A rift, a sting, a string of resignations and a silent party leader and a Chief Minister in absentia. The Aam Aadmi Party seems to be imploding under the pressure of egos and personalities. Or is it a reality check for a young party, struggling to chart a path between naive idealism and political pragmatism?
Today, an alleged ‘sting’ tape of Kejriwal ‘asking’ former AAP MLA Rajesh Garg to poach Congress MLA’s in 2014, has surfaced. At the time, the Delhi Assembly had not been dissolved by Governor Najib Jung.
As soon as the tape surfaced, Anjali Damania, RTI activist and AAP leader from Maharashtra resigned from the Party.
Meanwhile, former sting-operation expert and now Kejriwal loyalist Ashish Khetan, put a pragmatic spin on the CM’s alleged ‘horse-trading’.
I want to make it clear; there must be a debate on this tape all across the country. Some people are using big words like ‘horse trading’ irresponsibly. Political realignment is a reality in politics, but ‘ horse-trading’ is wrong. Even if we assume the tape is authentic, where does it suggest that money was offered by AAP in exchange of support?
Ashish Khetan
The Party is clearly divided into two camps. Idealists like Damania, who are still unwilling to compromise with the day-to-day necessities of politics and ‘pragmatists’ like Kejriwal and Sisodia, their position being articulated by AAP leaders like Khetan and Ashutosh.
There is also another struggle. Ideologues like Yogendra Yadav, with socialist sympathies are also trying to steer the party into a particular kind of politics. In his explosive letter, Yadav alleged that Kejriwal was keen to form a government last year, even with Congress support. Yadav wants the issue debated within AAP.
Bhushan and Yadav then, form another component within AAP, primarily ideological.
Political observers may actually inform AAP that such contradictions do affect every political party. It’s just that AAP has displayed immense immaturity in handling its inner contradictions.
Such an implosion at the first sign of conflict, especially so soon after a massive electoral victory, has surprised both, AAP’s friends and foes.
What makes matters worse is the complete lack of party discipline. Since its origins, AAP has relied on the media to an inordinate extent.
From the India Against Corruption days, AAP leaders, especially Kejriwal have used the media well. The last few weeks though, have been a different story.
Rather than keeping internal disagreements to closed Party forums, senior leaders have been exchanging insults and accusations through the media.
Like a teenager during their first week on Facebook, AAP politicians have no filter.
AAP leaders need to formulate a mature, internal mechanism to deal with differences within the Party. It’s time to live up to the massive mandate the people of Delhi have given Kejriwal and his companions. Sooner or later, people are bound to get fed up with the media circus, starring AAP.