AAP cocktail: Infighting and spectacle of a death

Farmer Gajendra Singh, who hung himself to death at the Aam Aadmi Party rally must continue to haunt the political outfit even in their dreams. What was supposed to be a rally to oppose the land ordinance bill and show solidarity with the farmers, turned exactly the opposite, thus causing more damage to AAP than its own infighting and unfulfilled ‘free paani-bijli-wifi’ promise made in the run up to the polls to elect Delhi’s CM.
If there is one thing that seems wrong with the Aam Aadmi Party, it would be a challenge to even come to a conclusion on THAT one thing. Because, the dream of democracy that seemed to have sounded a warning bell for many parties including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Patry which was gloating on the landslide victory at the centre last year, Aam Admi Party’s success in Delhi sounded like just what the doctor had ordered.
But soon after, the party’s supremo Kejriwal and his men tore it into pieces with their infighting. Party’s think tanks and supporting pillars, Prashanth Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were unceremoniously shown the door. The poll promises were approached with half a mind, and in a rather dictatorial style.
The denouement of the ongoing crisis is difficult to sum up in a manner that can be easily understood or comprehended with. What went wrong? Is this a ‘settling’ phase that all political dreams cross in order to reach a consensus in terms of gaining an identity? Even political experts are finding it difficult to analyse since the messages are highly mixed or completely contradictory. If you ask the followers and party workers as to why Bhushan and Yadav were expelled, there isn’t any answer that can provide some clarity on the issue. The alacrity with which this task was done is a sure indicator to the fact that this expulsion would have happened sooner or later. Delhi elections were JUST a phase the party crossed to get there.
Has this done any damage to the party’s image? At a national level, yes. People are disappointed with the way differences of opinions were managed. But guess what, despite all this infighting; the party seems to have done some work at the ground level where the voter base remains intact according to reports in the media. Even the fact that electricity wasn’t offered free, but the power tariff was lowered by half has worked in favour of the party which gives 20,000 liters of water free to the citizens of Delhi.
As far as the Wi-Fi is concerned, a public consultation is in the offing to decide the pros and cons of this facility being offered. Experts from government and private firms will meet to discuss the financial models, and technicalities of creating a policy framework for the same.
The discussion has been organized by Department of Information Technology. The plan is to tie e-governance and m-governance should be tied to the idea of free Wi-Fi in order to create an atmosphere that can help the living standards of people turn better.
But, the recent suicide of Gajendra Singh who hung himself from a tree while an AAP rally was on, has rattled the supporters who realized the fact that Delhi Police was clearly not going to follow any orders issued by their supremo and Delhi CM Aravind Kejriwal. Gajendra Singh was an AAP supporter. The family has refused to accept any help from Arvind Kejriwal and his party with regard to their family member’s suicide.
The blame game that followed soon after reeked of rot. While AAP said Delhi Police was responsible for his death, the police said AAP abetted his suicide, making the political outfit, a tangible reason for his decision to end life in full public glare.
Has AAP now come full circle again in the dharna mode to assuage its own image that was lost in the transit of expelling some powerful leaders? Only time holds the answer to this question but when one watches the path AAP has taken, this step seems horribly and technically wrong.
All said and done, Delhi residents have less time for a tamasha to unveil at the peak of a sultry summer. The issue is not about life and death of Gajendra Singh, who may have made a spectacle of death; but that of AAP which has a few good days left before people give up on it completely.

(Image: indiatimes.com)