Tune in on AAP-ki-baat

In so many ways, the Aam Aadmi Party is like us only: huffing, puffing and carping. Also, like us, its national convener Arvind Kejriwal does not have many parallels in contemporary politics — the nascent star on the French horizon, President Emmanuel Macron (39), could be a shade better or worse, the French would tell. The remarkableness in the seemingly odious comparison is the rise of the two, the churn they have brought about, and in the suddenness of the demolition of their powerful opponents — at least once. The AAP emerged as a giant killer in Delhi in 2015 polls, and aspires for a national party status.

The AAP has discovered the art of political theatrics: the louder you speak, the better are you heard, five years after it noisily graduated from Delhi’s Ramlila Ground to the national mainstream politics. Today, its achievements are unimpressive, yet, noteworthy: overall, it has four MPs, 86 MLAs and 52 councillors. It is in power in Delhi and in Punjab, it is the principal opposition party with 20 MLAs.

This Nov 26, when AAP’s top leaders strode to the same Ramlila Ground for the party’s 5th year of adulthood, the voices were as loud, yet jangling. One of the party’s founders, poet-politician Kumar Vishwas, did some plain-speak. “We have deviated from the vision that we set ourselves five years ago,” Vishwas said. “We need to introspect,” he said in his 30-minute speech as he alluded to ‘some’ leaders who have forgotten Anna Hazare, the creator of the anti-corruption movement spearheaded by Kejriwal, among others, in 2011. Vishwas also said he was not given a chance to speak in the last few months.

The street-fight 

A pulverized BJP in the Delhi assembly (with three MLAs) and Congress with zero presence in 70-member House were quick to hit out at AAP. BJP’s Vijender Gupta said the celebration should be termed as “five years of misconception, and not revolution.” He sought to remind AAP of its birth-time shrill slogans of eradicating corruption and clean politics. “Instead of removing corruption, their leaders, ministers and MLAs are vivid examples of being involved in corruption.” 

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken was blunt. “AAP had promised that they would not take government bungalows, vehicles and security and would not indulge in corruption. They had also promised public participation in decision-making, inter-party democracy and transparency. But after coming to power, they have systematically broken all these promises,” Maken said. He said the Jan Lokpal Bill passed by the AAP government in the Assembly was a “complete sham, compared to the one enacted by the then Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.”

Kejriwal had to fall back on the oft-repeated charge of calling ‘BJP-wallas’ as fake patriots and told party workers from 22 states to do ‘anything’ to defeat the communal party in Gujarat. 

That was a street-fight, we all know. Within AAP there seems a sense of urgency to regain the high moral ground the party had taken in 2012-13. That was the time when AAP, immediately after its formation, had tasted power in the Delhi Assembly and quickly exited over the Jan Lokpal Bill as the Congress, a half-ally and in power at the Centre, “refused to cooperate.” 

Then came its frequent showdowns with the Delhi Lieutenant Governor over powers that the AAP thought, and still believes, are vested in its government. These included appointments of anti-corruption branch’s head, acting chief secretary, home secretary, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission’s chairman, the power to handle the police, and top-level transfers. 

Internal churning

The fact is that ‘crusaders’ — as AAP has sought to project itself ever since the heydays of its association with Hazare — are not street-smart politicians. This is something many of Kejriwal former co-travelers realized, though in a very secretive way. Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan — the architects behind sewing together a ragtag group — were expelled from the party in 2015. So were senior leaders Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha. They had formed Swaraj Abhiyan — a parallel group of AAP leaders and volunteers. “The kangaroo trials (the party’s disciplinary committee), expulsions, witch-hunts, character assassination, rumour campaigns and emotional theatre to justify such macabre acts -- all this is so true of the Stalinist regime,” Yadav had said.

The expulsions and acrimony were taken as a natural sequel for a party that had defied Hazare’s insistence on keeping off politicizing India Against Corruption. Kejriwal had let it be known that the failure of the agitation route necessitated a direct political involvement. The two parted ways. The senior ‘crusader’ is now an occasional visitor to Delhi and seeks to sharpen his anti-corruption claws by his barbs against the Centre or a state government, AAP’s Delhi dispensation included. 

Punjab experiment

At a time when AAP was embroiled in its own politics of denunciation and self-aggrandizement, it set its sights on Punjab elections. There was a huge possibility as the party saw a wave in its favour because of perceived incompetence of the SAD-BJP government. And the result was nowhere near its expectations though it kept waiting for a miracle until the last vote was counted. There were several factors that worked against the fledgling party: it had peaked too early; it failed to reach a pact with BJP’s Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh; the outsider tag, and too much of remote-controlling. The best it has managed to show off was is its ability to expand its footprint beyond Delhi. 

Punjab is the only state in the country from where AAP had won four Lok Sabha seats garnering a 24.4% vote share by nibbling into Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal vote banks. Yet the party was unable to project a credible Jat Sikh face for the CM’s post. The voters were unclear who would head Punjab in case they voted AAP. Rival parties had a field day in suggesting that Kejriwal, a Haryanvi Hindu, was himself positioning for the post. 

Worse, the party’s local leadership and that in New Delhi were seen divided. First, it sacked its state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur, and then it had to face charges of corruption and sale of party tickets. 

Future perfect?

AAP refuses to accept that it has drifted from its principles of transparency, accountability and decentralised governance. It argues there are many takers of the AAP as witnessed from the recent local body polls in UP. Senior party leader Ashutosh believes AAP continues to be a “party of ethics.” 

“The AAP growth has been phenomenal. The party doesn’t have vast resources and has not promoted politics based on caste, money and muscle-power. We are evolving and learning,” says Ashutosh. 

“The five years have been very satisfying. We have given a tough challenge to the established political parties, won elections in Delhi twice and gone on to emerge as the principal opposition in Punjab. The AAP has been working in a very hostile environment in Delhi and Punjab,” says the journalist-turned politician. “Politics is no longer the elite’s cup of tea, that’s our biggest achievement.”

— By Prashant Saxena with inputs from Ananya Panda