AAP Rebels

  • Abhishek Behl / FG
  • India
  • Apr 17, 2015

The fault lines in the Aam Aadmi Party have deepened, with Party dissidents Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan announcing the ‘Swaraj Abhiyan’, which aims to promote alternative politics. The decision to hold the Swaraj Samvad (in Gurgaon), to launch the Abhiyan, was aimed at chalking out a  strategy for the country’s future political map, and to train workers, said Yogendra Yadav. The dissident leaders said that they would work within the framework of the Aam Aadmi Party, and with the rank and file, to launch a crusade for reforms. The decision to hold the Samvad and the launch of the Abhiyan could however result in the formal expulsion of Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha – the prominent leaders on the stage at the Samvad – from the Party.  They are also the four leaders who were expelled from AAP’s national executive. Yogendra Yadav made it clear that the Aam Aadmi Party rules and its Constitution allows workers to hold a dialogue. However, he was equally clear that, though many AAP volunteers were still hoping that some miracle ‘compromise’ would take place, this seemed extremely remote. He said that although the Party was a gush of fresh air for some time, the present circumstances have led to much anger and sadness. “In such circumstances,” he told the volunteers, “we all must return to our mission and we must come back to the vision that we had when the Party started.” When asked about the decision of the Party to not accept this meeting as official, Yadav said that the Party’s Constitution gives the right to workers to hold a meeting, and the Party should respect it. A large number of Party workers who had come to the meeting to mark their solidarity with the dissidents, said that it was wrong for the AAP leadership to confine the Party merely to Delhi. “What is wrong if Yadav wanted the Party to fight elections in Haryana, and that the Party should spread its wings to other States?” asks a volunteer. The volunteers also said that they won’t quit the Party but will fight for reforms within, and a majority said that they did not want a split in the ranks. Critics however say that if Bhushan and Yadav do not take some critical action soon, and form a group outside AAP, then their relevance to the alternative politics movement will diminish, and the Kejriwal  group will gain more ground. Splinter groups have always found it difficult to survive in Indian politics. Though the decision to not launch a Party is being considered an astute move, the lack of a mass leader in the ranks of the dissidents is being seen as their major handicap. Meanwhile Arvind Kejriwal has fairly well retained his mass leader profile – though political infighting, sting operations and bickering have marred the ‘clean’ image of the Party. Another issue for the rebels is that AAP came into existence at a time when there was a peculiar condition in Indian politics, when people were totally disenchanted with the Congress government. The situation has changed today, with the Narendra Modi government giving the people hope of progress and development – and there is not even a hint of any corruption scandal. 

Adding some zest to the Tuesday meeting in Gurgaon, Prashant Bhushan, who is leading the Abhiyan along with Yadav, said that if they had announced a new Party, then the dangers would be the same that AAP is today facing. He predicted that once many workers join the multiple discussions planned across the country, hold meaningful dialogues and pledge to follow democratic principles, then a new Party could be formed. Bhushan alleged that there was no internal democracy in AAP under Kejriwal, and the Party was being controlled by a coterie. “We are hearing that, since we have organised this dialogue, we have been removed from Party. We demanded that a Lokpal should be set up in each State, with final decisions taken by a National Lokpal, but the Party leadership did not agree to this. It’s been two years and we can’t even see the Party’s decisions on AAP’s website - what kind of transparency is this? We had promised that we would be the first Party to subject ourselves to RTI,” asserted Bhushan, while addressing the Party workers, who had come in large numbers to Gurgaon. Bhushan also said that AAP is not Kejriwal’s Party, as thousands of people had worked hard to make AAP win in the Delhi elections. AAP Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who attended the meet,  said that the samvad had been organised to strengthen the Party. Rallying their supporters, who are unhappy with the working of the Party under Kejriwal, the AAP rebels said that under Swaraj Abhiyan they would fight for the rights of farmers, women and the common man across the country, by organising rallies and protests. 

The decision to hold the Swaraj Samvad has however not gone well with the Aam Aadmi Party leadership. The Party had already warned that action would be taken against workers and leaders who attend the meeting organised by the dissident camp. The Party leadership said that AAP has nothing to do with the meeting organised in Gurgaon.

The decision to hold the Samvad seems to have forced AAP to hasten the exit of Yadav and Bhushan from the Party, and their case has been referred to the Disciplinary Committee.  The Political Affairs Committee of the Party has also referred the names of Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha to the Disciplinary Committee, for suitable action. The decision was taken at the PAC meeting held at Party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s residence.

The Party has however taken no action against MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who was also included in the core group of the Swaraj Abhiyan launched by the dissidents. Ironically, Prashant Bhushan was head of the Party Disciplinary Committee before he was removed from the panel. It now comprises Dinesh Waghela, Pankaj Gupta and Ashish Khetan. Responding to a query regarding disciplinary action, Prashant Bhushan said, “Let the execution take place, the trial can follow,” making a reference to how the Party had made its mind to summarily punish – without any ‘trial’ -  the workers and activists who had refused to follow the diktats of Kejriwal & Co. Bhushan said that there was a difference between being anti-Party and being disliked by the leadership. Sources said that hard action is likely to be taken against the dissidents and their supporters, because the AAP leadership now seems to believe, and is comforted by the ‘fact’, that it is no more dependent on the volunteers who steered it to power in Delhi. By making an example of these ‘high-profile’ rebels, they believe that that it would send a strong message that any further dissidence, especially against Kejriwal, would not be tolerated; it would probably be nipped in the bud.

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