Anna Hazare, a social activist, began a massive anti-corruption protest in 2011, demanding a strong and effective Lokpal, the Federal Ombudsman. Activists, as well as young people and students, supported him. A civil servant turned activist, Arvind Kejriwal, joined him but soon parted ways with Anna, differing over converting the movement into a political one, which Anna rejected. Legal luminaries like Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan threw their weight behind Kejriwal, who declared the formation of the Aam Admi Party in November 2012, which was recognised as a political party in March 2013. The Aam Admi Party’s core ideologies are “staunch patriotism, staunch honesty, and humanity.”
The Aam Admi Party has given major parties like the BJP and the Congress a scare, and it has won the Delhi elections over and over again, even though other parties have tried to sabotage it and make deals with AAP candidates. The party ushered in a corruption-free government, which they could have achieved had they proceeded a bit more slowly.
Despite their popularity, AAP’s attempt to contest 432 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections cost them dearly, barely giving them four seats, and in 2019, AAP won one seat despite carefully contesting 35 seats. However, the AAP political leadership’s desire to broaden their footprint in order to challenge the Modi-led BJP’s might has not fructified. The hysteria surrounding the AAP as a replacement for traditional mainstream parties appears illusory.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a back seat as his activist image came to the fore. He often went on fasts or protested against his government and the lieutenant governor of Delhi, which tested the patience of the Supreme Court of India and the people. The court rapped AAP, insisting on the supremacy of the office of the Lieutenant Governor over the elected government of Delhi.
In the 2022 polls, AAP contested from six states but could only do well in Punjab, where it won a majority. They contested 343 seats in the UP but failed to win any seats. They won in five seats despite a high-voltage fight in 180 seats in Gujarat, where the BJP was returned for a record fifth time. AAP talked of forming the government in Goa, where they could win two seats out of the 40 contested. They have not won any seats despite contesting in Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
Many of the people who helped start the AAP have left the party because of claims that it was just a BJP B team made to beat the Congress in three-way races. The late Shanthi Bhushan promptly donated a crore of rupees in the formative period of the party and later left the AAP in disgust. Later, leaders like Yogendra Yadav, Shazia Ilmi, and Prashant Bhushan followed suit and left.
The AAP’s stand against corruption in the past gave Indian politics a breath of fresh air and caught the attention of people around the world. However, corruption charges began to surface, and two of their leaders were imprisoned. Now their deputy chief minister has been arrested and is being produced in court on serious “liquor-gate” charges.
Is AAP also like other political parties in that its leaders try to get rich through illegal means? Could the U-turn by the AAP leaders be a direct result of their greed to expand fast to dislodge the BJP and Congress, where crores have been generated and fritted away in meaningless elections? Is AAP a failed experiment, a nation betrayed, the hopes of the average person betrayed, and a dream that didn’t come true?
The next few days will unearth the truth.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
