Yesterday was one of the rare happy days in the life of an AAP supporter. Unlike the usual days when AAP legislators get arrested, Kejriwal confidants get indicted, Kejriwal gets summoned to the court, corruption cases against AAP emerge etc etc., yesterday, BJP RS MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu put in his papers in the Rajya Sabha and walked out of the BJP.
If emerging indications are right, Navjot Singh Sidhu and his Punjab MLA wife will both join AAP in Punjab. As a part of the deal, it is believed, AAP will position Sidhu as its CM candidate in Punjab.
There are two reasons why AAP supporters are overjoyed at Sidhu’s exit from the BJP. First reason is that Sidhu marks the first high profile exit from BJP in recent years. His exit is even more significant because he was only just nominated to Rajya Sabha. To an AAP, Sidhu’s exit is a tight slap on Modi’s face. Secondly, Sidhu’s exit is like the proverbial rats fleeing a sinking ship. AAP would like to believe that Modi magic is now fatally on the wane and that members are leaving it to join parties whose political sun is on the rise. One should not blame AAP and its supporters for thinking so. After all, incessant propaganda is widely known to result in delusions and self-deception.
That having been said, Sidhu’s exit from the BJP does put the party in bad light. One is surprised that Amit ‘Masterstroke’ Shah had no inkling of this happening. Sidhu had been sulking for long and his wife had even put up a resignation letter on Facebook on 1st April, before taking it down hurriedly. The Rajya Sabha ticket from Punjab was seen as a way to remedy the sulk. It now emerges that the strategy badly backfired and ended up putting the BJP in a very embarrassing position. Be that as it may, Sidhu’s exit, while good for newsroom debates and political speeches may have no impact beyond that.
BJP is a two-bit player in Punjab. Historically, It has held 8-10% of the votes and less than 20 seats in Punjab assembly. Its role in Punjab is limited to acting as the younger partner of SAD, which has enjoyed widespread support historically. 10 years of SAD-BJP rule in Punjab has become renowned for nepotism, widespread corruption and cronyism. While SAD is to be blamed more for the kleptocracy it ran in Punjab for 10 years, it is evident that BJP too will have to bear the cross.
With the entry of AAP, Punjab elections will be a battle between political heavyweights such as Amarinder Singh of Congress, Badals of SAD and Arvind Kejriwal of AAP. In this battle of heavyweights, BJP has no name or face that would endear it to the masses. The strategy of invoking Modi’s name in state elections has now proved to be a big flop. Irrespective of Sidhu exiting the BJP, the party already finds itself in a pathetic situation in the state. Sidhu’s exit, while a surprise nonetheless will scarcely change anything on the ground for the party. All it can hope for is to retain its 8-10 seats, which would be an achievement in itself.
While Sidhu has been with the BJP for more than a decade now, his relationship with the party has been a journey of ups and downs. Sidhu husband-wife duo have for years been unwilling to partner with SAD. Recently, Mrs. Sidhu ran an active campaign to persuade BJP leaders to break off ties with SAD and contest all seats in Punjab. However, it cut no ice with senior BJP leaders who perhaps realize that the party enjoys no independent support base in the state and that going solo in the elections would be as suicidal as allying with SAD.
Navjot Singh Sidhu has also been miffed with the party since 2014, when Arun Jaitley was allotted the ticket from Amritsar, a constituency that he had represented thrice in the Lok Sabha. Sidhu made his annoyance clear by not campaigning for Jaitley and visiting Amritsar when the veteran leader had lost by over a lakh votes. Possibly that was a slight that Sidhu never forgave.
It is believed that Mrs Sidhu had been in touch with Kejriwal for over a year. The only stumbling block was her insistence on Sidhu being declared as AAP’s CM candidate. It seems now that the deal is done. It also augurs well for AAP to have a local face in a state where identities matter.
Politics knows no permanent friends nor enemies. It is therefore pointless to refer to statements such as ‘Main politics kabhi join nahi karunga, Aam Aadmi Party bana di. Main security nahi lunga. Z security le li. Main bungalow nahi lunga. Bungalow mein khud jhadu maarne lag gaye. Main koi jhooth bol raha hu?’, or ‘Idhar dharna, udhar dharna, idhar dharna, udhar dharna. Yeh jantar mantar ke jagah pe dharna company, Kejriwal ki nautanki company likh do’.
For a party that claimed that all existing political parties were corrupt and beyond repair, it is strange that AAP has taken to headhunting leaders from the so-called corrupt parties. That is only one more in the series of U-turns effected by India’s youngest political party. Sidhu’s exit from the BJP, whether for ideals or for career progression is unlikely to have any impact on the fortunes of the BJP in Punjab. Not because Sidhu is an ineffectual leader, but because BJP, honestly stands no chance in Punjab anyways.
As they say, you can’t kill a dead man!
