Aam Aadmi Party, is hell-bent on self-destruction

The country’s newest political party, the Aam Aadmi Party, is hell-bent on self-destruction. No other conclusion is possible. Having evoked huge hopes, the AAP rose from the crucible of the media-inspired Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement in 2013. Its leaders promised change – for the better. But soon, after regaining the confidence of the voters in Delhi, they busied themselves frittering it away. The 49-day Arvind Kejriwal Government, supported from outside by the Congress Party, wasted all its energies picking fights with the central government and other agencies of the State. The Delhi Chief Minister revealed a mad streak, sitting on a dharna outside Parliament, threatening to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations. Yet, the people still gave AAP the benefit of the doubt, electing a record 67 MLAs in a House of 70 in 2015.

With such an overwhelming majority, instead of settling down to work, to attend to the growing ‘paani-bijli’-transport woes of the ever-growing capital, Kejriwal and Co. launched an undeclared war against the central government. Given that Delhi is a Union Territory, with police, land, law and order and a few other subjects reserved with the Lt. Governor, the Centre’s nominee, Kejriwal tried to tear down the constitutionally-mandated order, everyday issuing rude farmans against the central authority and refusing to observe the established norms and proprieties associated with the CM’s office. The courts were dragged into the needless fight over jurisdiction, though his predecessors, whether from the BJP or the Congress had had the good sense to work harmoniously with successive central governments. It was only Kejriwal who insisted on being given absolute sovereign powers to do as he pleased in the national capital. There were other ways which underlined the fact that like a bad workman who fights with his tools, Kejriwal lacked the minimum wherewithal to administer the burgeoning metropolis – he had a very  poor record as a government babu – and always devised ways to shift the blame for his own failures and lack of skills to others. Besides, he was so insecure that anyone who was intellectually and politically sharper was ejected out of the party. Two founding members of the AAP, Yogendra Yadav and the lawyer Prashant Bhushan were expelled for no valid reason other than that they were not his courtiers.

And the latest act of Kejriwal, which may have driven the final nail in the credibility of this rank opportunist, who mouths lies without batting an eyelid, is the selection of the party’s nominees for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi. All three are certain to go to AAP, given its huge numbers in the Assembly. Though, only one of them is an old party member, Sanjay Singh too is highly controversial, having been accused of all manner of wrong doing and moral turpitude while he was in charge of the party during the elections to the Punjab Assembly. The other two are rank outsiders, one a chartered accountant, the other a long-time Congressman who had declared close to Rs 200 crores in assets while unsuccessfully contesting the 2013 Assembly poll on the Congress ticket. There are dark hints of Kejriwal selling the RS tickets, with someone as respected as Yogendra Yadav tweeting that he no longer believes that the AAP leader is uncorrupt. More deserving leaders were ignored when Kejriwal picked the two Guptas for sending to the RS. AAP is now a private fiefdom of Kerjriwal, who alone dictates what will prevail in the party.

Of course, there is no governance, aside from enticing the poor with the promise of ‘free bijli-paani’, the bill for which is being passed to the actual rate-paying consumers. The AAP promise lies fully broken. It is a fast-shrinking outfit meant for the personal aggrandisement of Kejriwal and a couple of his courtiers who still linger in the party for want of better options outside. The AAP had received a disproportionately high exposure in the media, partly because a section of the media, in order to camouflage its visceral hatred of the Sangh parivar, supported to it, though, they were actually Congress supporters, and partly because there were some who genuinely believed that it might offer a better alternative. The AAP has only changed the fortunes of its leaders, nothing else. Therefore, no tears ought to be shed when it meets its early end.