Amidst everything that happened yesterday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) winning 92 seats of the total 117 seats of Punjab’s Assembly was perhaps the most surprising.
Successful stories of electoral expansionism in these times– when the BJP seems to be dominating the political landscape and crushing contrary ambitions–is worth looking into.
Since its formation, the Aam Aadmi Party is the only regional party–in the strictest sense of the term–that has never hesitated to state its expansionist plans.
Generally, parties don’t like to state this upfront and possibly the only other exception to that is the All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC). The AITC seems to have failed at their expansionist attempts once again, making AAP the only victor.
The obvious implication of winning a crucial state like Punjab, besides getting a stronger voice in the Parliament, is that the party and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal can lay claim to the still vacant throne of ‘popular and winnable opposition’.
At this juncture, it is very necessary to look at three important things–what the future holds for the Aam Aadmi Party, the meaning of AAP emerging as a viable opposition contender in national politics, and the implications all of this will have on the larger politics of various centrist parties of the country, particularly the Indian National Congress (INC).
The Perils of Party Leadership
If the last eight years since AAP won its first election have shown anything, it is that Arvind Kejriwal doesn’t like to share power, credit, or media attention with anyone inside or outside his party. The entire machinery of the party is rooted in the perception management of its national convener, Arvind Kejriwal and his populist policies, which are always marketed as welfarist.
It is in this backdrop that Punjab’s verdict becomes tricky.
The CM of Punjab will have more powers, responsibilities, and access to resources than the CM of Delhi. The CM of Delhi has no real legislative powers whereas the CM of Punjab not only has powers but also a mandate to actuate policy ideas.
Read also: Bhagwant Mann has the last laugh, becomes Punjab's first AAP CM
Therefore, the possibility that tomorrow the CM of Punjab may vie for the party’s leadership or may consider themselves a politician of more consequence than Kejriwal cannot be wished away.
How the party and Kejriwal deal with these complications will determine how far the party can go.
The Politics of AAP
AAP is outrightly and unabashedly a populist party. It does not draw its fundamental principles from an ideology, nor is it rooted in any social cleavage.
The source of accountability for AAP is only the word of its chief, Arvind Kejriwal.
The lack of a central ideology makes the party look at politics only as a bunch of several policy problems, which only need policy solutions. Therefore, the politics of the party functions without ever worrying about what implications it has for the larger politics of the country.
They are not accountable to any ideals. It can promise free buses for the pilgrimage of the Hindus, can choose to stay silent when its citizens are killed and persecuted during a riot, and advocate for electric vehicles because Delhi also has a huge pollution problem. This kind of politics has implications for the liberal, centrist politics of the country but its stronghold in Delhi today is the result of the wave of populism that engulfed the entire world after the 2008 crisis.
While this deviant form of politics can be operationalised in cities where a majority of people (who Vir Sanghvi calls ‘Children of the Manmohan Singh Era’) don’t care about these ‘abstract’ ideals, whether this politics will also work with a relatively rural population where questions of identity, dignity, history and culture are far more important is yet to be seen. Whether this forces the party to rethink its politics or not will depend on how well it can manage the crisis explained earlier.
The party has got a historic mandate and it is from all parts of the state. Therefore, a lot of good can happen. After all, isn’t that what politics is–the pursuit of a good life?
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