The birth and rise of the AAP in a system with a high threshold of entry and electoral viability had seemed to carry possibilities of opening up political spaces in a diverse polity.
It took one incident and its competing versions to turn the spotlight, in the midst of a high stakes contest, to the disarray within. Prising open any political party’s black box is unlikely to reveal a pretty sight. But in the AAP’s case, the view is particularly unedifying and it has been bared at an especially awkward moment. The Swati Maliwal case has come at a time when Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in the alleged excise policy scam, had been granted interim bail by the Court so that he can campaign in the ongoing election. This is when the small party should have been rallying its energies and resources to take on its mighty opponent — the AAP accuses the BJP of carrying out “Operation Jhaadu” to jail its leaders and eliminate the party. This is not a good time, certainly, for one of its own, a woman Rajya Sabha MP, to allege assault at the residence of the party chief, and for the party to, in full public view, acknowledge a misdemeanour only to subsequently deny it. Kejriwal’s silence also does no favours to him or his party.
The truth about what happened at the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence on May 13 when Maliwal ostensibly went to see him is still unclear, it will need to be retrieved from the murky swirl of allegation and counter allegation and the tug of war of videos and narratives. But what is already clear is this: The AAP has not conducted itself in a manner that inspires confidence in its organisational capacity. The party was far too quick on the draw — Sanjay Singh’s admission of “misbehaviour” by Kejriwal aide Bibhav Kumar was immediately followed by Atishi’s charge that Maliwal’s allegations are part of a BJP conspiracy and the party taking its protest against Kumar’s arrest to the street. In this headlong rush, due process, which calls for a patient commitment to fairness, seems to be a casualty. The AAP alleges the BJP is pulling the strings in the Maliwal episode. So far, there is no evidence of that although it’s true that there’s little love lost between a predatory Centre and the state government — as framed by the arrests of AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, or the protracted standoff between Delhi’s elected government and the L-G. The BJP taking up cudgels on Maliwal’s behalf also draws unflattering attention to its own silences when, for instance, its candidate in West Bengal, a former judge, hurls crude slurs at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The birth and rise of the AAP in a system with a high threshold of entry and electoral viability had seemed to carry possibilities of opening up political spaces in a diverse polity. Its unusual trajectory, as much as its “Delhi model,” has ensured that its voice resonates far beyond its bastions in Punjab and Delhi. To build on this, the AAP needs a more structured inner life and a centre of gravity. To see their own Rajya Sabha MP as a Trojan horse betrays the deep trust deficit within. AAP’s leaders — and those around them – should look at how they are undermining themselves, with or without the help of the BJP.
