Laboratory on fire

For those who don't know, let me put the disclaimer that I have never been a supporter of AAP. Yet, I feel disappointed by the manner in which the party is imploding and how various factions are playing out a rather ugly battle in full public view. The hope that AAP could help change the narrative in Indian politics and force the other parties to change their gait on issues like corruption, transparency, probity in public life, inner-party democracy and so on, lies shattered and AAP's leaders have been shown to be no different than any other politician with any other political party in India.

AAP had quite a dream entry into politics wherein they got the chance to form the government in Delhi in their first attempt. However, instead of governance, the Delhites only got dharnas and morchas from their fire-brand, clean-image CM. After unsuccessfully protesting against all and sundry, Kejriwal for some inexplicable reason resigned as CM after a mere 49 days. So much for respecting the people's mandate.

Their arrogance was not received well by the public and AAP's Lok Sabha debut was quite a washout. Probably shocked by their dismal performance, Kejriwal and the rest of the AAP leadership went around Delhi with fake humility and sought forgiveness from the public for their decision to resign.

Clearly, Kejriwal was a much better stage performer than he has been an administrator so far. The Delhi junta, tired of the age-old dirty politics of the traditional parties and helped in no less measure by some bizarre negative campaigning by the BJP, forgave Kejriwal and how. AAP won 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly. No party has ever won such a convincing mandate in any state elections in India.

Often you see organisations breaking apart in defeat, but this astounding victory laid the foundations of the downfall of AAP. Whether it was Kejriwal's refusal to share the spoils of victory or whether it was Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan's inability to come to terms with the fact that AAP and Kejriwal had become synonymous with each other, the battle for control and supremacy spilled out on the streets.

At least at first, there was an attempt to put up the pretense of inner-party democracy when the rebel duo was voted out of the PAC after a 6 hour meeting and a 11-8 vote. Kejriwal had won Round 1 after clearly messaging that it was him or them. While Yadav and Bhushan tried hard to hold on to their positions, at least they were not in a position to complain about the manner in which Kejriwal outsmarted them.

Then the public spectacle began. The attempt to placate the rebels and show to the public that all was not lost, was a rather short-lived one. Allegations and counter-allegations started playing out through national and social media, letters and smses being leaked out. The same sting strategy which AAP had successfully deployed to come to power, now proved to be their nemesis, especially when it caught their holier-than-thou leader talking about the rebels in language which at best can be called a rather poor choice of words from a leader in whom the Delhi public reposed such absolute faith. To me, the nadir of the conversation was when Kejriwal allegedly said that he would take his 67 MLAs and separate. Suddenly, the AAP and its MLAs have become the personal property of Kejriwal.

And no matter what the real version of events which happened today, AAP's image has hit rock-bottom and the party with a difference has exposed itself to be no different from all that they stood against. The claims of inner-party democracy and transparency in public life lie in tatters. The party which captured public imagination with its agitation for the Lokpal Bill today refused to allow its own Lokpal to attend its National Council meeting. Cult politics, absence of inner party democracy, intolerance of an alternate point of view, and use of all possible means to cleanse the party of the naysayers. Today, thanks to how the Only Kejriwal script has played out, the AAP has rechristened itself as the Arvind's Anarchist Party.

This is not about whether Kejriwal was right or whether Yadav and Bhushan were wrong. This is about betraying the blind faith (54.3% vote share in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections) which the public had put in AAP. It is about betraying the hopes of lakhs across the country, who welcomed AAP for changing the discourse of Indian politics on issues like corruption and money in public life. It is about back-stabbing those who thought AAP to be a truly democratic party which would take the broader public opinion with themselves.

The only good to me, out of all this, is that the mask is off the face and now the only metric with which the people of Delhi and India will judge the AAP will be their performance as the government in Delhi. If they deliver, they will remain relevant but if they dont, they will be consigned to the cupboard as another failed experiment.

I am no fan of Sanjay Jha of the Congress. However, his words seemed to most aptly describe the AAP fracas that is playing out in Delhi right now. Jha tweeted - "I understand that AAP is an experiment. But right now it so happens that the laboratory is on fire. That's all."

Losing the narrative

Personally, I think the NDA government has taken significant decisions in the past 10 months, most of which have the potential to bring back India on the growth path and make fundamental changes to how this country grows and develops in the future.

However, the NDA government seems to have lost the plot on one critical aspect which was instrumental in getting them to power - the narrative!!

Whether it was the imbroglio about Smriti Irani's qualifications or the utterances of Mohan Bhagwat, Ghar Wapsi, or the logic behind the Land Acquisition Amendment Act - the government has failed to manage how each of these stories have been played out in the media. And considering the secularists have told us the BJP will reduce all non-Hindus to a manner of irrelevance and that NaMo is anti-farmer and dictatorial and so on, many have been looking for signs of the same so that we could say "gotcha."

When Mohan Bhagwat says that all those who live in Hindustan are Hindus, it is not the first time he has said things like this. He has made statements like this his entire life and they have barely made it into the national dailies. Yet, now his words are put out of context and blown up for the sake of sensational journalism and stoke fear in the minds of people.

His full statement, for the sake of completion: “All those who live here in Hindusthan are Hindus. Our style of worshipping may differ, some may not even worship at all, we may speak different languages, we may belong to various parts of this land, our eating habits may differ, yet we all are ONE.”

Religious reconversions in India are probably as old as religions conversions have been. It is common knowledge that the Christian missionaries and the Hindu groups have been engaged in this for decades in the tribal areas. The regular skirmish between Hindu boys marrying Muslim girls or vice-versa has been happening forever. Yet, now you see full page stories in leading dailies about how VHP and their associates run shelter houses and actively encourage Hindu boys to marry Muslim girls and get them to convert. Disagree you may with this practice, but to say that this is a new occurrence due to a friendly government at the center, betrays complete ignorance about the realities in India.

Yet, the fear today is that these things are happening only due to the presence of a friendly government at the Centre who is turning a blind eye to such organisations and their activities. The NDA government has been completely ineffective in addressing these fears. The least they could do is highlight that law and order is a state subject and consequently, such events should not at all happen in non-BJP ruled states.

The inability to manage the narrative has not been restricted only to the Sangh Parivar activities. The distortion by the media and the failure of the NDA government is most glaring in the proposed Amendments to the land acquisition bill of 2013. Nearly all the amendments are in public / farmer interest (national security, rural infrastructure, affordable housing), the advantages of which should be relatively easy to explain. At the same time, concerns with others like infrastructure projects where land ownership rests with government or industrial corridors can be easily explained and concerns resolved (e.g. providing employment to at least one person of an affected family). Yet, social luminaries like Anna Hazare, not to mention social activities turned politicians and full-time politicians have made it sound as if the amendments will be the death knell for the farmers!!

It is a fact that many CMs of opposition ruled states have expressed concerns about the 2013 bill. Yet, the NDA government has not done enough to put these people on the mat in a public forum on the basis of their letters and representations? I would be curious to see if Nitish Kumar will ensure that Bihar instructs the government machinery to continue following the provisions of the 2013 bill or will quietly start taking benefits under the amendments (as and when they are passed).

I think it is time the NDA government re-energized its public communications program and starts communicating with the broader population to help separate fact from fiction. If not, they may be up for larger political debacles in the face of a united opposition and an impatient population.

Disclaimer: This is not intended to be in support of any right or left wing activities!!