from different walks of life have associated with us,” he added.
The AAP leader said that party’s Bihar affairs in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was constantly in touch with the party leaders and cadres in the state and once the election is announced, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s virtual meetings would also be planned.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP had contested three seats of Kishanganj, Bhagalpur and Sitamarhi without any success. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP had contested 39 of the 40 seats in Bihar, but could win none. In the 2015 assembly election in Bihar, it did not contest, but backed the anti-BJP group.
