Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'AAP is not finished' that was published in Newsband

AAP is not finished

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party is not finished. Whether Kejriwal was right in abandoning governance in Delhi after only 49 days is debatable. Kejriwal admitted that it was an error of judgement on his part. But the voters did not spare him for what they called a blunder on his part. Kejriwal was next taken into custody in a defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari. Kejriwal preferred detention to furnishing a bail bond and the cadres reverted to protest mode. This was yet another case of honest leader being jailed and corrupt continuing to escape punishment.

The AAP rose to popularity owing to its anti-corruption crusade. But its failure to discharge responsibility became its weak point. However, AAP fought a valiant battle in the general election, capturing four seats — all in Punjab — for a two per cent share of the national vote. In Varanasi, Kejriwal gave a tough fight to none other than Narendra Modi. Although Kejriwal lost to Modi he managed to poll over two lakh votes against a prospective Prime Minister. That is a real achievement. Also Kejriwal managed to win the Muslim support. Muslims preferred Kejriwal to the local don Mukhtar Ansari. This itself indicates at once the community’s yearning for clean and secular politics and its strong distrust of Modi.

What AAP will now have to do is first strengthen its foundation and acquire political competence in Delhi. Another thing is within the party itself there should be democratic functioning. It seems that Kejriwal is acting too dictatorial and doesn’t entertain the views of the members of his party. This behavior of Kejriwal had led to several of AAP’s founding members resigning from the party. The party which the Aam aadmi perceived as different turned out to be party with differences. It’s high time for AAP to rework its strategies and prioritize goals.

The AAP is still in its budding stage to shower the yet yielded fruits to the people of India. It had taken BJP around 47 years struggle to get a chance to pursue their ideology and agenda besides its 1997 win. Hopefully, we believe that this defeat could be an eye opener to Kejriwal, the man of iron heart, to ponder over the mistakes and the faults done by his party to come up to the expectations of the people. Moreover, it should start growing up as a party in the opposition without leaving its sole and ulterior agenda of anti-corruption nature so as to win the hearts and minds of the people.

Politics of principles played by Kejriwal did fetch him reward from Punjabis who appreciated his courageous tussle against corrupt political system. This itself can be called a beginning of new era in politics where AAP has dared to change the rules of game.