Little more than five years ago, a movement started against corruption. Under the leadership of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, a bunch of successful young professionals took the movement to every nook and corner of the country. The impact of the movement was such that the then government was forced to introduce long-pending Lokpal Bill. Unfortunately the said movement suffered heavy loss even before Lokpal Bill was passed in the Parliament. Few of the Anna disciples parted way because of differences on the issue of launching a new political party. The veteran crusader as always wanted to stay away from politics. His argument was that power would only corrupt them. But his followers led by Arvind Kejriwal strongly advocated in favour of a new party. His argument was that to free the country from corruption a new political outfit with a difference was the need of the hour. Both of them stuck to their ideas and the split was official when Kejriwal launched new political party Aam Admi Party (AAP).
While Anna Hazare is still sulking over the path taken by Kejriwal and some others, AAP created history by grabbing 67 seats out of 70 in Delhi Assembly. Everyone expected that Kejriwal and his party would establish a new precedent of governance in the country. But sadly, just after two and a half years of coming to power that dream is shattered to say the least. Though Kejriwal is still commanding majority support in Delhi, the idea of alternative governance it seems, is buried forever. Mr. Kejriwal has failed to free us from Infighting, nepotism and corruption, the three diseases which have become malignant in India. Like all other politicians, Kejriwal appeared to be power hungry. In the name of expanding the influence of the party, AAP contested in Assembly elections in few states. Among those states, AAP had very good chance to become a major force in Punjab. It may be mentioned here that in 2014 general elections in which BJP simply bulldozed all the opponents including Congress, AAP captured four parliamentary seats in that State. But as had set his eyes in Punjab, Kejriwal did not allow the party to grow in that State. To be the Chief Minister of the State, he even blocked cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s entry to AAP. Similar thing Kejriwal did in case of Haryana too. As his the then colleague Yogendra Yadav was the leader of AAP in that state, he decided not to contest the elections. Later, he expelled Mr. Yadav and noted Lawyer Prashant Bhushan from the party.
Now the party is facing another split. Mr. Kejriwal is unwilling to send his bitter critic Kumar Vishwas to Rajya Sabha, where the party will have its representation for the first time. To block Vishwas’s entry to the upper house of the Parliament, AAP approached important personalities such as former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satharthi and others. But seeing the state of AAP, no one accepted the proposal. The situation has reached to such a point that AAP is finding it difficult to find suitable candidates. Mr. Kejriwal is opposed to Kumar Vishwas. On the other hand Vishwas is making all efforts to get the nomination. Then on the day of the verdict AAP surprised everyone by selecting two businessmen to be its Rajya Sabha nominees. Clearly, AAP is no longer the beacon of anti-corruption and its is gradually seems no different from any other political party of the country.
