AAP video of Arvind Kejriwal at national council: What he said, what he really meant

There has been a lot of talk about what exactly Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said at the party’s national council that resulted in party leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan being axed from the party’s national executive. The party has therefore released a video of the speech made at the event in an attempt to lay to rest the fevered speculation. (To note, the video has been edited – and Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan claim the edits were aimed at cutting out scenes showing AAP workers assaulting an activist.) In a 45-minute-long address, Kejriwal began by listing the party’s achievements but then quickly made clear the real purpose of the national council meeting. [caption id=“attachment_2179337” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kejriwal at the national council meeting. PTI Image[/caption] ‘Stabbed in the back by our party’s leaders’ “When the entire city of Delhi was with us, then some of our party’s leaders stabbed us in the back,” he said shortly into his speech. Kejriwal claimed that the great damage done to the party since its victory has been self-inflicted, and been wreaked by its own leaders. “What ever has happened in the last one and a half months? Has Kejriwal become stronger? Has the Aam Aadmi Party become stronger? Has Yogendra Yadav become stronger? Has Prashant Bhushan become stronger? Is there more internal democracy or swaraj? We have all been shamed,” the AAP chief said. “Other parties will think that if this is inner party democracy then tauba tauba…Who has benefited from this? Modi has benefited. The BJP has benefited, the Congress has benefited,” he said. “All this fighting we have to understand is about principles or ambitions. It is not going for just one-and-a-half month but for the last year,” Kejriwal said. Here to win, says Kejriwal The AAP chief also left no doubt about the party’s objective in the coming days. “We have come to win and not to lose. Some people say that  winning and losing is not important. I don’t believe that,” Kejriwal said, adding that there were hundreds of parties in the country that were completely unknown. “Today everyone knows Aam Aadmi Party because we win. We will win but honestly. But those who want to lose in politics, they can indulge in it, and those who want to win electoral politics should stand with us,” Kejriwal said. He also questioned why Shanti Bhushan was still in the party if his first choice for Delhi chief minister was Kiran Bedi and then Ajay Maken. Yogendra Yadav wanted to replace me as national convenor On the subject of Yadav, Kejriwal accused him of trying to replace Kejriwal as national convenor. Kejriwal said Yadav’s assistant had called a volunteer after the AAP government came to power in Delhi in 2013 and told him that the AAP chief had “no understanding of politics”. Yadav’s assistant told the volunteer that they were preparing to make the psephologist the national convenor and create a secretariat, Kejriwal said. “He would write emails to me and then leak the emails,” Kejriwal said. Kejriwal said that he had wept at an earlier national executive meeting in 2014 and had said at the time that he could fight against anyone but not against Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. Kejriwal said that he had decided to quit politics and had even told his family about his decision. However, he said he had been placated by Yadav and Bhushan. “I had decided to resign but the national executive passed a proposal for me to head a committee that would decide everything related to the Delhi elections…But there were many conspiracies hatched to ensure our loss in the Delhi election,” he said. He spoke of the sting operation against a Hindu reporter who revealed the source of a negative article about AAP and Kejriwal was none other than Yogendra Yadav. “Two channels editors have also told me that Yogendra Yadav had spoken against me. Many volunteers wanted to come to Delhi to campaign but they were stopped. People wanted to donate but they were stopped,” Kejriwal said.

Charges against Prashant Bhushan  “Prashant Bhushan told many people in the party that they wanted the party to lose. Then only the party and Kejriwal will learn a lesson. There would be threats daily. If you don’t do this then we will hold a press conference and defame the party,” Kejriwal said. The Delhi Chief Minister said that volunteers had come from across the country to mollify Bhushan and Yadav instead of campaigning. Kejriwal said that even the Congress and BJP couldn’t claim that he was corrupt but “others raised doubts about my honesty and said I had compromised”. He also denied that he had given tickets for the Delhi elections due to influence and claimed every candidate had been carefully vetted. Kejriwal said that he had received a message from Bhushan while returning from Bangalore saying that Bhushan wanted to meet. “I told my assistant that whatever I say, he will go outside and tell the television channels. And just then we saw on television that Prashant Bhushan was on television saying that he had sent an SMS to me. He didn’t want to meet me, just to show that I didn’t want to meet him…This is not inner party democracy or Swaraj. This is just an attempt to weaken me,” Kejriwal said. Why talks with Yadav and Bhushan failed Kejriwal questioned the motive behind the five points raised by the duo and which they had requested the party to implement as a condition of their resignation from all posts they held. “This was just a show. They just wanted to pretend to the world that they were fighting a battle of principles,” Kejriwal said. He questioned the reason why they had sought a probe against him. “The BJP will say Kejriwal should resign while the probe against him is on. We are playing into the hands of the Congress and BJP,” he said. “We agreed to the five points. Their people said that the five points were just bargaining points,” he said. Kejriwal said that all the leaders including Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas and others had offered to resign from all posts and had agreed to meet all the demands laid down by the duo. He said that the party was willing to give the duo charge of Haryana and meet all their demands. “But in the end they sent a message saying they didn’t want to negotiate,” Kejriwal said. “Why did I go to Tihar? I was standing in court… The court told me to take a personal bond. I looked at Prashantji, he shook his head. I said I won’t take a personal bond. I want to say Prashantji that with one gesture of yours I went to jail,”  Me or them, Kejriwal says “We have given birth to this party. We have given our blood for this party…” Kejriwal said. “I am not here to fight against Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. I accept defeat, you have won. I have come here to end this…This is not Swaraj or inner party democracy,” Kejriwal said, ending his speech with a clear ultimatum: “Today you have to choose between me or them.” Kejriwal said that he would abdicate all posts withing the party and would leave the decision to the national council. He promised that he would continue his battle against corruption even if he had to resign from all posts in the party. Kejriwal’s speech and its outcome does confirm the claim of Yadav and Bhushan that the party had already decided to boot them out of their posts well in advance of the meeting. And the AAP chief leaves little doubt about who will be calling the shots in the coming days in the party. From here on, a lot of the dissent in the party will likely be quelled with the now signature ‘choose between me or them’ threat and given the success Kejriwal’s had with it so far, he’s unlikely to stop any time soon. This unseemly and messy ouster is unlikely to affect the electoral base of the party as neither Yadav nor Bhushan had any kind of mass following – for all their talk of starting another party. It’s also the reason why Kejriwal was able to push them out with little effort. But has there been lasting damage to the very core of a party built on dissent and democracy? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. AAP may continue to enjoy political success in the years to come if Kejriwal has a successful tenure at CM, but it will never be the same again. That old avatar was been officially buried by Kejriwal on Saturday. The AAP is dead, long live The AAP!