Why AAP is dangerous to Indian politics?

Abhishek Dwivedi 

In reply to AAP is here to stay by Akansha Mehta

With few reservations, I will have to agree with Akansha where she says that Aam Aadmi party is a favorite of hopeful and optimistic idealists. Taking her argument forward, I will state that it is a hallucination for the over optimistic people plagued with utopianism. Expecting solutions from idealists is to move further away from reality. And here, I must confess that I am a realist indeed.

 Any argument or contention in favor of or against AAP cannot be made without establishing two basic facts. First and most important point is that AAP is a Political party in the same political system that it abuses at every opportunity. It is no more a civil society trying to take on the system through social movements. Secondly, there is a difference between India Against Corruption and Aam Aadmi Party. IAC is still in existence under the guidance and patronage of Anna Hazare an has declared that it will not support AAP. Its activists are still trying to use apolitical means to take on the system. While AAP is the breakaway of the movement and consisted of people who had political aspirations, not that it is wrong or immoral.

While Akansha is generous in accepting or at least acknowledging that AAP has half-baked policies, she easily disregards them as “beliefs of intellectuals and rival political parties”. Well I think it is my duty to inform her about the party and its policies she is defending. First of all, AAP has its committees in order to formulate policies on different matters including police reforms, SECULARISM, economic policy, foreign policy and even a committee on external defense. But do we really need these committees to get a glimpse of policies of AAP?  An important name flashes at the top and thus, we must mention here, Mr. Binayak Sen. Mr. Sen has been named by AAP in the Police Reforms Committee and Naxalite issue committee. Now, presence of Mr. Sen- a known Naxal sympathizer, in police reforms committee, is beyond the understanding of any sensible mind.  Even if Mr. Sen was in Health committee or related field, it would have made sense due to his medical expertise, but police reforms is simply absurd. Moving towards the committee on naxalite affairs where presence of Mr. Sen, being a sympathizer of Naxals, people who have taken arms against state, will only undermine the morale of forces and state machinery. [Thank god AAP is not in power.]

Well, do we really need to look upon the composition of the committees to get a glimpse of the policies when Prashant Bhushan has said it on record that Kashmir should be given a chance to get separate from India. With our soldiers dying in Kashmir every day, such statements by “stalwarts” of AAP are enough to show the hollow nationalism of AAP leaders. Presence of Bhushan in AAP has made it one thing certain that we can expect our internal security and affairs to be in shambles, if, god forbid, AAP ever comes to power. Those who say that it is “personal view” of Bhushan should remember that how “batla encounter” case fought by Bhushan was declared as an AAP initiative by Kejriwal in his letter about which we will talk later.

Then there are committees on secularism, minorities and Muslims. I do not understand the need of two different committees in the first place for minorities and Muslims. But then AAP is a political party. And the committee on secularism has already started working overtime. The Letter to Muslims of Delhi by Arvind Kejriwal clearly terms Batla House encounter as fake and assumes or owns the responsibility to defend it. If the AAP bandwagon calls that as secularism, gods save the country. Now with courts judgment pronouncing the lone captured terrorist as guilty, the AAP has a lot to answer.

The biggest problem with AAP is that it cannot come out of the shadow of a protest based movement. Anything happens and the Topiwalahs of AAP are there to protest without understanding or even knowing the problem. All of their exposes have proved to be absolutely worthless. Their crusaders have been found to be corrupt themselves. And the traditional AAP support is another story in itself. Ask them anything regarding economy, foreign policy, internal security, terrorism, police and administrative reforms and they will have a solution ready- JanLokpal. Anything and everything can be solved through JanLokpal.

Protests and Exposes have been the backbone of AAP. But there is another side of this story. Protests have become a weapon of extortion for AAP. The AAP support to Bajaj Auto Strike is one such case. AAP jumped in suddenly to support the contract workers at the Bajaj Auto and tried to tap the largely neglected contract workers base. However, Moneylife brought the real issue out when it disclosed that AK had met Rahul Bajaj for a TV channel for AAP two months back. It will not take a mind storming session to guess that AK was getting back at Bajaj who refused or seemed disinterested in the Channel proposal.

The whole drama of transparency and secularism has brought AAP in the line of political parties whom it was formed to oppose. Like traditional Indian parties, it has all the buzz and no substance. It is making gains in Delhi, but the TIMES NOW- C- VOTER opinion poll did not give any seat to AAP or for that matter any other opinion poll.

Arvind may try to sell hope or dreams but he is no different. He is just another politician. He has become one of those against whom he still claims to fight. The mask of so called political transparency has been removed by Mayank/Anjali and Bajaj episodes; and now Veil of secularism is the last resort of AAP which it has tried through Batla House Encounter issue.

The only conclusion i can end this article with, is that with Kejriwal in arena, the Indian politics is bound to get dirtier.

Aam Aadmi Party is here to stay

Akansha Mehta

For some optimistic and hopeful idealists Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) might be a revolutionary saviour in the eternal game of dirty politics while some realists may beg to differ. In our political arena, till the time one remains a symbol of a holy civil society, the intention, nature and character of the movement or the leader is never doubted by the public. It is only when one takes the real plunge into politics that skepticism follows.

       While Aam Aadmi Party is often ridiculed by intellectuals for its half-baked policies and its political rivals look at it as a meek and inexperienced adversary, the Indian politics however doesn't work on these beliefs. The aam janta care too hoots about how the politics work. The most suitable and current example of this can be seen in the Karnataka State elections. While the self-claimed secular party whose height of corruption record soared higher than inflation and their brazenness lower than the Indian rupee all over the country, the party despite its impeccably blotted image came out victorious in Karnataka. In our country, citizens vote not by their choice but by their preference which they form at the end of a party’s tenure. Their concerns, problems and expectations from their representatives in practicality are very different from the theoretical aspects discussed by intellectuals. In the October elections, AAP stands a decent chance of its success, if not a grand one then at least one that can give it a considerable head start. From a rickshaw puller to a University teacher, AAP has created enough uproar amongst all the members of society to be able to make its substantive and qualitative presence felt. The disgruntled public of Delhi also has enough reasons to prefer AAP. Another USP of AAP is its approachability. Unlike any other party leaders AAP leaders are yet to declare themselves as VIPs, they are perceived by the public as one amongst them. The party portrays to believe in strong representation from the grass root level (as also emphasized in the party’s manifesto “Swaraj” by Arvind Kejriwal). An example of this can be seen in the very first mohalla sabha organised by AAP in Vasundhara Enclave in Delhi where the citizens of the locality could directly interact with their area’s elected representative and other government officers to discuss the problem of their locality and suggest solutions. The party’s approach and strategy towards securing trust and hope from the public seems logical and practical. Delhi being a city of politically informed and alert citizens with a large mass of educated youth may get wooed by this one.

       To suggest that though this party might not be wearing the veil of secularism or the khakhi shorts but has a flimsy foundation and base of Lok Pal will be pessimism on the part of public and usual political strike by the rival parties. We should not forget when the Indian National Congress was formed in 1885, it was perceived as an elitist, then educated and wealthy people's institution. No intellectual could then predict that this party would become the largest national party of the country. Notions and perceptions of critics have always failed to predict the future of a political party. AAP is a rapidly growing institution. To what extent will it stand by its ideology and how effective will its implementation be is something that only time will tell. Till then AAP is a party that has arrived and is here to stay.

The author's view gets more support in form of Times Now- C-Voter opinion poll in which AAP is predicted to make massive gains in Delhi.