The AAP: Infectious virus in Indian Democracy

 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was founded on 26th November 2012. The statistical history of the AAP is as follows: Membership 10.05 million, Seats in the Lok Sabha: 1 out of 545, Seats in the Rajya Sabha 3 out of 245, in State legislative assemblies 156 out of 4036 and as at present 2 States out of 31states are under the control of AAP group. The Election Commission of India has recognized AAP as a State political party. The party has organized its Youth Wing, Students’ wing, Women’s wing, and the Labor wing.

 

In 2011 the anti-corruption movement spread all over India like a wildfire under the leadership of Anna Hazare - a crusader against corruption in government since a common man in the street found it extremely difficult to support his family. Scarcity of essential commodities high price rise made it difficult for a common man to live with comfort. Anna Hazare’s clarion call to the people of India to unite and plunge into ‘satyagraha” prepare him to wage war against malpractices and corruption in the bureaucracy at the Central and State government levels.

 

Arvind Kejriwal is the National Convener of AAP. Pankaj Gupta is the National Secretary. Narain Dass Gupta is the National Treasurer. Political Affairs Committee consists of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Atishi, Sadhu Singh, Gopal Rai, and Durgesh Pathak. Pankaj Kr Gupta (National Secretary) and NarainDass Gupta (National Treasurer) are the ex officio members of the PAC. The party's National Executive Committee had 34 members in 2022.

 

Loose party organization: It will not be an exaggeration to state that ‘AAP ‘ is a one-man, ambitious and treacherous, power-hungry show. If the observers remember the way and the manner in which Kejriwal sidelined and drove his once a mentor Anna Hazare, out in the wild. He grabbed the leadership of a group of aimless petty leaders and once convinced, he declared himself the President of a new political party called Aam Admi Party. Over the years since then well-known personalities like Adv Shanti Bhushan, Adv. Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, poet Kumar Vishwas, Hegde, and several other seniors were tired and disappointed and disillusioned ‘democrats’ left Kejriwal alleging him to have behaved like a dictator and his brutal attitude. Of course, Kejriwal never cared for their departing his political shed.

 

After his miraculous landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, he spent most of his time in the first tenure as a Chief Minister in Delhi High Court challenging several laws and constitutional Offices, but he miserably failed in almost every attempt to belittle and malign the tall image of the Prime Minister. He later came to realize that it was not his cup of tea. He took a dig at every instance and the individual charging baselessly over corruption. As a consequence, he had to face court for defamation suits. He had to apologize in some cases but he was never apologetic about it. He perhaps always projected himself as a sole crusader fighting against corruption.

The anatomy of the success of AAP:

 

The secret of the sudden and unexpected success of his party in a short time is required to be seen in the outrage of the ordinary citizens against the corrupt practices everywhere. It was a manifestation of the peoples’ cry. Their helpless cry and the consequent helplessness. A documentary produced by the filmmaker Anand Gandhi, Khusbu Ranka, and Vinay Shukla about the rise of anti-corruption protests in India and the formation and rise to power of the Aam Admi Party should explain the point under discussion. The dictator-leader of the party simply rode the wave. He succeeded in exploiting the tempo of the outrage explosion.

 

 

The author does not believe in rumors, but if at all there is an iota of truth in the talk going around, that Khalistanis or the anti-national elements have earned a favorable bastion in Punjab, then certainly an ambitious political party like the AAP, the leaders of which are yearning for quick possession of power, need close watch from the center.

 

The security if under threat at the border State, it becomes imperative that, should any occasion arise in near future, the only way remains is to apply Art.356 of the Constitution of India without any delay or hesitation. Of course, the question of the international route for marketing the cross-border drug trade is also crucial to border security. If the trade route of drugs is made smooth and safe by the security guards posted at the borderline, requires stringent action with a view to ending the drug trade and making the border area a drug-free zone.

 

It is this particular threat that will testify to the character of the incumbent government in Punjab. Already there is a whispering word heard that the unexpected landslide victory of the AAP was the result of the anti-national elements working against the interests of the Indian State. It will be an interesting purview to watch the way in which the AAP government deals with the several ensuing critical moments. It is sure that the Union Government will not compromise with the national security on the soil of a border state which is an adjacent terrorist neighbor.

 

Anyway, AAP is a party that has hardly completed a decade, in fact, it will complete in the ensuing November. It has not faced rough political weather so far. Its credentials are yet to be tested. It may have won a winning number of legislative seats in Punjab. It has no basic political foundation or philosophical arguments. In fact, it is a political party that is neither leftist nor rightist, neither left to the center nor right to the center. In other words, it is a party that is composed of helpless citizens who have been cheated or kept deprived of their legitimate dues by the corrupt bureaucrats for a long. One fact is required to be admired. It is that Arvind Kejriwal has cashed on their unrest and anger in their hearts by gathering all such disgruntled and those who were waiting for someone to come forward and lead them in ventilating their unrest. These citizens found such an angel in Kejriwal. It must also be admitted that he, in the initial period, delivered the results.

 

Soon, he was encircled by his detractors. Several of his seniors, guides, learned people close to him left him almost each of whom waging a war of words. In spite of this, Kejariwal succeeded in showing them the door. He cleverly got rid of several of them. His postulate was that, in the democratic process, the word of a common man has to be final. His interests are supreme. It can be seen that he always spoke keeping the common man at the focal point. People were happy. But the common man is confident that every citizen would become a law-abiding citizen. What people liked about Kejriwal most was that he kept the common man at the center. He talked about his welfare, his good health he wanted all the welfare schemes to be aimed at working relentlessly for the welfare of the common man. The future of the nation depended, of course, .on the wellbeing of the common man.

 

 

Yes, of course, the common man, his welfare, his social interests, his overall well-being are all the factors that are very important. However, this cannot be stretched too far Leaders are seen grabbing political power at any cost and by every means.

 

The AAP while filing the annual audit report for the financial year 2018-2019 to the Election Commission of India declared the total expenditure incurred during the said year amounted to Rs. 161167935/- whereas total receipt amounted to the tune of Rs.193140085/-. The Audit Report was submitted in November 2019 to the Election Commission of India.

 

 

AAP is a political party that braves presently with only a few top-class leaders. There do not seem to be middle-level leaders. The tragic scenario is that except for only a few like Kejriwal, Sisodia, and a few others, there is no other name worth mentioning. If the party managers are really serious about the future of the Party they will have to have a different category of leaders who will pay more attention to the recruitment of leaders and train them as party leaders at all levels. At present Kejriwal has no time to pay attention to such a constructive category as he has programs to substitute itself to the Congress party.

 

 

In the first half of the first term in their Delhi government, they were crusaders against corruption at the high level, and as such, they only saw corruption everywhere, and nowadays it has become a fashion to talk about corruption. The absence of any ideology has made them vulnerable in their journey to identifying electoral alliances. Let us hope that AAP will not have to repent over their alleged connection with the dreaded Khalistanis, lest the situation attracts the application of Art. 356 under the Constitution of India arises in the future.