People's movements in politics

Arvind Kejriwal is the flavour of the season in India right now. He manages to grab all the media attention without spending the huge amounts of PR (Public Relations) money his peers, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi have been spending. And that's not surprising. His party has born out of a people's movement and hence had received support from the media right from the beginning. His mentor and former Guru Anna Hazare's IAC movement(India against corruption) was widely publicised. When Anna's movement failed, Arvind could not sit back and watch hopelessly from the sidelines and entered politics. After a great debut in Delhi in 2013, he wants to capture the national stage in 2014. He might well be the party pooper for the major alliances.

There are others too who could to enter politics on the fringes of a people's movement. In Italy, a movement of a similar kind called Five Star Movement is become active under comedian turned activist Beppe Grillo. They contested the 2013 general elections and got 25% of votes. They were the in the top 2 largest parties by number of seats won but lower than the major political coalitions. They will probably get their turn in the next general elections.

Imran Khan in Pakistan has also been a social crusader before his entry into mainstream politics. He has won power in a province, and might get to power in the next general elections.