When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was founded on October 2, 2012, many people felt it was the beginning of a real political revolution. People believed it would alter India’s political landscape, put an end to corruption, and possess the courage to demand accountability from traditional politicians.
This October, 10 years after igniting the hopes and dreams across class and generation,
AAP and its leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have put paid to such hopes. Now, as campaign for the upcoming polls in Himachal Pradesh, and Gujarat gain momentum, Kejriwal and AAP have turned to populist measures to stay politically relevant.
Initially, Kejriwal presented himself as a centrist politician. His image was of an anarchist who readily provided political space to different ideologies. In 2016, he easily walked into the Jawaharlal Nehru University and shared the stage with leaders across the political spectrum. But AAP did not alienate the Right-of-Centre ideology either. Today, it becomes clear that AAP is neither centrist nor socialist or Right-wing, but an ideology-less, populist political party.
Kejriwal wants to appease the Hindus, but fears losing the support of the Muslims. The majority of AAP’s supporters in Delhi are the Dalits, the Muslims, and members of economically-disadvantaged classes. However, the party has received support from voters of all classes in both Delhi and Punjab. Interestingly, a section of middle and upper-class votes in Delhi shifted towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This shift might have got AAP thinking, and could explain its current pivot.
Recently, Kejriwal pitched for the idea to put images of Hindu gods Lakshmi and Ganesh on the Indian currency note. AAP understands that this might affect its core minority vote-base in many ways in Delhi where the corporation elections are due — but might also be hopeful that his core vote-base would not choose the BJP or a politically-side lined Congress over it in Delhi. Given this, AAP is adopting a strategy of focusing on one election at a time, and tailoring its position according to local conditions.
This disorientation in AAP’s politics is because the party has closed its doors to innovative ideas. AAP fought its first election in 2013 highlighting the issues of education, water connectivity, healthcare infrastructure, electricity price reduction, Jan Lokpal, and a corruption-free system. Now, the party is more associated with the freebies it offers/promises to the electorate.
Today the party does not talk about Jana Lokpal anymore, and even shows no interest in appointing a Lokayukta. If AAP had earlier advocated a politics that was different from the usual, in recent elections in Punjab, Goa, and the upcoming ones, it has turned towards caste appeasement. AAP's new trump card in Gujarat is the same old Patidar sentiment.
AAP, which won the Punjab elections in a convincing manner, appears to be on the backfoot there as well. Meanwhile, AAP in Punjab is yet to implement its poll promise of Rs 1,000 every month to every women above the age of 18 years. Similarly, stubble burning, which AAP promised to tackle once in power, seems to continue to choke Delhi residents.
AAP is also facing the heat in Delhi. It is alleged that AAP sold Rajya Sabha tickets in 2018, and it rubbished the allegation as baseless. The recent excise scam in Delhi has shaken the party like never before.
AAP has now turned to the tried-and-tested tactics of polarisation politics and appeasement, while maintaining populism as its primary goal. It seems to have run out of ideas, and does not mind indulging in the kind of politics it once detested, and raised its voice against. As AAP is trying to expand to states where there is no viable political opposition, populism seems to be its trump card. What a let-down!
Sayantan Ghosh is a doctoral research scholar in media and politics. Twitter: @sayantan_gh. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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