Opinion AAP’s opposition to Rohingya settlement shows a parochial party, unfit to be a national alternative

Earlier this year, on April 20, two articulate, young leaders of the AAP – Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and MLA Atishi, too, connected (without providing any concrete evidence) the Rohingya to communal violence in the city in the aftermath of the disturbing demolitions in Jahangirpuri. “BJP leaders established Bangladeshi and Rohingya settlements all over India,” Atishi said, “to use them as pawns for their rioting and violence.”

The demonisation of destitute and desperate Rohingya refugees – all of them Muslims — is not the only instance of the AAP trying to “out-Hindutva” the BJP. In fact, unlike even the Congress’s failed attempts at soft Hindutva – think Rahul Gandhi’s “janeu-dhaari” comment or temple visits during elections campaigns by senior leaders – the AAP has sent a clear signal that it has bought into the broader political ideology of the Sangh Parivar. In addition to unequivocal support for the abrogation of Article 370 (ironically, while it was demanding a greater devolution of powers for its government) in 2019, Kejriwal also announced state-sponsored “pilgrimages” to the site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid was demolished. The first train to Ayodhya left on December 3, 2021, in time for December 6. These two issues have been basic tenets of the BJP’s ideological outlook for over three decades.

December 6, 1992, is not part of the sacred calendar. The date marks a political event, one that continues to be shrouded in illegality: While no one has been punished for the demolition, the Supreme Court has established that it was, indeed, a criminal act. The fact that the AAP government chose to mark it as a “pilgrimage site” leads to one of two disturbing conclusions – either it genuinely believes that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was a religious act that deserves political sanction or that political expediency and the BJP’s popularity have led it to celebrate the event as part of an amoral and cynical political calculus.

To be fair, the AAP’s parochialism is not limited to religious minorities. In Delhi, it has demanded that seats be reserved for “locals” at the centrally-run (and funded) Delhi University. Every state, the argument goes, gives preference to locals. Why should Delhi’s young people suffer? One, because Delhi does not belong to any particular community – much of it was created by refugees and migrants. Second, as the capital, it draws resources and benefits from the people of every state. It cannot be exclusionary. The leaders of the AAP, given the research they have done on education, will know full well that the best institutions are a product of openness. Once again, it seems, a cynical politics is at play.

In his five-point plan to “Make India No. 1”, Kejriwal focussed on health, education, job creation, gender equality and farmers. Like motherhood and apple pie, no one will really disagree with this agenda. And there is a strong case to be made for the AAP’s record in reforming Delhi’s government schools, its sincere efforts around municipal healthcare and delivery of services, including cheaper and more reliable electricity and water. However, in the larger political picture, its ease with bigotry and religion-based politics is both worrying and counterproductive.

The AAP seems not to have learnt from the Congress’s repeated mistakes. By buying into the political common sense that the BJP-RSS has articulated – seen in not standing up for minorities and avoiding foregrounding leaders from certain communities – political parties simply strengthen the Sangh’s hegemony. In fact, even if it does manage to win a few elections with its Hindutva + cheap electricity political strategy, the AAP will not truly challenge the BJP.

Most importantly, a national party needs a national vision that also articulates who it wants us to be as a people and what it stands for beyond service delivery. Even if the AAP ever manages to achieve its utopia – a “No. 1 India” where the state provides quality healthcare, education, employment and ensures farmers’ welfare and gender equality – it will be tarnished by an outlook that looks at refugees as rioters, and demolitions as sacred.

aakash.joshi@expressindia.com