It may be too early to write the obituary of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s 13-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
However, the implosion set off by the exit of Kejriwal’s erstwhile blue-eyed boy Raghav Chadha, along with six of his party colleagues, in the Rajya Sabha to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) marks the collapse of a middle class dream.
When Kejriwal and his AAP burst on the Delhi scene in 2013 on the back of a popular anti-corruption movement, they were a beacon for jaded urbanites looking to snatch politics back from big money, bahubaalis, and other self-seeking elements that populate the power elite.
This was Middle India’s moment to make its presence felt, its voice heard, and carve out space for a different kind of politics that would cater to its aspirations for a better quality of life beyond populist doles and backbreaking corruption.
What Kejriwal’s current struggles reveal, as he scrambles to salvage the remnants of his crumbling party, is that newbies with shallow roots are no match for political biggies flush with corporate funds, muscle power, and a finely honed skill for cynical manipulation. There is little space today for small parties with oversized ambitions.
The Taint of a Defector is Hard to Wash Off
The backlash from a disillusioned middle class that had invested in the AAP’s promise of a new kind of politics has been swift and brutal.
Chadha lost over one million followers on Instagram overnight after he announced his decision to join the BJP. And social media is having a field day with memes mocking him for joining a party that he spent 13 years abusing and criticising. Middle India can be quite unforgiving with fallen heroes.
Gen Z’s cancellation of Chadha is possibly a precursor of what’s in store for him in his new party. The merger of seven AAP MPs (if formalised by Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan) will give the Narendra Modi government the numbers it needs for a majority of its own in the Upper House of Parliament and clear the way for the passage of contentious legislation in future.
While that’s a feather in Chadha’s cap and must have endeared him to the top leadership, it remains to be seen whether a party that is known to use and throw has plans for his growth within its fold. The Quint reported that the BJP hopes to utilise the formidable trilingual articulation skills (he speaks English, Hindi, and Punjabi) of this fresh-faced 37-year-old MP to cement an outreach to a younger, educated generation of voters—particularly in Punjab where Chadha has been active, and the BJP has minimal presence.
However, the taint of a defector is hard to wash off, particularly with a socially conscious youth which has the audacity of hope.
The BJP must already be monitoring Chadha’s dipping social media profile before creating a role for him in the party.
When Kejriwal Cast His Spell
Chadha’s rise and fall in the eyes of Middle India mirrors all that has gone wrong with Kejriwal and his AAP in the years since they swept Delhi after wiping the streets with the two legacy parties that have dominated the Capital’s politics since Independence—the Congress and the BJP.
Powered by the aspirations of a broad band of the lower and middle classes impatient for delivery, transparency and participation, Kejriwal cast his spell on Delhi with a promise to put people at the centre of governance. Much like New York’s charismatic mayor Zohran Mamdani, his financial model was not big corporate money that funds traditional parties. Instead, he relied on small contributions from a huge and ever growing network of dewy-eyed supporters who bought into the dream of a new type of politics.
He talked of education, health and consultative democracy through mohalla groups. He promised a corruption-free government and an accountable bureaucracy. For a city disillusioned by the apathy of traditional big parties, this was music to their ears.
Even Delhi’s popular former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of the Congress, had failed them towards the end of her third term.
Today, those dreams lie in tatters. Although in his first term, he ushered in creative innovations like upgraded government schools and mohalla clinics for the poor, it didn’t take long for him to succumb to the lure of power and personality politics.
He quickly shed founding members like Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan as well as other leaders who refused to bend to his will. And after he was elected for a second term in Delhi in 2020, again with a sweeping majority, ambition overtook him.
A Man in a Hurry
Kejriwal cast his eyes beyond Delhi to states as far away as Goa and Gujarat even before he had consolidated his newbie party in the city where it was born. He also started positioning himself as a future challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To paraphrase former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Kejriwal was a young man in a hurry.
The fall, when it came, caught him by surprise. He soon found himself entangled in a web woven by the Modi government which worked through the Lt Governor to create hurdles at every stage for AAP projects.
Kejriwal became increasingly shrill and confrontational even as he abdicated responsibility when parts of Delhi were engulfed by communal riots in February 2020 soon after the Assembly polls.
Still, he managed to win a stunning victory in Punjab in 2022, adding a second state government to his resume. But things started unravelling after that with the unleashing of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), first on his closest aides, and then on him personally, in cases related to his infamous excise policy.
Although the corruption charges were never proved and in fact, a trial court threw out the CBI case for lack of evidence, several AAP leaders, including Kejriwal himself, were incarcerated in Tihar Jail in the run up to the 2025 Assembly election in Delhi.
Defeat was inevitable and so was the exodus in the Rajya Sabha that has rendered his party ineffectual in Parliament.
The Task Ahead is Formidable
Kejriwal faces two challenges now. One is to save his party from disintegrating both in Delhi and in Punjab. The other is to shore up his flanks for next year’s Assembly election in Punjab where he will have to beat back the Congress, the default option in the state, as well as the BJP’s burgeoning ambitions, to make a breakthrough in an area where it remains a minor player till date.
The task ahead is formidable as he must have realised. Recent history has shown how easily small parties fall victim to big predators. He only has to look next door at the rapid decline of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Despite a solid loyal following among Dalits, the BSP has ceased to be a force in UP politics because Mayawati capitulated to personal greed in the form of financial inducements which left her vulnerable to pressures from investigative agencies that the Central government dangled over her head like the proverbial Damocles sword.
Is Kejriwal like the cat with nine lives? Or is his luck finally running out? His fate will be decided when Punjab votes in 2027.
(Arati R Jerath is a Delhi-based senior journalist. She tweets @AratiJ. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)