Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Kejriwal should not lose the advantage' that was published in Newsband

Kejriwal should not lose the advantage

By effecting the removal of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the Political Affairs Committee of the Aam Aadmi Party, the dominant faction of the AAP that stands solidly behind national convener Arvind Kejriwal signalled that it would not tolerate any dissidence in the organisation.

Kejriwal is no doubt the face of the party and is central to the party’s fortunes both as Delhi Chief Minister and a front-line leader of the AAP. The AAP has taken great pride in differentiating itself from other parties. Kejriwal had talked a lot about transparency and democratic processes.

Kejriwal should realize that politics revolving around a personality cult is dangerous. He should not follow the example of Nehru-Gandhi family by surrounding himself with a coterie of subservient second-rung leaders. He should make a solid strategy to strengthen the democratic structure of his party. If he wants to rule India one day, it is very necessary that he strengthen the organizational base of the party.

AAP needs to evolve a system that will be right for India's future. Internal democracy of AAP is in question since its beginning. That’s the problem faced by every new party that is formed. But Kejriwal should learn from the experiences of other parties which ruled India in the past and realize at once that centralization of power to self is not a good sign for future politics. History proves that one man party is not long lasting. AAP's politics should not be centralized to Kejriwal.

There is no doubt that Kejriwal is the chief architect of AAP. Kejriwal and his close supporters should reflect, retrace and consolidate AAP's victory without indulging in bickerings. Kejriwal surely is the face of the party and has to lead it from the front. But taking along those who are held by people as good, straight forward, brainy and backbone of the Party is the need of the hour. They need to have control of the party but should develop finesse to have it without appearing to do so. That is the real art of running political parties. Sooner AAP realizes this and acts as a mature party, better it will be for the party.

Kejriwal has become an 'icon' of change who dreams of a new political system in the country unlike traditional politics. Even now, common people feel 'AAP' means Arvind Kejriwal'. This is a new Party with a lot of 'dreams'. So, Kejriwal should first remove all the loopholes from the party and then enter areas outside Delhi step by step because it is not so easy to bring reformations in traditional political system. Yes, it is necessary to remove people with vested personal interests who have trespassed into AAP and replace them by people who harbor the same dreams like their leader. Unless this is done, the party can’t progress.