Aam Aadmi Party has had a dream run so far, but the way things are taking shape within the party, it seems this might not last for long. They were titled a tsunami when they entered politics; they were the joker in the pack when they formed the first government; many were surprised when they got 'stung' by a corruption scandal but they managed to surpass it and emerged as the giant killers to form a majority Government in Delhi halting the Modi juggernaut. But the current power struggle between the party's top Leader Arvind Kejriwal and two of its founding members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan (who are also credited for being the ideologues of the party) could seriously hurt people's faith in not just this party but in all future experiments of turning a civil movement into a political platform.
The mudslinging that went on between the two sides has seriously undermined the one fundamental promise that the Aam Admi Party had made, of being a Party with a Difference. The cynics must be blushing because this is exactly what they had predicted when the anti-corruption crusaders decided to don the politician's hat. The party had promised people that they will be the "serious, credible alternative" in the country's politics, but now none of it seems true. Given that AAP came into the system as a challenger, the standards to judge its behaviour and performance were ought to be much tougher and higher than others. Its leadership must be well aware of it, and they showed this during a brilliant campaign for Delhi elections. But to see how fast they have come to disregard it is both shocking and tragic.
Yes political parties are run by mass leaders and charismatic ones are the prized possession of any political outfit, but every party needs someone or a group of people which is immune to this charisma. It needs people who do not 'worship' the leader. This helps rescue the party when the finite charisma starts to wane out. With Yadav and Bhushan ousted from power positions, AAP has just shown that their claims of being a party with a difference are as hollow as Rahul Gandhi's women empowerment speeches. That AAP is just another political outfit which made a lot of noise about the problems in the current system but ended up being a willing contributor to those problems. We shouldn't really be worried about whether such episodes will lead to eventual doom of AAP; what should concern us is the possible impact it will have on the credibility of future civil movements. It was after many years that a movement attracted urban crowd and media and made it to the mainstream national debates, but after this experience, next time people will think twice before supporting a movement. Indian masses have seen enough farces already, they may not want to encourage newer ones.
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