For AK, the purge begins at home

Raju Korti
It is tough to be Arvind Kejriwal these days. The man who stirred the conscience of the nation not long ago is now witnessing to his chagrin that the ground from under his feet has slipped so quickly and how. Looking at the shambles in which the Aam Aadmi Party finds itself in -- a situation of its own making --  it appears that the outfit needs to pull out a rabbit from its hat to undo the damage done in the wake of a series of rapidly unfolding events after AK quit as the chief minister of Delhi in a huff.
For major part, AK cannot shirk his responsibility as a leader. It is now obvious that he presided over a team of self-serving people who had no clue in hell what the party actually wanted to do or where it was headed. In the process, he frittered away the advantage with a chain of self-goals. In the kind of politics practiced in this country, a cavalier approach to leadership and governance is not particularly advisable. In the run up to the phenomenon he so painstakingly tried to create, it didn't occur to AK's wisdom that being a good bureaucrat is one thing and being a political leader is quite another. A good politician knows when to beat a tactical retreat, but AK kept compounding his errors with more errors. Take for instance his obdurate stand in seeking bail in the defamation case against Nitin Gadkari and then doing a somersault to bow to the dictates of the circumstances. A cursory look at the way AAP and its exuberant leadership has meandered in the recent months, is an eloquent commentary on the political inexperience which was sought to be made up with a peremptory outlook in dealing with party matters.
Internal bickering is a malady with all parties without exception. Like the proverbial goldfish, AK had no place to hide given that his every move was scanned and scrutinized. Although this may sound like a hindsight, AK messed up his chance with power. Thereafter, the party slid into a downhill so much so that it has a huge job on its hands to extricate itself from the morass. The sordid story was complete when rats started deserting the sinking ship, Shazia Ilmi and other disgruntled souls showing amply that they had stuck around only to extract their pound of flesh. AK himself seemed ill-equipped to stem the rot. The fall was as swift as the rise was meteoric.
To begin with, AK must learn to handle people and situations with restraint. Dharnas and campaigns cannot be the resorts of those in the saddle. You cannot fault people if their perception of AAP is that of a party that doesn't know whether it is in power or out of it. The electoral result is not just about one man capturing the imagination of the nation. If success is the Heads, failure is the Tails of the same coin. The AAP story begs the question: What went so terribly wrong for a party that seemed to be riding a crest a few months ago and is now threatened with the prospect of sinking without a trace? Lack of political acumen, inadequate man-management skills, one flip flop after another or sheer over-enthusiasm and over-confidence?
But all is not lost for AK. His attempts to reach out to dissidents and revamp the party apparatus in a doldrums, though late in the day, is a necessary step. If AK has indeed learnt from his lessons, the "Mission Vistaar" that he talks about to induct new faces post restructuring, should not be an exercise in political expediency. As he pointed out after the AAP convention, "differences in a democratic party was quite normal and I hope AAP will emerge stronger." The irony is all political leaders poke fun at the internal dissensions in rival parties but sanctimoniously proclaim that in their own party it is a healthy and democratic process where each individual can express his/her own views. It is this spirit that makes AK play down his rift with Yogendra Yadav and make an utterly stock statement like "He is my elder brother. He has the right to scold me. I take his suggestions seriously. I am a human and when I make mistakes, elder brothers like Yogendra Yadav point it out to me."
It is worth pondering if the banner of revolt raised by Yadav and Shazia would have been taken in so kindly to if the AAP were to replicate its Delhi success story demolished by a ham-handed approach. There is a familiar bluster in the allegation made by Yadav that AK was being consumed by "personality cult" and Shazia's claim that the "coterie that had surrounded him (AK) was running the party by proxy."
Instead of gloating about the four wins in a state fractionally divided between radical and so called moderate Akalis, in spite of a Modi Wave and drawing the people's attention to Congress' utter rout, he must expend his energies in putting his own house in order. That, in the circumstances that obtain, is a huge ask. He should not forget that the likes of Shazia quit for not being given the ticket of her choice and actually call their bluff. He should consider their exit as a natural purge in the party.
His time starts now!