The seeds of AAP were sown at the time of Anna Andolan or India Against Corruption in 2011. This andolan was led by a popular leader Anna Hazare. The moment gained momentum in April 2011 when Anna Hazare declared a hunger strike to alleviate corruption in the Indian government through the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
This strike was organised at Jantar Mantar and all of this was happening at a time when the Congress government was charged with grave cases of corruption. Some of the most famous cases of that time were the 1.76 lakh crore 2G Spectrum scam, the 1.86 lakh crore Coal Scam and the 70, 000 crore Common Wealth Game scam. It was at this time that the Aam Aadmi Party was created.
Many famous people like Kiran Bedi, Baba Ramdev and Arvind Kejriwal joined the India Against Corruption movement. Anna Hazare did a lot of protests but nothing proved fruitful. They were unable to convince the government to pass the bill. Therefore, there was no future for the andolan. Although Anna Hazare and other senior leaders disapproved of this, Kejriwal and some other leaders wanted to enter mainstream politics and “clean the system” by creating a political party and contesting elections.
Despite Anna Hazare’s rejection of the idea of a political party, Arvind Kejriwal created the Aam Aadmi Party on 26th November 2012. AAP contested for the first time in December 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections. They did a wonderful job and emerged as the second-largest party with 28 seats out of 70. Kejriwal went ahead and joined hands with the Indian National Congress to form a coalition government.
They promised to present the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly but after they failed to do so, AAP withdrew support from the government within just 49 days of coming to power. The government was toppled and the president's rule was imposed for a year. As a result, fresh elections were held on 14th February 2015 and AAP secured a landslide victory and made the government. Since then, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal has been the Chief Minister of Delhi.
While protesting in the Anna Andolan, Mr Kejriwal raised serious allegations of corruption against senior leaders like Praful Patel, Salman Khurshid, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kapil Sibal, Kamal Nath and Rahul Gandhi and said that they would destroy them from power if no serious actions are taken.
However, in the 2013 Delhi Assembly Elections, he made a coalition government with the Congress which was subsequently dissolved in 49 days. AAP came to power again in 2015 and since then, many senior leaders like Ashutosh and Kumar Vishwas have left the party. They stated lack of vision and lack of direction as the reason for disassociating from the party.
Since then, AAP has been led by Mr Kejriwal and his close associates. Some of these close associates of Mr Kejriwal have been accused of corruption. Here is a brief of them:
● Deputy CM Manish Sisodiya - ₹338 crore Liquor Scam case by CBI
● Health Minister Satyendra Jain - ₹4.8 crore Money Laundering case by ED
● MLA Amanatullah Khan - Misappropriate use of funds of Waqf Board and criminal cases. Links to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.
As per a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms, out of all the parties in the Delhi MCD Elections in 2023, AAP had the highest number of candidates who had criminal records against them. Around 18% of the candidates placed by AAP had serious criminal cases against them. The same was the case at the time of the Punjab and Gujarat elections.
In the MCD Mayor Elections, 38 out of 62 (61%) candidates placed by AAP had declared cases against them while 33 out of 62 (53%) candidates had serious criminal cases against them. At first, AAP said that they wanted to eliminate corruption in the system and now they are a member of the I.N.D.I.A. Alliance.
Mr Kejriwal was accused of taking help from Khalistani terrorists and militants in the recent Punjab Elections. He also met Khalistan Commando Force’s commander Gurvinder in Moga. Is AAP drifting away from their views? Is Mr Kejriwal betraying the core objective for which the Aam Aadmi Party was made?
AAP is now a national party and has governments in Punjab and Delhi. They are rapidly increasing their ground reach in various parts of the country. However, there seems to be a lack of national vision in the party management. Mr Kejriwal said that he joined the I.N.D.I.A. alliance because he wanted to root the BJP out of the government.
The opposition should understand that the 2024 elections are around the corner. There is not much time left for campaigning. A strong opposition is always very healthy for a democracy but the opposition that we have in the parliament is filled with inter-party and intra-party conflicts.
AAP should make sure that they improve their image as a political party and bring up new and young budding politicians. Those who have a flair to bring a change. Does AAP have any such faces? Leave your comments below.
