With Delhi elections coming closer, all the three main political parties are trying their best to woo the voters. The AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal seems very confident that he is coming back in power— because AAP says that they have fulfilled all the poll promises they made in the manifesto. But at the same time, what voters can recall is a continuous change in Aam Aadmi Party’s stand and temperament.
It is not only about going soft on PM Modi but also its stand on various issues. Not only Kejriwal but many AAP leaders like Saurabh Bhardwaj use very harsh language for their critiques. If we talk only about the work, then no doubt AAP has at least touched most of the segments of its promises—though not fulfilled them completely. But what about the ‘brand’ CM Kejriwal has gained because of its changing stand? Voters who see them as centrist or leftist are confused about what kind of party is AAP exactly. How long will Kejriwal’s survivalist nature and style of running a political party like a private limited company help him?
Will Kejriwal change his stand on this as well? Why did Kejriwal prefer two new faces for Rajya sabha seats? There are endless names on the list who were sacked from the party for raising their concerns about the working style of the party. The list includes not only other politicians and founding members like Yogendra Yadav, Kumar Vishwas or Prashant Bhushan but also the office bearers from CM Kejriwal’s team.
Kejriwal’s anger on media is known to all; the way he handles tough questions is very different from other politicians. He follows shoot and scoot policy for media too; he starts claiming that media is biased if the question doesn’t suit him. The same media, if it praises Kejriwal, then he tweets the news praising the independent media. These days he is boasting about CAG report, but the day someone will question him about the objection of CAG on his sudden expenditure, he will say the CAG is biased. It is to be seen how long his shoot and scoot policy will help him, as most of the people will agree that his habit of leveling allegations has only tarnished his image.
AAP came to power with a different image, but there are n number of examples when this very party talked about Hindu-Muslims, their ministers and MLAs were caught with crores of money, and many criminal cases are going against them. When compared to Sheila Dixit, one main difference we can see is that AAP is still behaving like activists while Sheila Dixit handled all the situations tactfully without making much noise. She also had an issue with the Delhi Police, but the scene didn’t get so nasty during her tenure. AAP needs to understand that it’s time to grow up and remember respect is commanded and not demanded.
Kejriwal made several allegations against Sheila Dixit; nothing was proved, but she lost the election. AAP made a number of the allegations against Gautam Gambhir too but again, nothing was proved. But this time, the target (Gambhir) won the election because now people don’t take AAP’s allegations seriously. From EVM issue to water quality issue what AAP is doing is only leveling allegations, but they don’t back it up with evidence.
The way AAP’s leader Sanjay Singh is talking about NRC is very strange; it’s a move just to attract voters from some particular region or religion. How can a party like AAP raise propaganda? It is supposed to be a party with a difference!
Pity politics on purvanchalis should stop whether it is AAP, BJP or INC; it is obvious that because of their large population in Delhi, people from Bihar and UP who were called rikshawalas or bhaiya in Delhi a few years back, now have a say in Delhi elections. Because of that, we can see an evident change in the strategy of all parties whether it is Delhi’s BJP president Manoj Tiwari or the role of Kirti Azad in INC currently. Even Ram Vilas and Nitish Kumar are planning to fight on all 70 seats because of this population only. Even AAP is trying hard to retain the purvanchali voters. And to appeal to this vote bank, all parties have started indulging in pity politics. Therefore, people from this region should be more careful while voting; they should not allow any party to treat them like a mere vote bank.
Another important thing that people of Delhi should be aware of is what comes under Delhi government and what comes under the Central government, so that neither the people can accuse Delhi government of the acts of the central government and nor the leaders can play the blame game on what comes under whom.
So, it is the mix population (people from all states residing in Delhi) voters of Delhi who are going to decide the super over of this Delhi 20-20. What we need to understand is that at the end of the day, we must choose the best available option, and politicians should remember that more or less (except few thousand new voters every time) the same voter changes their mind after every few years and brings a new party in power.