Three years of AAP: Party stands by key issues, but maintaining momentum will be tough

On the third birth anniversary of the Aam Aadmi Party, (it was formed on 26 November 2012) it remains an enduring puzzle why it continues to hog media space disproportionate to its size and influence. After all, AAP, as of now, is confined to the city of Delhi, which is a quasi-state. One ostensible reason why AAP insinuates into the media and, therefore, the nation’s imagination is its very location. Its home is Delhi, which isn’t just the National Capital but also the hub of media. It is inevitable that every action of AAP, every statement its leaders make, will come under the media spotlight. But it is also true that regional parties have their offices in Delhi and their leaders are members of Parliament. Yet few of them are ever invited to TV studios to contribute to the cacophony of debates unless the issues in discussion pertain to their states. Perhaps AAP’s allure arises from the ideas it represent. These are ideas which have national resonance. From anti-corruption to providing civic amenities, to its focus on the social sector (health and education) and, increasingly now, on secularism, AAP occupies a regional space with a national perspective, in much the way the Left did once. This is not what can be said of most regional outfits. They have what you can call a local mindset and scarcely nurse ambitions of flying out of their regional coops. It is only recently, in their attempt to thwart Prime Minister Narendra Modi from poaching on their turf, regional players have taken to articulating ideas of development, even borrowing his strategies of attracting foreign investments and industrializing rapidly. These ideas they have scarcely reformulated or recalibrated, reducing development to a cliché. Copycats scarcely ever enthrall. They dream big but act small, in contrast to AAP, which dreams small and acts big - and with some panache. Perhaps the sheer cosmopolitanism of Delhi has shaped AAP. Since class is the driver of the city’s politics, it has enabled AAP to adopt political language which in its appeal is national. It doesn’t dress its ideas in the rhetoric of caste or religion and consequently represents modern sensibilities. To those in Delhi, journalists included, AAP’s language is theirs as well, regardless of whether or not they vote it. [caption id=“attachment_2523644” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Reuters[/caption] The city’s relatively modern ethos has seeped into the underclasses, too. This is precisely why AAP through its promise of delivering civic services, and emphasis on education and health, was able to shatter the BSP’s Dalit votebank and wean away the Muslims from the Congress. The story of AAP is captivating also because of its electoral successes. Defying pundits and overcoming the limitations of resources, it bagged 28 seats in the 2013 Assembly elections and swept away a whopping 67 seats earlier this year. That the party could have trounced the BJP, despite it riding the wave of popularity of Modi, resuscitated an organisation which might have withered away without the oxygen of victory. It is the inherent appeal of AAP’s language combined with its ability to win that mesmerizes the media and incites the fury of the BJP and the Congress, the two parties which are classified as national. But for the innumerable Janata Party incarnations, India hasn’t had a state-based party appearing reasonably assured of expanding into another state. This, in turn, inspires people to track AAP. To the party’s national executive meeting recently, Arvind Kejriwal said they weren’t aiming at the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Yet this statement, ironically, testifies to his, and the party’s, plan to go national, whether in 2019 or 2024. The Punjab Assembly election of 2017 will have AAP take the first step in that direction. A poor performance will become the scissor that will clip AAP’s wings. A win could see AAP soar. But therein also lies the danger - the quest for electoral victories and political prominence presumes compromises and dilution of ideas. It is this which framed the twitterati’s eruption when Lalu Prasad Yadav embraced Arvind Kejriwal. In one sense, you could say it was payback time for Kejriwal, whom Nitish Kumar had not only extended unilateral support when he contested from Varanasi in last year’s Lok Sabha, but also as he and the Central government were engaged in confrontation. Traditionally, chief ministers belonging to parties different from the one ruling the Centre tend to bond together. This is their mechanism to deter the Centre from riding roughshod over, or undermining, them. AAP’s dilemma will, therefore, remain: Can it court political isolation and yet hope to farm out of Delhi? No doubt, AAP will try to strike a fine balance, as it tried in Bihar, openly supporting Nitish Kumar and maintaining its distance from Lalu Prasad Yadav. The implication of this calibrated move wasn’t lost to anyone - it was perceived as an indirect support to Yadav, an ally of Kumar. This perception had a cost to it. It was looked upon as an instance of AAP diluting its anti-corruption agenda, given the conviction of Yadav in the fodder scam. It was to limit this damage AAP subsequently conceived a middle path. A day before Kumar was to take the oath of office, it was decided Kejriwal would go to Patna, congratulate Kumar, but not attend the swearing-in ceremony. It wasn’t only because of Lalu, whose stock had anyway skyrocketed because of his party’s performance. It was also because of the guests whom Kumar had invited. The list included Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Sheela Dixit, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the Shiv Sena. Not only had Kejriwal and other AAP leaders protest against most of them during the anti-corruption movement, the invitation to the Shiv Sena seemed such a mockery of secularism, an important plank of the Grand Alliance’s campaign. Kumar’s office, however, wasn’t willing to provide time to Kejriwal for a private meeting on the morning of the swearing-in day. Obviously, the JD(U) believed Kejriwal’s absence would generate negative headlines, besides undercutting Kumar’s attempts to project himself as the leader who has galvanized the Opposition to take on the BJP. Ultimately, Kejriwal dropped the plan. Yet it would be a hyperbole to claim that Lalu’s embracing of Kejriwal will have damaged the latter’s image of being the proverbial outsider in Indian politics. Indeed, he and AAP must thank the Sangh for still being seen as outsiders, despite wielding power for now ten months. This is because the Sangh’s strident Hindutva politics of over the last 18 months has privileged secularism over all other issues. For many AAP supporters as well as non-AAP, anti-BJP voters, it was a relief to see Kejriwal vanquish the BJP, handing out its first defeat after the resounding success of 2014. For them at least, the Lalu-Kejriwal embrace will appear as a necessity. Then again, the popular perception that the Central government, through Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, is preventing the AAP government to function smoothly has worked to Kejriwal’s advantage. It has enabled him to play the rebel, obstinately digging his heels in to take on the powerful. It has also given an alibi to AAP for its possible failures. As long as the BJP continues its obstructionist policy, Delhiites will not think AAP lacks the zeal or doesn’t intend to implement its promises. Undoubtedly, AAP’s growth depends on what it delivers over the next few years. Regardless of the outcry against subsidies, AAP’s reduction of electricity and power bills has won it support, as its impressive budgetary allocation on education and health services. That it could get an elevated corridor constructed before time, that too, at a cost of Rs 100 crore less than what was earmarked, is a good advertisement for it. Not of the same order are the accusations against its MLA accused of possessing fake educational certificates and other offences. These will certainly constitute elements of the counter-narrative to AAP’s of ushering in a new political culture, as will the whispers about a few having used power and money to win elections. No doubt, Kejriwal dismissed a minister accused of taking bribe, yet it also shows, quite ironically, that it is often the system which changes people rather than the other way around. Yet the image of AAP representing the possibilities of a new political culture persists, largely because the Delhi Police, presumed to be acting at the behest of the Union Home Ministry, didn’t even let sufficient time to lapse before going after its MLAs. It appears so much like a vendetta against AAP for winning Delhi. These police cases, including the arrest of an AAP MLA today, might alienate sections of the middle class. But it certainly will bolster AAP’s credentials among the underclasses, which turned out in extraordinary numbers to vote the party. To them, it will seem AAP is being penalized for governing in their interests. They are no fools to not know that political bigwigs, accused of crimes worse than AAP’s MLAs, get away without an FIR being filed against them. For a class accustomed to being harassed for bribes, the hyper activism of Delhi Police will seem a ploy to protect its illegitimate interests. Thus, both the Delhi Police and the Opposition’s endeavour have only underscored AAP’s uniqueness - that it remains an organisation strapped for cash - considered a big deal in our country - comprises leaders who still remain aam aadmis and whom the police can therefore bully, who are sensitive to people and their opinion, and demonstrate creativity. It is in comparison to others that AAP shines. It is hard to tell whether AAP’s uniqueness will remain intact after a couple of more years in power or after a few more electoral contests. Victory propels parties. Victories also alter personalities, individuals and organisations included.