The Fall of a 'Crusader' and the Death of a Dream

The AAP's defeat is no ordinary crisis – and so, the path to recovery won't be easy either, writes Ashutosh.

Delhi Assembly Elections 2025: Victory and defeat are part of politics. But the AAP’s defeat in Delhi goes beyond the realm of traditional politics. It signifies the end of the dream of a just, corruption-free India. It's an ideological defeat.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s defeat in Delhi is catastrophic. It is heartbreaking for lakhs of people who had supported the AAP with the hope that the politics of the country will change one day. It is the death of a dream.

The dream, that India will one day be corruption-free, where politics will not be a dirty game, where politics will be the interplay of virtues, where moral values will push the engine of society. It was an idealistic dream, but these are the dreams that bring change in history.

It was no joke that when Anna Hazare sat on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the whole country rose to support him. It was this Anna Hazare movement that transformed itself into a political party called the Aam Aadmi Party, which created history.

In just two years, the AAP defeated two national parties in the national capital. It was possible only because lakhs of common men, women and citizens dreamt that their dreams would be realised through the party. It was no joke that a politically novice party won with 67 seats at a time when Narendra Modi’s popularity was sky-high – and he seemed invincible. 

But by 2025, the AAP stopped inspiring its supporters and dreamers. The party changed so much that it started behaving like any other party, chasing power and joining the rat race to grab power.

It was this metamorphosis that caused the AAP’s defeat in the national capital.

A Fallen Crusader

Victory and defeat are part of politics. Every party has to go through that circle. But the AAP’s defeat can’t be seen from that perspective alone because it’s not a traditional political party. Unconventionality was its virtue. As it turned conventional, it struck a death knell to the hopes of the 'aam aadmi', in turn killing the future of the party.

It sabotaged the possibility of any future movement along the lines of the Anna Hazare movement, one that dared to dream that the country could be changed.

A file photo of Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, and Manish Sisodia (left to right) at a rally during the anti-corruption movement. 

(Photo: Sourced by The Quint)

The danger is that in the future, if any leader once again asks the people to raise their voice against corruption, promises to construct another utopia, the people will not believe them.

India has seen many social movements in history. The freedom movement against the British Raj was the biggest of them all. Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of that movement. India gained freedom but in his last days, Gandhi was a disillusioned man. Despite his best efforts, India was divided into two nations. The creation of Pakistan was a fatal blow to Gandhi’s dreams and ideals.

All his life, Gandhi experimented with non-violence, but the Partition led to unprecedented violence that shook the nation. Millions of people across the border were killed, became homeless, and history witnessed the biggest forced human migration. Gandhi’s India turned into a blood-soaked nation.

It was not the leader who had betrayed his own people but the people who had betrayed their leader.

Similarly, socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, fondly called JP, was a disillusioned man in his last days. When the people of India revolted against the might of Indira Gandhi, it was JP who led the people to defeat Indira Gandhi. However, the leaders of the Janata Party (formed under JP's guidance) were quarrelsome and for petty gains broke up the Janata government. As a result, Indira Gandhi came back to power with a thumping majority. JP’s experiment failed. He was a bitter man when he breathed his last.

Again, it was not the leader who betrayed the people but the followers who crushed their leader’ dream.

The Anna movement was a political movement, but it was not led by any political party or political leader; it was led by social activists who had no experience in politics. It was indicative of the fact that people had lost faith in the political establishment as the agents that could change the country for the better.

When the Anna movement transformed into a political party, people trusted it and gave it a massive mandate. But after keeping the AAP in power for 10 years, the people realised that unlike Gandhi and JP, it was the leader who had betrayed them.

It was this role reversal which has brought bad fortune to the party – and that is why the defeat in Delhi is no ordinary crisis. It’s a crisis of monumental proportions – and the AAP will find it difficult to get back its political mojo.

Beyond Electoral Hits and Misses

Defeat for other parties is a routine affair, but for AAP, the path to recovery will not be easy. Unlike the BJP and the Congress, the AAP doesn't have a history to fall back on and learn from the past. The AAP also doesn’t have the institutional memory that is intrinsic for parties to take corrective measures.

The biggest problem with the party is that at a very early stage in its life, it tasted massive success. Within 16 months of the AAP’s inception, Kejriwal became the chief minister of the capital. He became an overnight rockstar in Indian politics – and even seen as a future Prime Minister. His popularity was second only to Modi. But while he became the darling of millions, he was also bitterly envied, not just by rivals but also by his peers. 

Now, for the first time in his life and political career, Kejriwal will have to sit in the opposition’s seat, with uncertainty looming large over his and his party’s future.

This will be a test of his mettle. It will not be easy for him to live like an ordinary leader without a government in Delhi. In this election, he didn’t just lose the CM’s post, he is not even an MLA anymore. Can he reconcile with his new reality? Can he change himself to meet the changing needs of the hour? Can he reinvent himself? That is the million-dollar question.

The Riddled Road to Recovery

The immediate challenge before Kejriwal will be to save his party. It will be humongous task to keep his MLAs together. Knowing the BJP, 'Operation Lotus' will soon be unleashed to annihilate the party in Delhi.

Party MLAs will also be tempted to cross over to the BJP to save themselves from the wrath of government agencies. Many of them are facing serious criminal charges already.  

Kejriwal himself and his deputy Manish Sisodia have been to jail, and nobody knows how soon or late agencies will strike further. I won’t be surprised if these leaders land up in jail once again. If that happens, the AAP will find it difficult to survive at all as a party.

The AAP still has a government in Punjab. But will a defeated leader get the same respect? It remains to be seen. From now on, the AAP needs to be in very mature hands. To keep its government intact in Punjab and the flock together in Delhi will not be easy, and for that Kejriwal has to re-engineer himself. He has to say goodbye to his confrontational approach; he has to leave his ego behind; he has to learn to be more patient; he has to develop the habit of listening to others, and more importantly, to contrarian views.

Arvind is a master strategist, provided he is not taking impulsive decisions. He has a knack of anticipating the opponent’s move and plan accordingly but that requires a stable mind and cold-bloodedness. If he can do that, then there is a potential for him to come back with a bang. He has the genius to rise yet again.

It is also, however, true that without power at hand, the former Delhi CM faces a vindictive BJP-led government that will not leave any stone unturned to finish the phenomenon called Kejriwal. It (the BJP) knows that the tiger is badly wounded, and a wounded tiger is perhaps more dangerous. The real test for Kejriwal and the AAP begins now. 

(Ashutosh is co-founder of SatyaHindi and a former member of AAP. This is an opinion piece. All views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)