Tukoji Pandit
The ‘pink slip’ to ‘rebels’ Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and their loyalists Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha may be deemed to show the self-destructive instincts of the Aam Aadmi Party if you don’t like ‘muffler-man’ Arvind Kejriwal. And if you are one of those who see him as the new messiah out on the prowl, the sacking of the duo and their supporters from the party’s national executive is the price they have to pay for their open tirade against the “face and soul” of the party.
Put simply, a vast majority of AAP netas see their future under Kejriwal. For them, Kejriwal is AAP and AAP is Kejriwal. On his part, Kejriwal wants to be everything in the party-its convener, chief minister, chief strategist and so on. He has come to believe that good theatrics assures success in politics, mistaking headlines in newspapers as a measure of success. This leads to one inescapable conclusion: the Aam Admi Party, the baby of Indian politics, is actually more hype than substance.
The judgment may be harsh but it is there for all to see that the political debutant is hurtling fast towards destruction after convincingly erasing the image of ‘deserter’ just a few weeks ago. People from diverse backgrounds were drawn to the India Against Corruption (IAC) Movement of Anna Hazare. Some of them were from extreme right while some others were from the Left. There were also some who believed in the middle path even as they closed ranks with the rest appalled by the levels of corruption perpetuated by the Congress -led UPA government in its second stint in particular. Many of them crossed over to the party of Kejriwal as he moved out of Hazare’s shadow deftly exploiting the constant media attention.
Initial indications of expression of opposing views by the ‘founding fathers’ of the party were ignored. Thus, one leader could openly eulogize the RSS; the other could question the operations in the insurgency-hit areas or the accession of Kashmir to India because the party consisted of people who held such diametrically opposite beliefs.
Perhaps the Aam Admi Party expects like batsmen in cricket to thrive on the ‘lives’ that the rival fielders offer, not purposely but rather inadvertently.
The trouble is that in politics, the ‘fielders’ are the impatient lot of voters who are prone to change their mind quickly. They will not give many ‘lives’.
The Delhi voter was angry with the party a year ago after it shirked its responsibility by running away from running a government. As a result, the AAP was routed in the Lok Sabha polls. But quite unexpectedly the same voter forgave the party and surprised everyone even more by returning 67 AAP candidates in February this year to the Delhi assembly which has a total strength of 70. Now, so soon after that overwhelming poll verdict, the Delhi electorate has been presented an ugly AAP show with a lot of dirty linen being washed in public view.
The latest shenanigan in the party has confirmed what was evident all along that it is a party where Arvind Kejriwal must get whatever he wants. There is no room for anyone who disagrees with him much less on the party functions and its plans to spread its wings. Today most of our political parties centre around one personality who alone decides on all important issues. Insiders who criticize this supremo have to be painted villains and kicked out. In that sense, what is happening in AAP looks so familiar – a mockery of internal democracy.
Nobody is passing value judgment on a party built around one personality. We have seen one-man/woman party continuing to be in politics tasting success and sometimes misfortune. Over a period a formula has emerged for running a single leader party with some success-and longevity. Some of these parties, like SP, have stepped into the next generation of leadership.
The formula does not always guarantee 100 per cent success at the hustings. But in politics survival and continuation is as important as winning elections as demonstrated by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in UP and the two leading Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, not to mention India’s ‘grand old party’. These parties may be in or out of office at a given time, but even after their ‘dismal’ performance in the polls, their obituaries cannot be written in a hurry.
It is not without significance that the astounding performance of the BJP in the Lok Sabha poll last summer followed the projection of one man as its supreme leader. The BJP is criticized for fostering the culture of personality cult but right now it seems to be well entrenched in power.
Will Kejriwal’s AAP follow this script? Will AAP end up as another Janata amoeba since Yadav- Bhushan duo are planning their own AAP, and the likes of Medha Patkar have quit the party disgusted by the show in Delhi Durbar? Only time will tell.
(Syndicate Features)
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