Subcontinental hockey powerhouses, India and Pakistan, dominated the game for nearly 50 years when it was played on grass. The surface proved to be a premium when it came to stick work, control and near-total dominance since Indians and Pakistanis were the masters of these arts. However, once the game suddenly shifted gears and moved to astroturf from the late 1970s onwards, the rules of the game changed. Raw muscle power, speed and fitness became more important. Australia and the Europeans excelled on this new ground while the sub-continental giants’ reputations declined.

SOMETHING SIMILAR HAPPENED IN INDIAN POLITICS 10 YEARS BACK.  Like astroturf, the combination of the Internet, social media and a much younger aspirational population demographic changed the rules of the traditional game and radically changed politics. Political parties that factored these changes into their culture prospered, while others that failed met the fate of Indian and Pakistani hockey.

Traditional politics, as epitomised by the likes of Congress and Akali Dal, was led by old political families with deep war chests and an army of largely low-skilled cadre adept at using money, muscle and liquor to win elections. This politics faced little competition and relied on a society that voted along with family and community lines and was largely apathetic to politics during the interregnum between elections.

The modern politics of AAP is a classical example of astroturf hockey as opposed to playing on grass. The Aam Aadmi Party set the pace for a must faster game. It is played by young politicians who use social media and the latest digital technologies to dominate narratives in increasingly networked societies.

The modern politics of AAP is a classical example of astroturf hockey as opposed to playing on grass.

New internet-based technologies helped to mobilise and organise supporters quickly and scale up easily. They help leaders and parties go directly to the voter bypassing traditional cadres. They help to deliver tailor-made messages catering to individual needs. It is a constant 24-hour war which is waged all around the year, through door-to-door personal contact, posters, billboards, electronic media, Youtube, Whatsapp, Facebook and the works. It uses the skills of much smarter and younger volunteers and full-time professionals who use the latest marketing and social media techniques to activate and mobilise masses and create waves that eclipse their rivals.AAP is the Germany or Holland of Hockey.

The BJP has created a hybrid model which combines the strengths of the traditional model with the new technologies and social media.

The BJP has created a hybrid model which combines the strengths of the traditional model -ideology, money, social base, organisation, charisma with the new technologies and social media. It extensively uses volunteers, marketing and social media to set and change the narrative. They are like  Australians and Europeans in hockey who successively married traditional skills to modern speed and continue to prosper on the world stage.

It is the likes of Congress and regional parties like Shiromani Akali Dal who have been the worst sufferers of the change in new trends in politics as they are neither able to retain their traditional strengths nor able to integrate the new ones in their cultures.

It is the likes of Congress and regional parties like Shiromani Akali Dal who have been the worst sufferers of the change in new trends in politics as they are neither able to retain their traditional strengths nor able to integrate the new ones in their cultures.

Instead of learning from their repeated failures like India and Pakistan who used to blame everyone and everything from European conspiracy to biased umpiring, the Akalis and the Congress too, have refused to learn and blame everything -from EVMs to individual leaders or voters.

For those deciding change, it is time they bring about drastic changes in their parties and their cultures otherwise the road ahead for them is long, dark and leading only to one way -oblivion.

Harjeshwar Pal Singh is an Assistant Professor in History at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Chandigarh. His areas of interest encompass history, politics and the socio-economic structures in Punjab. He is active on social media and often appears on many political shows on television.