AAP: From an alternative to just another party

When AAP made a splash in Indian politics towards the end of 2012, it prided itself as being the much needed and sought after alternative to the machinations, manipulations and pulls and pressure of mainstream politics and political parties. Four years down the line, it has verily reduced itself to being merely one more alternative within mainstream politics. Much water has flown below the political bridge and one has noticed the many twists and turns in the short life of a new party that held out a promise to be different!

When the party was launched, it caught the imagination of many an activist and conscientious citizen frustrated with the machinations of professional politicians and saw in the new party a hope for a cleaner, less corrupt and more democratic platform for ushering in political transformation. This hope is today all but shattered with the way the AAP experiment has unfolded. What explains this dramatic turnaround and departure from the promised path? Multiple events and critical decisions at key moments in the life and growth of the party have contributed to the near failure of what was considered a 'new way of doing politics' in India.

Born in the crucible of the anti-corruption movement, the golden moment for AAP was its maiden electoral performance in the Delhi Assembly polls of 2013. Richly benefitting from a strong anti incumbency wave against the ruling Congress and the unpopularity and infighting of the local BJP, the AAP forced a three way split of the vote. It managed to ensure that not only was the Congress routed but the BJP was denied, what it thought was its natural right to be picked as the only possible alternative. The AAP emerged as the second largest party, pushing the Congress to the third position. Its first compromise proved political costly as it formed the government in Delhi with the outside support of the Congress and resigned in a matter of 49 days. In hindsight it is increasingly clear, that all the reasons given then by Arvind Kejriwal to justify his resignation were a mere mask to hide the real political ambition of trying to make it big in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. AAP made a huge miscalculation by trying to spread its wings across the country and put up candidates in over 400 Lok Sabha seats. Kejriwal himself contested against Narendra Modi in Varanasi. This soon became a prestige battle which Kejriwal lost quite comprehensively. It also set the BJP and AAP on a collision course that had wider implications and consequences as the BJP entrenched itself as the ruling party at the centre. In the Lok Sabha polls, AAP was unable to open its account in Delhi and won a mere four seats in Punjab. The party with a difference was clearly losing its shine and had made a serious miscalculation, some would even say ventured on a path of political adventurism.

After the Lok Sabha debacle, the party went into a shell and refrained from contesting the assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Many would argue that it committed two tactical blunders. Its strategy in the Lok Sabha polls should have been to focus on governing Delhi and limiting its electoral participation to a few key states. The second strategic error was to withdraw into a shell after the Lok Sabha rout and not enter the electoral contest in states like Haryana.

In the run up to the Delhi Assembly polls of February 2015, one witnessed a clear departure in the approach of AAP. The manner in which it selected its candidates did not have the same commitment to probity and transparency which was seen in the past. The supporter would argue that this was an inevitable compromise in order to come to power. An overconfident BJP saw the Delhi polls as a walk over, coming as it did on the heels of the impressive victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Its win in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls was a clear vote for Modi as Prime Minister. What it did not realize was the Delhite was keen on Kejriwal as the Chief Minister, and the AAP secured a steam-roller majority winning all but three seats in a 70 member house. This moment of glory was also the beginning of the collapse of AAP. Soon after the historic victory in Delhi, one saw an internal purge within AAP with Kejriwal snuffing out all dissent and fortifying his control over the party. This was clearly a denouncement of the core philosophy for which AAP had received unprecedented support - internal democracy, transparency of processes and a premium on probity. Further, the internal convulsions and new coterie surrounding Kejriwal made the party apoear like a 'Delhi only' outfit.

Having come to power in Delhi, Kejriwal quickly tried to position himself as the only viable leader who could challenge the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. Rather than focusing on managing Delhi and providing it with a corruption free and efficient administration, he was more pre-occupied taking on the Prime Minister ay any and every opportunuty. One heard him speak less frequently about governing Delhi and more often about national politics. Further, the compromises that AAP had made during the 2015 Delhi Assembly campaign, in the choice of candidates and the nature of the election campaign, soon embarrassed the party. The political skeletons came steadily tumbling out of the AAP closet thanks to some skillful political maneuvering by the Central government, its attendant institutions and the BJP. Each expose, dented the image of the party and the reputation of its leadership.

The downward spiral continued with the AAP leadership still refusing to focus on managing Delhi and prove its credentials of being different. With the SAD-BJP alliance government in Punjab being visibly unpopular and the Congress still to recover from its 2014 Lok Sabha defeat, Kejriwal saw an opportunity in Punjab. The party had won its four Lok Sabha seats there and thus felt confident of making a political splash in the state. After a spirited electoral campaign which saw many a strategic error committed by an overconfident AAP, Punjab saw the Congress being voted to power and the AAP emerging as the largest opposition. Electoral politics offers a huge advantage for a winner but makes no concessions for winning the consolation prize of coming second! The AAP electoral foray in Goa too, did not result in any success and the party which claimed it was different was clearly at the political crossroads.

AAP had positioned itself as a party with a difference. Its spectacular performance in February 2015 in Delhi was an opportunity to demonstrate this claim. The journey then onwards has been a series of political miscalculations and acts of political misadventurism that have reduced the party to the status of just one more among the different mainstream parties. Its original USP of being different from mainstream parties today lies in shambles. The enthusiasm and excitement amongst the party supporters, activists and workers is strikingly missing. The idealism is today clearly lost. The party that saw itself as an alternative to mainstream politics is verily an alternative in mainstream politics today. Those who saw a moment for politics to represent hope, idealism, probity and transperancy would be sorely disappointed.

(Dr Sandeep Shastri is a leading political scientist)