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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), once the darling of Delhi, now appears to be facing widespread rejection and allegations of failure across the capital from where it took birth.
Surprisingly, this backlash comes from those who voted for it in the Assembly polls just a few months ago. When asked why AAP was being judged on just 49 days’ performance, a cross section of voters said the emotional disappointment with AAP is acute since the Party was born out of widespread frustration with corruption and desire for a political alternative rooted in idealism.
Ankush Kataria, a 25-year-old working as a manager at a leading five-star hotel, who lives in Lakshmi Nagar, confirms that a Modi wave in East Delhi has drowned the support for AAP. “Our sympathy on account of their idealism has been betrayed. AAP neither represented equality nor good governance in its 49 days in power,” he said.
Nisha Monga, 59 years, a working professional, who also voted for AAP in the Assembly polls, believes it is safest to bet on Modi given AAP’s visible immaturity.
Lone agenda “AAP has left a perception in Delhi that they cannot govern. Besides, AAP’s entire narrative is based on corruption. Unlike Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal has no narrative on other critical issues like economy, investment, development and job creation, terrorism or border security. Its Leftist leanings are not in sync with the youth,” explains Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Independent MP from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha.
Interestingly, the political discourse among voters remains confined between Modi (and not the BJP) and AAP, with the Congress completely missing. This leaves a sense that the party no longer exists in the voter mind space, an impression that can only be put to test once the election results are declared. Results are hard to predict considering that a large number of people in the lower segments confess that they vote for the winner – whoever that may be. Jo jeet raha ho, ham usi ko jitwa dete hain , they say. On the eve of polls, many voters also confessed to being “confused” on their vote.
Siddharth Nath Singh of the BJP believes that the erosion of goodwill for AAP in Delhi came from their rush to run away from governance and the fact that the BJP was able to gather mass confidence under Modi’s leadership. “AAP still enjoys some clout from the jhuggi jhopri segment, though this vote share will directly hurt the Congress,” he said.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal negates AAP’s impact even in the lower segment. “People feel they messed up by failing to deliver on their promises. The middle class has abandoned them and up to 60 per cent of the jhuggi population has also moved away.
In defence Ashish Khaitan, an investigative journalist who is AAP’s New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate, believes the criticism is unfair and a result of unmanageable expectations of instant results. “AAP stands for action against corruption through systemic changes, decentralisation of power and a responsible and accessible government. We want to bring in the Jan Lokpal Bill, the Citizens Charter, audit power firms and tackle entrenched water and sanitation issues. And we will continue to fight for these issues irrespective of the electoral outcome,” he says.
Khaitan remains confident of AAP’s vote share increasing by 10-15 per cent from the Assembly poll tally. “We will win at least five seats – New Delhi (Ashish Khaitan), Chandni Chowk (Ashutosh), East Delhi (Raj Mohan Gandhi), West Delhi (Jarnail Singh) and a tie in West Delhi (Rakhi Birla). We continue to retain the support of government officials, lower to upper middle class and the jhuggi jhopri segments.”
However, on Tuesday, early morning walkers at the upscale Siri Fort Golf complex, expressed a near 100 per cent support for the BJP, while admonishing Khaitan on Arvind Kejriwal’s conduct as Chief Minister. Even the stray AAP supporters who said they will vote for the party despite their disappointment with its performance, felt that the BJP would win. A doctor working at Fortis said AAP’s vote share is already down to 40 per cent from the 70 per cent level in the Assembly polls. “Of 1,200 votes from the Asian Games Village, 1,100 votes went to AAP. This time we expect a lower voter turnout as well as a lower vote share,” he said.
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