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The question now is whether the AAP will be able to survive the BJP blitzkrieg in Delhi. The party is in power in Punjab, but has never sat in the opposition in the national capital. Though it has 43% vote share, many feel this may…Read More
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal reacts on the results of the Delhi assembly election. (Image: @ArvindKejriwal/PTI)
‘At least in this birth, Narendra Modi cannot defeat the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi’ – this is what AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said before the Delhi assembly elections. He seems to have got a fitting reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the BJP registered a historic victory on Saturday: “Some had the arrogance that they owned Delhi, but people have shown that they were the real owners of Delhi.”
It is this kind of arrogance and hubris that brought about the downfall of Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.
But, will the AAP be able to survive this? It is in power in Punjab, but has never sat in the opposition in Delhi. Though the party has 43 per cent vote share in Delhi, many feel this may be the beginning of the end for it.
THE ARROGANCE AND BLAME GAME
The AAP was born out of public emotion and romanticism to fight corruption, rather than a political ideology. In fact, in 2013, Kejriwal promised he would change the way politics is perceived in this country.
It was the ‘aam aadmi’, or the public, that brought the AAP to power in Delhi thrice. But the same people also led to its defeat as the party deviated from what it promised to be. Kejriwal said he won’t take up a house or a big car, but moved from a Wagon R to an MG Gloster and spent nearly Rs 35 crore to renovate the house that he occupied as chief minister.
By most accounts, he also became inaccessible and people spoke about long convoys of cars that accompanied him and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. People felt the ‘common man CM’ was moving around like a VIP and living life king size.
Then came his hypocrisy in dealing with allegations of corruption against him or his cabinet. He decided to bully his way out of the allegations in the alleged Delhi liquor scam, rather than live up to his proclaimed mantra of anti-corruption.
Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia were jailed in the scam, but he first refused to remove Sisodia from the cabinet while he was behind bars and shockingly refused to resign from the post of CM when he went to prison.
This was arguably the first instance in India’s political history that a CM, who had been jailed, chose to run the government from behind bars rather than hand in his resignation. This is the same man who would, as an activist, demand the resignation of political leaders at the drop of a hat.
Many don’t know, but Delhi does not have a Lokpal, something that Kejriwal based his entire politics on in 2013. As the results came in on counting day, all three big names who went to jail on corruption charges – Kejriwal, Sisodia and Satyender Jain – lost the election.
Inexplicably, Kejriwal decided to resign once he came out of jail last year saying he would seek a mandate and only then become CM. This was a strange move, as people hoped his release would solve civic issues plaguing the city, from poor sanitation and roads to highly toxic air. The AAP government did not roll out the money scheme for women in 2024 because Kejriwal went to jail – this is how much the party had become dominated by its supremo.
Could he not have resigned when he went to jail, so that another CM could get the job done? Atishi became the CM later, but AAP made it clear that she was only temporary till Kejriwal was back in the seat after the polls.
But, people were fed up. For much of the past five years, the AAP government had been in a ‘tu tu main main’ situation with the Centre as well as the L-G, constantly complaining that it was not being allowed to work. While some people initially may have had sympathy for Kejriwal on that count, they were ultimately left frustrated – the streets were not being cleaned, the air would become unbreathable for two to three months every year, and the roads were in a state of disrepair.
“Governance is not a nautanki ka manch,” Modi said after the Delhi victory, taking a swipe at the AAP’s daily theatrics. He had earlier equated Kejriwal to serial killer and conman Charles Sobhraj.
Kejriwal’s blustering was no longer working for the people as he started making allegations against the BJP – from how the party was trying to buy off AAP MLAs to the Haryana government deliberately poisoning the Yamuna that comes to Delhi, so as to cause a genocide. These were seen as diversionary tactics, classic blunders and vendetta politics as Haryana is also his home state.
The fact is that Delhi is in a bad shape – and this was despite the AAP being in power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) since 2022. People wanted the party to fight its political battles, but also solve their problems.
But, they decided that if those cannot be solved, then they should at least get to choose the party that will work for them. In short, Kejriwal has no one else to blame for the Delhi debacle, but himself. It is his arrogance and making the AAP a “one-man party” that cost him and his party the national capital. The question to ask is if Kejriwal can change.
Well, this is the second issue – will AAP survive this? Kejriwal has tasted power since he entered politics in 2013. This is the first time he has tasted defeat in Delhi.
So, will this party, which has already seen some big desertions, simply disintegrate and collapse? A party’s real test comes when it is not in power and how it keeps its flock together.
The AAP still has 43 per cent vote share despite the defeat, so all is not lost. Kejriwal was uncharacteristic in his message after the Delhi loss – that the AAP will act as a constructive opposition and continue to help people in the way it can.
But, the CAG reports on ‘Sheeshmahal’ and the alleged excise scam now hang like a sword over Kejriwal and he may have to go to jail again. The BJP will leave no stone unturned to expose the AAP’s alleged corruption, ensuring that Kejriwal & Co pay the price.
Kejriwal does not have a friend in Rahul Gandhi and the Congress anymore, given the bitterness between both during the Delhi elections. The Congress, in fact, would love the AAP’s demise in Delhi to give itself a reincarnation. The AAP, meanwhile, may face challenges it may not have imagined – like an existential crisis.
Will Kejriwal now focus on Punjab, the only state where the AAP is in power? The reverberations of the Delhi loss will certainly be felt in Punjab as well, with the Congress looking for a midterm election if Bhagwant Mann’s flock deserts him.
Is this the beginning of the end for the AAP? We will know soon.
