Is AAP like any other political party ?

1. Is AAP like any other political
party ?

2. What are they claiming to be ?
• Party with a difference
• Takes referendums seriously
• Does not believe in autocracy or authoritative leadership
• Holds aloft its flag of internal democracy and a strong ideology

3. Recent Controversies within the
Party
• Many controversies within the party since they came into power
• Horse trading allegations to form the govt. in 2014
• Sting operations against each other within the party
• Split between the founding members of the party
• rap by a Delhi court which observed that the Delhi Chief Minister
and some of his colleagues don't respect law

4. Why split between the party
originated?
• This Split is an unusual occurrence in Indian politics
• Split originated from two viewpoints i.e. between Ideologists and
Pragmatists vision
• Split has taken shape of Personality clashes and Inner-Party issues

5. Ideologist’s vs Pragmatist’s
Vision
Ideologist’s (who belonged to civil society movements) Vision:
• See a more transformative role for the AAP
• To bring about effective changes in the system
• To be catalysts for substantive public participation in policy setting and expansion
of democracy
Pragmatist’s (Mr. Kejriwal and others who support him) Vision:
• To play a non-corrupt and efficient role in power and
• To use this to delineate itself from other political parties.

6. Comparison of AAP to Other Parties
• AAP and the 1935 parallel
• In 1935, Congress Pragmatists won the battle and their vision led to, 12 years later,
take over power from British Raj.
• Congress Pragmatists were greatest architects of political success.
• Today, pragmatists also won battle within AAP, but what they wish to achieve with
that pragmatism, time will tell.
• AAP emerged from Anna Hazare movement compared to Janta Party
emerged from JP movement of mid 1970’s
• Both movements were about issues agitating public mind – corruption, effective
governance and political betrayal
• Anna Hazare threatened to take the masses to Lal Qila, if their demands are not met,
which was in past a palladium for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru.

7. What AAP should do now?
AAP should decide whether to follow -
“pragmatist” line that its supremo espouses or
give more space to those in the party who seek to carry forward some of the
legacy of their civil society days
Arvind Kejriwal and his men should foresee and must have historical sense to
tread a path different from their historical forebears
Recent moves to effect reconciliation within the party suggest that Mr. Kejriwal
is willing to reconsider his current positions

8. References
• http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/managers-vs-ideologues-in-
aap/article7016170.ece
• http://ibnlive.in.com/news/controversies-dog-arvind-kejriwals-aam-aadmi-
party-and-his-government-in-delhi/534611-37-64.html
• http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/web-edits/opinion-where-does-
the-aam-aadmi-party-go-from-here/99/
• http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-aap-and-the-1935-
parallel/article7058388.ece
• http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-aap-as-only-its-leaders-
voice/article7049882.ece

9. Thank You