The AAP has emerged as a more appealing alternative than the Congress to many voters. The Bharatiya Janata Party, with its core ideology and backing of the RSS, has by and large remained immune to the AAP phenomenon
It was way back in 1885 that the Indian National Congress was founded by some leading members of the Theosophical Society led by Allan Octavian Hume. Among others, one of the objectives of the society was to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. The society’s constitution was categorical that it was absolutely non-sectarian, and no affiliation to any formula of belief, faith or creed shall be a qualification of membership. It, nevertheless, insisted that every applicant and member must be supportive of the effort to create the nucleus of an Universal Brotherhood of Humanity.
Over the next few decades, the INC spread out across the length and breadth of the vast subcontinent with membership cutting across caste, creed, regional, language and class lines. Conceived primarily as a platform for civic and political dialogue of educated Indians with the British Raj, it initially demanded a greater share in Government for them. In fact, the first meeting of the outfit in Bombay (now Mumbai) had the blessings of lord Dufferin, the then British Viceroy.
In course of time, the party turned radical and started questioning the very existence of the British Empire and began advocating the cause of Independence from the alien yoke. Several leading figures of the time also joined forces with the INC helping it take the shape of a national movement.
With the youth joining in large numbers, the party subsequently became a common platform for both radicals and conservatives, socialists and capitalists, so-called upper and lower castes as also Hindus and Muslims, farmers and feudal lords who were all looking for an opportunity to vent their anger against the colonial masters. The Congress provided that gasket relief system. Over the years, the party witnessed several splits within and outside, to begin with in the form of the ‘Garam Dal’ (hot faction) led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the ‘Naram Dal’ (soft faction) led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. The former came to be known as the extremists, who strindently opposed the British, and the latter as moderates, who advocated a peaceful dialogue process with the foreign rulers.
Thus, the Congress was a melting pot of sorts with people of varying political pedigree, from the Hindu nationalist Madan Mohan Malaviya to the creator of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah; from the British-educated Jawaharlal Nehru to the simple Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was raised in the Gujarat countryside; from the apostle of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi to the founder of the Indian National Army Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, within its folds. The rest is history. The Congress of today bears no resemblance whatsoever to the INC, which spearheaded the country’s freedom movement.
It is often said that history repeats itself though the circumstances and the characters may vary. Switch over to circa 2011. In the wake of serious corruption charges against the UPA Government emerges a purely apolitical movement led by Gandhian Anna Hazare and other prominent civil society activists of the time. Aided and abetted by the media and nationalist groups including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the movement, which initially did not allow any politician to come even anywhere near its stage, spread like a wild fire across the country. It had a mass appeal among the youth who were frustrated with the massive corruption which had permeated all aspects of life. For those, who have seen the freedom struggle only on celluloid, here was an opportunity to wear on their sleeves patriotism. The enemy was not a foreign entity but the corrupt system within. The Tricolour became the symbol and Vande Mataram the slogan. The sole agenda was to fight corruption, the means Gandhian and the character apolitical.
Sensing the mood of the nation, the Opposition backed it to the hilt while even the ruling party initially made efforts to engage them, co-opt them, failing which it tried to suppress the group. NGOs, civil society, retired bureaucrats, frustrated corporate leaders, all saw a ray of hope and joined the bandwagon. The instant popularity and publicity prompted the ambitious among the lot to abandon the movement mid-way and take the shape of a political party, which gradually superseded the founding fathers of the movement and became a platform for all wannabe politicians who were either on the fringes of the society or found it difficult to climb the tedious ladder in established political parties in the absence of money or a family name to flaunt. Nevertheless, it retained the ‘war against corruption’ as its USP — not any caste, religion or region, like other new parties often do.
Thus, the Aam Aadmi Party emerged as a conglomerate of people from diverse backgrounds, ideologies and possessing varying objectives, from the Right-wing Kumar Vishwas to the left-wing Prashant Bhushan, from the capitalist Meera Sanyal to the activist Medha Patkar, from journalists to lawyers, from industrialists to workers. If it has selfish and ambitious people on its rolls, there are also those who support it for a greater cause. Undoubtedly, its performance in the Government and on the ground has been anarchist, yet the positive aspect is that from Maoist sympathisers to students disillusioned with the system, it has brought back into the electoral process those elements who were feeling alienated and marginalised.
True, many of the maladies of Indian politics such as defections and opportunism have already started afflicting the new party, but the AAP with all its tantrums and theatrics is far better compared to the ruthless Maoists who want to bring about change through a bloody revolution and are engaged in the killing of the innocent.
The law of physics state that nothing remains in vacuum. With the Congress gradually becoming irrelevant in the national political discourse and pushed to the margins, there is a vacuum that needs to be filled up. Far from being even a regional party, the Congress is increasingly getting confined to few pockets across the country. Even in the much-hyped Delhi election, a mega shift of Congress vote share contributed to the AAP’s victory margin as against a small shift, albeit worrying, from the ideologically-rooted BJP.
From the Dalits to Muslims and people living in slum clusters, the AAP has emerged as a more appealing alternative to the Congress. While the BJP with its core ideology and backing of the RSS has by and large remained immune to the AAP phenomenon so far, the emergence of the party from Kashmir to Kerala, irrespective of the impact in the upcoming poll, is a factor which cannot be ignored and holds the potential to undermine many regional parties besides the Congress. It is not new recruits but the frustrated cadres of the Congress and other regional parties who are contributing to the crowds at Mr Arvind Kejriwal’s rallies, from Gujarat to Bangalore. The AAP as a party may get limited success in the upcoming poll but the idea of a corruption-free India is here to stay, much like Hindutva minus the BJP or communism sans the left parties.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had spoken about a Congress-free India. Mr Kejriwal & Co are making it happen. As for the theory that the Congress is backing the AAP to the hilt as it cannot stop the Modi juggernaut, no sensible puppeteer would allow his puppets to overshadow him. And even if it is true, haven’t we heard of Frankenstein or for that matter our own BhasmasuraIJ Sadly, there won’t be any Mohini this time around to save India’s oldest party.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in New Delhi)