After failing to convince Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi for an alliance in Delhi and a few neighboring states, clouds of doubts over the survival of Aam Aadmi party post elections have further blackened. In the run up the 2014 general elections, there was a huge anti corruption wave in the nation. Riding this wave was Arvind Kejriwal, considered the mastermind behind the Anna Hazare’s anti corruption movement. He was successful in floating his political party. Contrary to the views of Anna Hazare who himself was opposed to giving political colours to the movement. Many political experts cited the limitations in party leadership and experience required to float a successful political outfit. Nonetheless, Arvind Kejriwal went ahead with what many term as a move, motivated to cater to his personal political ambitions.
Riding on the back of Anna Hazare’s anti corruption movement Arvind Kejriwal, had defeated the incumbent CM Sheila Dikshit from the New Delhi assembly seat by a huge margin in the 2013 Delhi assembly elections essentially embarrassing the Congress and emerging as the second largest party in the elections.
However Arvind Kejriwal after ‘outside’ support from the Congress and a few independent MLA’s was able to set himself up as the Chief Minister of Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal’s small stint as the Chief Minister was marred in inefficiency and he essentially resigned after 49 days of taking oath as the Chief Minister citing ambiguous reasons.
What followed was an outburst of Arvind Kejriwal’s political ambitions , with AAP contesting on a total of 432 parliamentary constituencies which was more than that of the BJP, which was just contesting on 428 seats. In the 2014 General elections. Arvind Kejriwal had decided to challenge BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi. Not surprisingly, what followed was the shameful defeat of AAP in the Loksabha Elections with around 413 candidates having their deposits forfeited and only 4 of the total 432 managed to win the elections, all from the state of Punjab.
Arvind Kejriwal faced a humiliating defeat against Narendra Modi, losing the election by more than 3,70,000 votes. However, coming from the 2014 general elections to the 2019 general elections, Arvind Kejriwal, instead of expressing his political ambitions is struggling to keep the party afloat. Even after a victory in the 2015 assembly elections , Arvind Kejriwal has left Delhi voters in a state of ‘buyers remorse’ after inefficient and rudimentary governance performance till date. Even after multiple efforts to setup an alliance for the General elections , Arvind Kejriwal was even snubbed by Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi, whose party is at its lowest ever in Loksabha.
Multiple and continuous political setbacks to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi party have dissociated Arvind Kejriwal from the image of a ‘Giant Killer’ and now left him in the company of inefficient politicians. While preaching to defeat BJP, he himself has taken the constitutional cover and is not contesting the Lok Sabha Elections.
The angry and inspirational middle class which formed the greater part of the AAP voter base, carried forward from the anti corruption movement, now feels cheated with continuous desecration of values by Arvind Kejriwal for political gains. Leaders leaving AAP citing Arvind’s autocratic behavior substantiate voter’s feelings.
With PM Modi’s clean and corruption free government, the sole ‘anti-corruption’ agenda which Arvind Kejriwal used for all the prior elections is now rendered useless. Rather the inclusion of tainted politicians in AAP has further declined the party’s credibility. Involvement in ambition driven politics and refraining from taking responsibility has adversely affected Arvind Kejriwal’s credibility and analyzing the current political scenario, many experts believe it to be the last election for AAP.