Anil Anand
From its birth, baptism to election symbol and above all the profile of its founder-leader, it was all unconventional. That’s what constituted this new political outfit. Born out of the anti-corruption crusade by India Against Corruption (IAC) launched against the then Congress-led UPA Government which incidentally had the strong BJP-RSS backing, named Aam Aadmi Party with a broom as its poll symbol, led by a different manifestation of cartoonist Laxman’s “common man”, with a muffler around his neck, a loose sweater or bushirt and a blue ramshackle Wagon-R to ride.
This was Mr Arvind Kejriwal, IITian-bureaucrat- social activist turned politician who stormed Delhi by upstaging the conventional political players BJP and the Congress who had, locally, ruled the national capital alternatively for decades. In the beginning he was enigmatic, furthering a commitment to provide a clean and alternate system of politics and governance. Gradually his true colours were visible. And by the end of the day, he turned out to be a conventional political leader wrapped in all the trappings of a power hungry and money-making politician.
What truly made him unconventional in the beginning was his self-perceived projection as born to adorn the Prime Minister’s chair. That is how he has been projecting himself right from the day he took centerstage at the IAC stage, before formally entering politics, even at the cost of Gandhian Anna Hazare spearheading the campaign. Neither Anna nor Mr Kejriwal’s close compatriots had any whiff of the latter’s plans.
It was also clear from the day one, due to the manner in which the entire drama of IAC-led anti-corruption drive was launched, that he was not only against Congress but eyeing the over a century old party’s traditional vote-bank. Which he ultimately managed to usurp. A close perusal of the events starting with IAC till the 2025 assembly elections leaves no one in doubt that Mr Kejriwal willy nilly helped the BJP cause, as did some other partners of the I.N.D.I.A bloc, by persistently targeting Congress.
He was encouraged in his hot-pursuit against Congress after ensuring the party’s defeat in Goa, Gujarat and Haryana by cutting into its vote bank on road to establishing the AAP as a national political party recognized by the Election Commission. And Punjab, where he upstaged Congress to form its first government in a full-fledged state after ousting the Grand Old Party, emboldened him further with his eyes firmly rivetted on the Prime Minister’s chair through riding the bandwagon of I.N.D.I.A. The ilks of Mamta Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav et al also joined him with a common cause to weaken the Congress and keep it out of reckoning. All through Mr Kejriwal kept playing his solo acts till Delhi-2025 drubbing stopped him in his pants.
The “Aam Aadmi” manifestation of Luxman’s ‘Common Man’ was in fact far removed with the topi-clad, muffler wrapped, and wearing lose bushirt and sandals-image that he tried to personify. He caught the media eye, both managed and in the natural course, till his plans to first get rid of his close associates and turn the AAP into his fiefdom were fully exposed. There is no doubt certain out-of-the-box and imaginative measures such as ‘mohalla clinics’ and refurbishing the education and health systems were taken by his government, but he miserably failed on many other fronts including his much held out promise to clean Yamuna and arrest air pollution.
Boorish, abrasive, aggressive, overconfident and over-ambitious, and as the one who cannot stand criticism, in the true avtar of a traditional politician, and given to strongarm tactics in holding sway over the party and government affairs. This is how Mr Kejriwal personified and ultimately fell in the bracket of run-of-the-mill political leaders. He shattered his own dream of being different by following the beaten track of political sleaze and getting entrapped, by the BJP, in the excise scandal which saw him behind the bars and ultimately losing chief ministership.
The final nail in the AAP’s coffin came when Mr Kejriwal along with his former deputy chief minister/finance minister Manish Sisodia and a couple of other senior leaders/ministers lost the election. It was his call to go it alone in Delhi thereby overriding the I.N.D.I.A combine and ignoring the bloc’s major partner Congress. What made the issue more-messy for the AAP than the Congress, was the fact that some other partners such as Trinamool Congress (Mamta Banerjee) and Samajwadi Party (Akhilesh Yadav) sided with him to campaign against the Congress, while others preferred to stay away from Delhi.
There certainly is a question mark on future of the Opposition alliance. Despite the fact that it was meant only for Lok Sabha-2024 elections with a charter, unwritten, to have strategic alliances in state assembly polls, the corner-cutting resorted to by some of its constituents with Mr Kejriwal topping the list, has put the I.N.D.I.A bloc in jeopardy. The regional satraps are more to be blamed for this situation than Congress.
Although it was late in realizing the potential danger to its existence posed by Mr Kejriwal and his fellow-travelers, Congress was well within its rights not only safeguard its interests but also launch a counter-offensive in self-defence. What happened in Delhi was of Mr Kejriwal’s own making as his over-confidence and arrogance cost him dearly putting a question mark on his and AAP’s future. After all Delhi is where the AAP was born and formed its first government with him as the chief minister cum supremo.
Naturally, Congress worked on a strategy to cause as much electoral damage to AAP as possible enroute to retrieval of its lost political ground. The initial analysis suggests that AAP lost over a dozen seats due to splitting of votes by the Congress. In these seats the votes secured by the Congress candidates were equal to or slightly more than the losing margins of AAP nominees.
This has been the only gain for the Congress which came a cropper for the third successive time without winning a seat. However, the loss for Mr Kejriwal is multi-dimensional and fraught with serious consequences bordering the AAP’s existence.
After Mr Kejriwal and his solo-driven AAP losing ground in its very foundational domain and pressure likely to increase, as the indications are, to shake the party’s Punjab Government, the questions arise: What is Mr Kejriwal’s future here onwards with Delhi defeat shattering his Prime Ministerial dream?
All eyes will be rivetted on the wily fox, which he has turned out to be in a short political life, Mr Kejriwal on how will he now stir the ship out of the choppy political waters.
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