Opinion Time to reset
The AAP could seize the chance in this setback, build a more credible platform.
Admitting that the AAP’s chances of coming back to power in Delhi are negligible, Arvind Kejriwal has apologised to voters and aborted the party’s plan to hold a public referendum on the way ahead. It will, instead, conduct “sorry sabhas” across the city, apologising for quitting its brief government. The decision to resign after 49 days of governing with the support of the Congress had been taken “on the basis of morality”, Kejriwal said, but it had hurt the party.
This acknowledgement could be the beginning of a deeper and wider stocktaking that would arguably serve the fledgling party well.
Despite its phenomenal sense of mission, the novelty of its organisation and the appeal of its platform, the AAP has been severely reduced in this Lok Sabha election, winning four out of the 446 seats it contested. Many of its star leaders, including Kejriwal and Kumar Vishwas, failed on a scale as large as their ambition, in taking on national leaders like Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Yet it is a failure only when judged by its own staggering standard of success — for a first-time party to win four seats in Parliament and bag 2 per cent of the vote is no mean feat, apart from the brand recall it now enjoys across India.
Now, it must seize the opportunity in this setback, and put in the patient labour of party-building in chosen areas, rather than spreading itself thin. It has reached the limits of its attention-seeking strategy, and must work on becoming a coherent organisation, on being a political party rather than a reality show. It has the advantage of being seen to speak credibly on ideas never convincingly articulated in Indian politics — against cronyism and corruption, for urban governance.
Its 49 days in power reflected a troubling disregard for the rule of law and a tendency to confuse the mood on the street with the will of the people. It must now infuse greater seriousness, and a systemic understanding into its politics, including its remedies for corruption and its vision of decentralisation. If the AAP intends to stay for the long haul, it needs more than a creative repertoire of oppositional tactics — sting operations, showy arrests, public referendums and the like. It needs a strong and credible platform. It must prove to be a force that genuinely rearranges politics, not merely one that disrupts it.
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