Confessions of an AAP Supporter

“Arvind Kejriwal, Yaar Ab Bas Bhi Karo”| Confessions of an AAP Supporter

When Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister of Delhi in the cold winter of 2013, I, like many other of my counterparts, fell into believing that the days of corruption and poor governance were behind us. His victory was not restricted to Delhi alone, but was a reason to celebrate for the entire nation. After all, the kind of leader everyone had been demanding for ages had finally been elected. So what if it took some irrational protesting and unconventional working methods, the corrupt and weak Congress CM was now history.

Arvind Kejriwal’s campaign was focused only on the then Delhi CM. Almost every auto I took had a poster calling her a thief, and we all never bothered questioning that. Sheila Dixit had been involved in the Common Wealth Games scam and it wasn’t hidden from anyone. The aim was to throw out Congress and create a space for clean and constructive politics.

Even after excessive spending, campaigning, incumbency against the present government, and a lot of other ground activities involving the local population, AAP couldn’t get a majority. Congress had been successfully thrown out of business but was it due to the flamboyance of Modi or heroics of Kejriwal, we weren’t sure, though five and a half months later, the truth was out.

When AAP took the support of Congress to form the government, I was a little unsure. The process used by the party, that is the SMS referendums and filling up of forms was questionable, but what surprised me more was the ease with which they agreed to be supported by the Congress. BJP held the higher moral ground but as an AAP supporter, I was too busy to acknowledge it.

The swearing-in ceremony came in, so did more theatrics. I was led into believing that the singing and patriotic call was going to set a new trend in Indian Politics. The Modi wave was picking up but we had found our idol in a man who we thought could counter that wave. Let me tell you something about AAP supporters, they all enjoyed when Modi was consistently scrutinized by the media, but some of us saw a ray of hope in him too, despite his shady past. Many AAP supporters were open to the idea of supporting Modi for the post of PM, now that we had successfully installed the first leg of honest governance system in Delhi. Just how wrong we all were.

The first instances of Kejriwal’s arrogance were visible when he gave an interview to the editor of CNN-IBN, Rajdeep Sardesai. The tone adopted by our CM was harsh and smelled of arrogance and self-righteousness. My friends and his supporters confused it for anger against the poor Congress party, and lack of opportunities for the credible people. December made way for January. The so-called first draft of the Lokpal bill did not come but we had no reason to doubt our leader, for delays in such matters are perfectly acceptable. Other developments that we expected were the moving of a court case against Sheila Dixit. Weren’t the evidences against her flashed in open meetings or were they mere blank sheets, much like this party’s ideology?

Our support was put into serious questioning in the days prior to 26th January. I won’t repeat the entire tale here, but the word ‘anarchist’ got stuck in my mind. Let’s be very clear, we are Indians first and then supporters of any other party, even if it claims to be the most honest party. Claims are made by advertising agencies too, only few deliver. Wish we had understood this then.

As the news started to come in that the Delhi government was in trouble, we all kept ourselves focused on other work. The government was in place, we had made our voice count, and now it was upto the leaders to deliver. Their promises were too farfetched from the beginning, but then, never before such immense movement had been initiated. We were not history students to compare it with the movement of post 1977 Emergency period. Analysts from the beginning had compared this movement with those of 1977 and other regional ones, but love is blind, even if it’s for a political party.

The problem of this entire movement was that it had been strictly scrutinized by the media houses. Again, the problem with media scrutiny is that a lot of opinions come out in the public. Imagine, debating and discussing a topic is good and normally helps the normal population, but on a realistic note, we must understand that public is not up for so many opinions and discussions. The law is made to protect the public. The constitution has been installed to ensure proper governance. The ministers are elected to oversee this entire procedure and the citizens contribute to nation building, simple as that. Public protests and hunger strikes can work once, maximum twice, but not more than that. The number of AAP supporters was falling each day. New names were coming up for Kejriwal. Videos were being circulated, memes and jokes being made. The party that was once the hope for millions was now a subject of ridiculing and mockery for the urban population. But, the worst was yet to come.

A few days after his resignation, Mr. Kejriwal was seen in various TV interviews, blaming the fall of his government on Congress and BJP. People bought into it and the movement was again ignited. Meanwhile, Modi wave had picked up in the country and Congress was all set to be thrown out from the centre. The elections of Delhi were going to be amplified on a national level. As a supporter, I expected AAP to contest from a few constituencies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Even for a young venture, the focus is always on quality before quantity. Time moved on, speculations made way for confirmations, and the foundations for an ugly political battle were laid. Arvind Kejriwal was going to take on Narendra Modi.

For an AAP supporter, things moved pretty quickly from December to February. While Congress was busy digging its own grave, an attempt was being made to push the rival party into a grave created by the Congress and media. People left their jobs and families, and started touring with Arvind Kejriwal. After denying it in many of his earlier interviews, Arvind Kejriwal finally gave in to the request made by his party members and decided to contest for the Lok Sabha elections.

When you feed a growing plant with excess of water, it doesn’t grow quickly but drowns in that puddle, and ultimately dies. One thing that our party leadership never understood was that Rome was not built in a single day. Yes, we all wanted to get rid of corruption, high prices, inflation, and many other social evils, but we wanted to get rid of them in an orderly manner, keeping our national identity intact, that of a democratic nation. Sadly, at that point we didn’t understand that our leader did not believe in this country’s constitution as well.

By the time April arrived, campaigning was in full motion on all ends. Be it the BJP, Congress, AAP, or any state party, every party was trying its best to make a national impact. Clear favorites were starting to emerge. New challenges were being thrown randomly. Publicity stunts were as frequent as Indian tea breaks and in between all this, a new hub emerged for the Stalingrad of Lok Sabha -2014 Elections. All eyes all of a sudden turned to Varanasi.

Ink, slaps, chaos, and a severe wave of rejection followed. Consider this one instance when our leader was slapped by an auto driver. Kejriwal took no time in blaming the act on BJP. Why? Because Modi was clearly winning votes and that was not good for AAP’s national ambitions. As it turned out next day, the culprit had placed that slap because AAP had not delivered any desirable results in the Delhi Elections.

You see what happens in that one single day? 24 hours are enough for social media, press, and people to speculate. Some went on to blame the BJP workers. Some called for the expulsion of all other parties. Some wanted better security for this so called common man. All those debates and discussions for nothing, absolutely nothing, and it denied the public and press the opportunity to discuss something constructive. While AAP theatrics were touching new high every day, their moral ground and integrity were touching a new low.

A fight that started against corruption, chaos, and Congress was now against one man, Modi. For an AAP supporter, there was nothing wrong about that too. Drawing inspiration from Rahul Gandhi, Supreme Court verdicts were verbally torn and thrown away. Modi was lambasted by anyone and everyone. When the tour to Gujarat couldn’t draw any fruitful results, the party leader turned to Varanasi and challenged Narendra Modi to defeat him from that constituency.

First, you resign and leave the governance system in shambles, and then you deny any participation in the upcoming national elections. This is followed by a visit to the state of Gujarat, not riot hit Uttar Pradesh, drug hit Punjab, Khap hit Haryana, or even drought hit Maharashtra. You stage ink attacks and slaps. You seek all the attention there is in this world and then project yourself as people’s man. Your party leaders go on tweeting about how broke they are, requesting people to lend them laptops, and when the time comes to declare their assets, they amount to millions. Well player, sir.

To up the ante, self-proclaimed youth icons from leading entertainment channels join the AAP brigade. All of a sudden, a college dropout, Raghu Ram, is teaching India the theory of governance. People, especially the masses easily believed in all these theatrics and the movement again focuses on criticizing rival parties rather than coming up with a concrete plan of doing something for the nation.

All this is followed with appeasement practices. Your leaders have out of the blue come up with Islamic nicknames, your female leader believes in sarcastically playing with secularism and your manifesto talks about special perks for one religious group. So what if the nation wants to stand united in these dark and testing times, free from the bondage of religion and appeasement, the self-proclaimed vigilantes have to create chaos to make a point.

12th May comes and everyone including me heaves a sigh of relief. The exit polls come in the same evening and predict a landslide victory for Modi, and leave AAP with only 4-8 seats. Even a friend of mine, who is critical of AAP, believed that they would win at least 20 seats. After all, they had contested for over 430 seats.

To draw an analogy from the ongoing IPL season, AAP’s social media channels before 16th May were like Glenn Maxwell. Every tweet, every post, every image, and every mention predicted a certain majority for them. Mr. Kejriwal’s assessment predicted 6-8 seats for him in the state of Delhi alone. Came the morning of 16th May, and before half of India had taken its morning tea, the results were out and crystal clear. AAP had been reduced to a mere pauper.

Don’t get me wrong here. I voted for AAP in my constituency and fortunately, my candidate emerged as one of the four winners from the AAP. I still support the AAP, not because I believe in Arvind Kejriwal, but because I believe in their cause. Their cause is a lot similar to that projected by our new PM, but the candidate projected by his party in my constituency was not upto the mark, and hence my vote went to AAP, and yes, my vote mattered.

During the foreplay days, sometimes I used to feel like joining the movement. Giving up my placement activities and being a part of the revolution that I felt would change the political scenario of India forever. I saw a lot of people were giving up their lavish careers to play their part, and were later left high and dry.

Mr. Kejriwal, very casually, came out with a 60 second video recently where he discussed that his party required internal strengthening. As an AAP supporter, I was flabbergasted after watching the video. Why would someone look to buy a castle when he can’t even afford to rent a garage?

The video came and it was circulated like all other videos, but by then it was too little and too late. As per the AAP’s Twitter handle, 4 surveillance cameras had been installed inside the 16th Lok Sabha, and they were going to be enough. Finally, all the political drama was coming to an end. But then again, Arvind Kejriwal’s theatrics last longer than Ekta Kapoor’s TV soaps or Karan Johor’s movies.

What happened yesterday is pretty well-known. Kejriwal accused, ran a media trial, the court did not give a single fuck about it, asked for proof, which Kejriwal failed to produce, and later moved on took another of his iconic U-turns to not sign the bond, and instead go to jail.

Someone please tell Mr. Kejriwal that there is a system. You can call everyone an Ambani agent but that doesn’t make your point strong. Evidence is not something that can be flashed in a public meeting and be expected to be taken seriously. There is a lot more to a court case than drama and dharna.

What’s disgusting is the SMS that followed. Supporters, like me, were asked to gather outside the Tihar Jail to protest the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. So what if Kejriwal himself wanted to be arrested, so what if his advocate his shouting on national television that the party principles do not allow them to pay any bail bond money. Logic comes to a standstill whenever Kejriwal is involved.

One has to respect the fact that Modi is in power today because his party took some crucial decisions regarding their leadership. L.K. Advani had to be literally pushed out, and then made understood of the implications his Prime Ministerial ambitions could have on the party’s future. Congress is made up of a more stubborn lot and has decided to take 5-10 years vacation to shield their royal prince and esteemed queen.

What about AAP? The cause is always bigger than an individual. AAP has made many mistakes in the past 6 months. They have been ruthless in their speech, careless in their actions, and mindless in their planning. Their own mistakes came back to haunt them in Delhi, and history is going to repeat itself in the upcoming Delhi elections for sure. They lost Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazaare, and now they are losing our trust as well. Hopefully, the party will introspect thoroughly and consider a change in the leadership. If words and theatrics could win wars, then we would have battles inside Mushairas.

AAP has successfully installed 4 people into the Lok Sabha of 2014. What they shall do and how they shall perform is a separate matter all together, but to see more and more people rise from the Indian middle class, it is important that AAP focuses on quality and not quantity. Arvind Kejriwal needs to lower the ante, and accept his mistakes. Party supporters must act more maturely before they go blaming anyone for the grievances they have created themselves.

People are no longer interested in the past. The recent mandate clearly shows that people want a stable government, prospering nation, and a no-nonsense leadership, which they seem to have found. If AAP wants to stay afloat in the tsunami that has hit the political strata of many small parties, they must learn to negotiate, play well with others, and most importantly, stop making a fool of themselves every time. This change must start with dismissing the current leadership and emergence of a new rational leadership that can work constructively with the new government, and as a conveyor between the people of India and the government. Activism has many faces, but this face of AAP needs to be changed.

After what all happened yesterday, I can only request the current AAP leader,

“Arvind Kejriwal, Yaar ab bas bhi karo.”

Source : http://goldenchidiya.com/2014/05/arvind-kejriwal-yaar-ab-bas-bhi-karo-confessions-aap-supporter/