Aam Aadmi ( hi, आम आदमी, ur, ) — literal translation: "
ordinary man" (''ām'' meaning ordinary + ''ādmī'' meaning man) — is a
Hindustani colloquial expression and the equivalent of "the
Average Joe
The terms average Joe, ordinary Joe, Joe Sixpack, Joe Lunchbucket, Joe Snuffy, Joe Blow, Joe Schmo (for males) and ordinary Jane, average Jane, and plain Jane (for females), are used primarily in North America to refer to a completely average p ...
."
The
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
based its
2004 election campaign on the ''aam aadmi'' theme. The party's slogan for the election was ''Congress ka Haath, Aam Aadmi ke Saath'' ("the hand of the Congress is with the common man"). In 2007, the Congress launched its ''Aam Aadmi Ka Sipahi'' ("the Common Man's Soldier") campaign to popularize the programmes of its
UPA government.
The expression was also adopted by the
Aam Aadmi Party
The Aam Aadmi Party (; AAP) is a political party in India, as one of the national political parties. The AAP was founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, popular ...
, formed in 2012. At that time, the Congress objected to the newly formed party's name, claiming that the ''aam aadmi'' has been synonymous with the Congress since 1885.
"Mango man" is an absurd translation of the phrase (''aam'' is also the Hindi word for "mango"). In 2012,
Robert Vadra
Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian businessman, entrepreneur and the husband of Priyanka Gandhi. He is the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi and the brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi.
Early life and family
Robert Vadra was born to Rajendra a ...
was criticized by activists, when he mocked them as "mango men in
banana republic
In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring ...
".
In 2014, the new prime minister
Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
directed that
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
change its long-standing Maharaja logo for one utilising ''aam aadmi''.
See also
*
Joe Bloggs
"Joe Bloggs" and "Fred Bloggs" are placeholder names used primarily in the United Kingdom to represent the average man on the street. It is used by students, on standardized test preparation courses, to represent the average test-taker. Many coun ...
— used in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom
*
Tom, Dick and Harry
The phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" is a placeholder for unspecified people. The phrase most commonly occurs as "every Tom, Dick, and Harry", meaning ''everyone'', and "any Tom, Dick, or Harry", meaning ''anyone'', although ''Brewer's Dictionary of ...
References
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Hindi words and phrases
Indian political slogans