Entire political class is complicit in Centre's relentless targeting of AAP

Over the last few months, there have been a series of arrests and interrogations of MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party, on suspiciously similar lines.

In a substantial number, there are allegations by women who accused AAP MLAs of inappropriate conduct after the alleged event. One stratagem is the claim by a woman that there were problems like disruption of water supplies, for the redress of which when she approached the AAP MLA she was harassed.

The number of such cases which the Delhi Police has dutifully been swift to take up, doubtless under orders from the Union government, has risen to 12 for as many AAP MLAs, and surely by all indications rising.

Significantly, there was no such rash of cases in from May 2014-16.

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So, why now? As the proverb goes, in such cases, "once is happenstance, twice it is coincidence, the third time, it is enemy action".

But there are also other irons in the fire for AAP.

There have been several states that have had parliamentary secretaries without problems. In AAP’s case, when it had 21 out of 67 (of the 70 total) MLAs in the Delhi Assembly, the opposition raised objections, though both the Congress and the BJP have parliamentary secretaries.

What is intriguing is that the hon'ble President of India chose to send this issue to the Election Commission. The Head of State, of course, is quite active, as seen in the Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh imbroglios. The Supreme Court stood by the Bommai judgement, and the President was overruled.

We will have to see what happens in the latest case. But it is clear as day, that the Union government is trying to cripple AAP before the next round of elections. Even as I speak, a tax raid is going on against an AAP MLA.

I had written in a post after the Panama Papers expose, based in part on Ram Jethmalani's experience, that nothing much may come of it, if previous experience of this regime is any evidence. In certain quarters, it is claimed that violators of tax laws may be let off with a warning and penalty.

But what about offences by BJP leaders?

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The Union minister of state, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, in a rally praised "ramazadas" and abused "haramzadas". She was not punished though this statement was abusive, inflammatory and communal.

Minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj, and the chief minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, helped a notorious felon like Lalit Modi escape from Indian law by providing him official guarantees.

But once again, no action. No interest shown by the hon'ble President, the ultimate arbiter.

One set of rules for the Union government and its employees, but another set for AAP.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the secular opposition has stood silently by, many enjoying the charade. A new, unconventional competitor might bite the dust. More votes and opportunities for the politically stagnant and slower growth for truly secular parties. The upstart will get its just desserts.

This is just what the social democrats imagined in Germany when they voted along with the Nazis in the Bavarian referendum. Unprincipled politics often does not pay.