Last week, while Narendra Modi was on a grand road show in Varanasi, carrying with him almost the entire city in his support, Arvind kejriwal, with a handful of supporters was sitting on a Dharna on the banks of river Ganga. This image of a sulking Kejriwal on a Dharna, whether at Raj Ghat, Jantar Mantar or Assi Ghat, appears to have stayed in people’s mind and has come to define his leadership and ideology.
Aam Admi Party (AAP) had a great start. An organisation supported by zealous workers, its popularity grew exponentially that set alarm bells ringing for national parties like Congress and BJP, who were forced to sit up and take notice of the rapidly growing popularity of AAP. Following its decision to contest assembly elections in Delhi, AAP had a dream ballot success on its debut. And, yet, AAP started to flounder as soon as the post-victory euphoria died down and had to face severe criticism for several unpopular decisions. Things have come to such a pass over the last 2-3 months that AAP is now considered to be a marginal player in most of the Lok Sabha constituencies it is contesting and faces its biggest challenge of survival. Some political analysts say AAP may even fade away into oblivion after the general elections are over. Few parallels from last 20-30 years are cited of similar movements having failed to sustain momentum after getting off to a promising start. Andhra based Loksatta Party of Jayprakash Narayan started a movement for clean politics, did path breaking work in electoral reforms but, remains a fringe player despite a taint-free image; earlier G K Moopanar launched with lot of fanfare Tamil Maanila Congress but lost traction and after faring poorly in state & Lok sabha elections merged with Congress party.
So, what exactly went wrong with AAP that witnessed a ‘Never Before Seen’ phenomenon of a stratospheric rise and an equally sudden hard landing on the ground, all in a matter of few months? After its victory in Delhi, many issues taken up by AAP seemed to be fatally flawed and agitated the minds of large sections of public. Foremost among these was Arvind kejriwal’s decision to seek support from Congress party despite his earlier proclamation that he would not seek support from either Congress or BJP to form a government. AAP shot into prominence on anti-corruption plank which was also the biggest factor that led to Chief Minister Sheila Dixit’s shock defeat at the hands of Arvind Kejriwal. But, soon after Kejriwal took over as Delhi Chief Minister, the issue of his promised investigation against Sheila Dixit for her alleged involvement in Commonwealth Games scam was put on the back-burner. Instead of taking on a scam infested UPA government at the center on corruption issues, Kejriwal trained his guns on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who is widely considered as the most incorruptible leader in India today. Then, senior party members like Prashant Bhushan (calling for a referendum in Kashmir) and Yogendra Yadav (controversial statement on reservations in Delhi colleges) also made indiscrete statements without thinking of political implications only led to serious loss of credibility and lowered the party further in public esteem. Another senior colleague Somnath Bharti’s unwise reaction during his mid-night adventure in Khidki village in Delhi is one episode even AAP would like to forget, but left Delhiites wondering if they made a wise choice in voting for AAP.
AAP’s 49 day reign in Delhi was marked by one controversy after another. A self-proclaimed anarchist (read earlier post Profiling AAP ), Arvind Kejriwal sat on a Dharna in a state ruled by his own party. He spoke of spartan living and yet, insisted on a huge twin apartment in prime location for himself as soon as he became Chief Minister. His much touted JanLokpal Bill remained just rhetoric and failed to see the light of the day. After enjoying power for a mere 49 days, Kejriwal decided to abdicate responsibility, resigned and vowed to take his fight pan-India and contest general elections. Kejriwal thought his decision to pull out of government would generate a wave of sympathy and support would pour in. But, instead another sobriquet – Bhagoda (fugitive) got attached to his name. What he failed to perceive was that it is not really absence of a well-oiled organization or lack of resources that voters would really worry about. People would check a party’s past performance, its decisiveness and what it can bring ‘to the table’ before deciding to cast their votes. Unfortunately, on all these counts, AAP fares poorly in its report card. As already mentioned earlier, Anti-Corruption crusade was the spring board that catapulted Kejriwal and his colleagues in to a political party to be reckoned with, but mid way in his election campaign, Kejriwal abandoned Corruption and declared Communalism as the biggest threat to India. Kejriwal often talked of clean politics, but has always been evasive on funding of his and his colleagues’ NGOs which have come under public scrutiny. Arvind Kejriwal’s frequent U-Turns on various issues and his flirtations with Muslim community may have alienated a large chunk of potential voters from the party. His party colleagues loyally crow that despite all the problems AAP is facing at the moment, the party is here for a long haul. AAP detractors, however counter this by saying that, without any credibility and sense of direction, if these myopic pundits claim with smug assurance that AAP will survive the present crisis, then they surely suffer from advanced political dyslexia. In less than two week’s time the last phase of general election will be over. Only time will tell what the people’s verdict on AAP would be. If opinion polls issued by various media houses are to be believed, AAP may get between 1 to 5 seats in the on-going general elections and that is a far cry from its own tall claims of winning over 100 seats and be a strong contender to form the next government.
There is no denying that AAP caught the imagination of many young men & women yearning for a change. But a movement of the masses never rests on the efforts of one individual, especially when he self-righteously asserts that “everybody else is wrong and I alone am right” but, fails to establish his own credibility by making serious endeavors to run a government against all odds. Moreover, change in society is rarely swift, it only reveals itself in gradual increments and not surprisingly, few have the patience to sustain a continued and concerted effort to taste the fruits of genuine change and this fear is so paralyzing that it could make many young idealists to leave AAP and pursue different career. In order to survive, Arvind Kejriwal must realize that mass movements die a premature death when it fails to encompass the will of vast majority. Given his own shortcomings and the weaknesses of the cast assembled by Kejriwal, the dream of social justice is bound to get sour sooner rather than later.
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AAp is the ghost of jaising and every other quisling who has betrayed this land of believers! My essay titled -‘ Game of Warlords’ ( carried in these columns) stands underscored by this epitaph . End AAp; save Indian democracy . Jai hind! PVR.
AAP is a combination of all goons,anarchists and non achievers.They are slur on our democratic process.Politics was never so ugly before the advant of Kejriwal,a despicable character.Sonner we forget AAP as a nightmare, better for Indian democracy.Materials which are circulating in social media about its members emphatically suggest that they are threat to the nation.They are connected with international disruptive forces which are out to destroy the nation and Kejriwal is a tool in their hands.Their fundings and activities require a deep probe.The Congress have let them loose to bifeecate the nationalists votes and reinstate the corrupt congress and for this reason,GOI have ignored to probe their role.I propose to take up this matter with the new government.