Arvind Kejriwal's apology to Majithia: What it means for AAP in Punjab

The art of politics is best understood gradually in the corridors of power. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said in a public rally in May 2013 that Bikram Singh Majithia was involved in a drug racket and issued defamatory statements against several politicians, faces 33 defamation cases. He is already three apologies down and many more could be on the way.

But it is the apology to Majithia that has created fissures in the Punjab unit of AAP. Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu says, "I would be lying if I say there isn't a problem. Yes there are two-three splinter groups."

What's the big deal about the apology?

SAD(B) lost power in Punjab in 2017. And the issue to have driven the party out of power was the proliferation of drug racket in the state under the SAD(B)-BJP government. Youngsters getting hooked to drugs became a huge problem and everyone talked about it in Punjab. They still do. Majithia was in the centre of that drug storm. The drug storm helped AAP achieve something they probably wouldn't have been able to get otherwise: four Lok Sabha seats from Punjab in 2014 elections.

It was one election where issues assumed greater importance than the leaders. And this brings us to the question of AAP leaders in Punjab. The party's rise in the state was akin to that in Delhi.

It had sympathisers and leaders but no karyakartas or dedicated party workers. AAP in Punjab was full of leaders such as Sucha Singh Chhotepur, Harinder Singh Khalsa, Dharamvir Gandhi, and Bhagwant Mann to name a few.

The next lot of leaders were the disgruntled elements from other parties like Sukhpal Khaira from Congress. Despite the absence of party workers, and leaders coming together from opposing ideologies, AAP did well in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections too their presence was felt.

So what did they base their victory on? Well, on the issue of youth getting hooked to drugs. When the allegations against Bikram Majithia came up in public discourse, Arvind Kejriwal lapped up the issue.

So how is Kejriwal at fault?

Having won Delhi twice and with a victory of sorts in Punjab, the BJP and Congress privately conceded that AAP was a real looming threat. Many say, at that time, Kejriwal should have slithered up the political ladder quietly.

Instead, he made himself look like a not-to-be-missed elephant in the room. Politicians, both from the Congress and the BJP went after him left, right and centre. Thirty-three defamation cases later, they have been successfully able to tame the elephant. CM Kejriwal has kept busy appearing for one or the other court hearing. Not just this. He is fighting a battle on another front. This one happens to be within the party.

The Punjab unit of the party thinks that with Kejriwal's apology, AAP has lost the political ground they had captured in the state. The party had managed to breach into the Akali vote bank with the help of the drug issue.

With a year or slightly more left for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, this apology is a dent to the image of AAP and the faith of voters, who placed their trust in AAP.

What's unusual about Kejriwal slander?

Hasn't such slander been part of Indian politics before? Yes, it has always been there. But the slugfest hardly reached courts.

What explains the fact that Narendra Modi never took Sonia Gandhi to court for comments like "Maut ka Saudagar". Closer home, Sukhbir Badal never took Capt Amarinder Singh to court for being called a "balungda" (a kitten) or "son of a gun". Similarly, down south Karunanidhi called J Jayalalithaa the most corrupt woman, who smelt like a rotten egg.

Such mudslinging in Indian politics is commonplace. But the Congress and BJP feared Kejriwal.

Fallout over the apology

The Punjab unit of the party thinks that they are inching closer to their big brothers in Delhi stature-wise. Punjab is the only state, other than Delhi, where AAP has shown promise.

Thus it gives them the right to look Kejriwal in the eye. After the apology, AAP's Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann and Aman Arora resigned and Kanwar Sandhu and Sukhpal Singh Khera were deeply anguished.

But that's where it ends.

At this juncture Punjab does not offer any more alternatives for another political front, the exit of these leaders from the party would thus amount to hara-kiri. After all, Punjab already has a regional party based on quasi-religious tenets called the SAD(B), which exploits the sentiments of the voters on religious lines from time to time. Alongside them are their coalition partners, the BJP and then there is the Congress.

The Bahujan Samaj Party could not make much ground despite the presence of 26 per cent Dalit/OBC votes in the state. Punjab People's Party under Manpreet Badal tried, but failed. AAP is the fourth party that has been successful in occupying the vacant political space, created due to the non-performance of SAD(B), the Sikh sympathisers, who never saw an alternative in Congress because of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The only other alternative is these leaders could seek political career/refuge in other political parties. But most of the AAP leaders are not likely to stand on an equal footing with leaders who are already well entrenched in the BJP, SAD(B), Congress. Aman Arora or a Harjot Bains may find it hard to even get a ticket leave alone winning from any other party.

The problem with AAP

Swaraj Abhiyan founder and former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav calls Kejriwal a dictator. So does Prashant Bhushan. But the dissidence expressed by the AAP MLAs in Punjab proves something to the contrary. AAP seems like a party which to the outsiders looks democratic to a fault. Could Amit Shah the BJP president or Congress supremo Rahul Gandhi have ever been challenged in their respective parties? The answer is no.

In fact the problem stems from the fact that AAP borrowed or rather converted former bosses in different fields into political leaders. The first crop of AAP leaders were leaders in their own right - former IAS officers, newspaper editors, lawyers, bankers, social workers, poets, psephologists, industrialists and comedians. They had the confidence that comes from facing the big stage and speaking to the gallery. They peppered the day-to-day politics with experiences and assets of their own fields and expertise. They took established political parties head-on.

The next lot of leaders were the disgruntled elements from other parties. It won't be inappropriate to borrow a term from journalism and call many of these politicians including Kejriwal, "freelance politicians". While Kejriwal may have an ideology, which seemingly is Left liberal, most Punjab leaders do not. Bhagwant Mann, is a former comedian, who still uses the art in public speeches. His speeches reflect art but not an ideology.

Kanwar Sandhu is a former newspaper editor, who knows Punjab like the back of his hand. But that was journalism and this is politics. The only man who fits the bill of a politician is Sukhpal Khera, a former Congressman. But has he shed the Congress ideology or does he still carry it? The rest of them are freelance leaders, who want the good of the state but can't really lay down the roadmap for it. They need an issue to bank upon, probably another drug storm.

Also read: The fall of Arvind Kejriwal's allegation politics