AAP's dangerous liaison with Radical Left

What is the Aam Aadmi Party (

) upto? Not even a month has passed by and the party of the common man has already made explicit its leftist vision if not the ideology take the centrestage. Senior leader of the party Prashant Bhushan is seen floating ideas that can be identified best by the Radical

and on Monday, the government of

even went to the extent of scrapping foreign direct investment (FDI) in Delhi, saying the state is not yet ready for such measures.

Is the AAP evolving into a new vehicle for the cornered Left in India? The way the party is getting packed with more and more Leftists (JNU professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy joined the party on Monday) and various leftist factions are extending it a form of support, the possibility doesn't look a distant one. But will the ideological inclination work in favour of the AAP as a fresh political alternative?

Certainly not. If the AAP fails to check its tilt towards the Left, then there is every chance of it losing its hard-earned space in the centre of the political spectrum and allowing the Congress to regain its lost ground. Even the BJP will gain immensely at the expense of the AAP if leftists stage an internal coup to topple the party's popular leadership in due course of time.

It will be disastrous if Kejriwal fails to check the AAP's ideological drift

Kejriwal's government in Delhi has already taken a big first leap towards disaster by scrapping the FDI and one is certain that Kejriwal will be the biggest casualty when the decision will backfire. Should the fledgling party, which has its centrist political stand as its biggest advantage, should allow itself to make a mess with the help of an ideological stand which has been thrown into the dustbin of history?

The AAP has succeeded because if has no rigid ideology and represents all sorts of opinions available across the political spectrum. It is precisely a new Congress as the grand-old party was during its formative years. It is also a party backed by the youth who wants a cleaner system more than an ideological purity. There is a lot to worry for the party supporters when Bhushant says that he prefers Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister of India over Narendra Modi for by making his ideological stand obvious, Bhushan challenges his own party's credentials.

The AAP will leave its core constituency a betrayed lot if it begins chasing impractical goals at the expense of realistic issues under the influence of the leftists. It might also prove to be suicidal for the AAP if, four months ahead of the big elections, it endorses thoughts of a rigid ideological camp. The biggest beneficiary of the debacle will be Narendra Modi, who has taken the exact opposite route for the last several months to get closer to the idea of India to facilitate his chances of emerging as its leader.

The AAP also has right-wing members in Kumar Vishwas, who serves a perfect anti-thesis to people like Prashant Bhushan. But the way the AAP's truck is getting loaded with more people like Bhushan, Kumar Vishwas soon find himself alone and weak to act as a counterweight.

For God's sake, Mr Kejriwal, the people of India don't want to see you as yet another run-of-the-mill politician. And as a Bengali, this author makes a special request to you not to take Delhi the way West Bengal had once taken.