AAP Crisis:An Analysis

Sunil Kanukuntla

The month of march has been one of intense emotional stress and loss of faith for me. I am
sure almost everyone of us have gone through this for our own reasons even if we don't
agree with each-other. AAPians like many said, are distributed between two polar opposite
view points, with some standing somewhere in between.
1. First polar position: The issues raised by PB YY SB are genuine and need to be
addressed, and removing PB YY from PAC is completely wrong.
2. Second polar position: PB YY SB conspired against AK to defeat AAP in Delhi and did
everything from leaking letters to media to defame AK, SB supporting BJP Kiran Bedi
as CM candidate.
There is truth in both the positions. The problem arises when those at on pole refuse to
accept the truth in the opposite pole.
1. Lets come out of the illusion that everything went hunky dory in AAP in 8 months in the
run up to Delhi elections. AAP floundered on many counts and there is a need to make
course correction to avoid future mistakes such as
a. 2 crore funds, though legal and clean from AAP side, the PAC failed to go deeper and talk
to the donor.
b. Candidate selection: If Lokpal Ramdas was able to find out 2 candidates unworthy of
AAP candidature, the process by which those two were selected failed to detect those two
before giving tickets, and definitely needs a revisit.
c. One man centric Campaign : The entire campaign revolved around Arvind Kejriwal. AK
still eclipses AAP as the driving force behind IAC and subsequent formation of the party.
However AAP needs to break away from its identity with Kejriwal and become an institution
that is self-sustaining irrespective of individuals.
2. Let us also come out of the illusion that the issues raised in point no.1 were freshly
discovered and were not known in AAP before Delhi elections 2015.
3. Finally, let us all come out of the illusion that the issue is only about Delhi election and
about the candidates selected for Delhi.This issue has been brewing for more than a year
now and it has only erupted after the Delhi victory. The issues raised in the open through
letters and in media interviews are only a front to fight a bigger battle.

a. during the Loksabha elections on what basis was the decision taken to fight 430 seats?
did we have processes then? was organization perfect then? we had nothing, no
organization, no proces. YY took the final call on tickets in Haryana and gave himself a safe
seat Gurgoan, an urban area, YY home city.
People in PAC vehemently opposed safe seat for YY, it was AK who tried to pacify everyone
and get YY the safe seat. Shazia wanted safe seat RK Puran, she was denied the same,
she raised issue of internal democracy soon after and we know where she is right now.
Yoya also wanted full control and CM candidature of AAP in Haryana. When YY couldnt
take Naveen Jaihind along YY tried to expell Naveen but couldnt garner enough support.
Immediately after this incident YY wrote a letter to AK calling him dictator and raising a host
of other issues like
a) lack of organization building
b) not giving attention to states
c) lack of mechanism for volunteer engagement
d) Policy deficit etc
This letter was written after LS defeat when YY wanted full control of Haryana state unit.
Does the question not arise whether YY remembered lack of organizational ability only
when he couldnt expel Navenen jahind?? if he remembered it in NE meeting 2014 which
severely scolded AK for saying in media that he doesn't want to fight LS election, probably
YY would've supported AK in his stand against fighting 430 seats because AAP doesnt
have the resources or organization to spread so thin. It was YY PB and others who pushed
AAP to 430 seat LS but instead of taking blame for the defeat YY wrote a letter justifying
why AK will be blamed for LS defeat though he was against 430 seats.
so it is clear that the issues raised now in 2015 after Delhi victory 2015 are more or less the
same raised in 2014. If there is anyone to blame for inadequate processes, and inefficient
organization building it definitely is not AK. Plunging a small party AAP within 2 years of its
formation into fighting 3 elections with one LS election fighting 430 seats will leave no time
for any organization building. Did YY not know this when he pushed for 430 seats?
b. Haryana Elections: And it will be a mistake to think that YY wanted AAP to focus on the
issues he raised on organization building and processes for volunteers etc. YY desperately
wanted to fight Haryana elections. Did YY build the kind of flawless processes and
organization in Haryana that he lobbied vehemently for fighting Haryana elections?
YY openly gave interviews to media saying
"I am disappointed, the volunteers are disappointed. I dont understand how the results of
Haryana elections would effect the Delhi elections for AAP".

I dont understand why YY is so disappointed for not fighting elections? If AAP has any
processes whatsoever, they exist in Delhi. There is only one LOKPAL, RAMDAS. The entire
talent of AAP converged in Delhi from Maha Punjab Haryana etc except PB SB,to some
extent YY. They formed the best possible strategies and processes in the available time and
resources.
If today after historic win in Delhi2015 if YY is pointing fingers at AAP processes, it is pure
hypocrisy that he was disappointed for not fighting Haryana elections where we got 3%
votes in LS2014. This clearly shows that the issues which YY is raising were never his
priority in the state he badly wanted to fight elections.
Also, is organization building a lollypop that if YY starts demanding today AK can
deliver tomorrow? Delhi AAP did quite a bit on organization building and volunteer
interaction, the google hangouts, the Delhi dialogue was a unique experiment which
generated a tailor made policy for Delhi. YY criticized AK for POLICY DEFICIT in the letter
which was leaked in 2014. Was YY ready with a tailor made policy for Haryana when he
demanded autonomy to Haryana to fight elections at will? Is AAP a vehicle to fight
elections ?? is it an elections winning machine?
The actual real issue erupted after FEB 10th.
Immediately after feb 10th Mayank Gandhi gave interview saying they will fight BMC
elections.
Yogendgra Yadav said they will go to 4-5 states in the next 5 years and they will fight
elections.
AK on the other hand wanted to concentrate on Delhi and build a model which can be
shown to the world after which AAP can spread its wings. But clearly some were impatient
to fight elections. You might agree or disagree with AK whether restricting to Delhi is correct
decision or not. Clearly AK doesn't want to repeat the mistake of LS defeat. One defeat and
AAP will be called a local Delhi party. None of us want this. But YY PB desperately want to
fight elections throughout the Country.
The name given by PB YY to 'fighting elections at will' irrespective of AK or national
leadership is a widely accepted word "Autonomy". who doesnt want autonomy? ask any
employee, any child, any adolescent, any organization, anyone, nobody will say they don't
want autonomy. It is a word that widely connects.
Let me quote YY what he said to India news anchor after March4 2015
anchor: u wanted to fight haryana elections, but u couldnt, thats the cause of your dissent
YY: " i have always wanted more autonomy to states. Of course the final decision can be
taken by national leadership but central leadership deciding whether or not to fight a
municipal election is laughable (giggling n laughing)"

Obviously YY cant say yes I was disappointed for not fighting Haryana elections(he already
said this in 2014 in media), and he cant defend fighting elections at will when a straight
question is asked. So he ridicules the central leadership (AK) for deciding whether or not to
fight municipal elections(Mumbai BMC election).
Now look at the hypocrisy exposed again.
A) Is AAP such an evolved party spread across the country with :
a. dependable credible leadership
b. with well built organization according to AAP principles
c. Did it evolve POLICY which is in line with fundamentals of AAP????
The answer to all the above questions is a big NO. YY himself complained of lack of the
above in AAP, on what basis can YY in the same leaked letter accuse AAP for not giving
autonomy??
My father didnt allow me to ride on main road till he made sure that I have learnt the two
wheeler enough to handle the traffic by myself without his guidance.
Autonomy comes only after successfully demonstrating the ability to independently carry out
the responsibilities without any hiccups.
Has AAP established organization so well at the WARD LEVEL that it can now give
autonomy to fight municipal elections???
The answer again is a big NO. Who will select the candidates for municipal elections? is
candidate selection for municipal elections any less important than candidate selection for
Assembly?
There is something called ORGANIC GROWTH. slow and steady. AAP won Delhi, it should
focus on fulfilling promises not on expansion without consolidation. PB YY want AAP to use
the goodwill generated from Delhi 2015 victory to contest and win more elections, JUST
EXACTLY THE SAME WAY they wanted to contest LS2014 in 430 seats against AK.
AK gave into the majority demand after 2013 Delhi win and fought LS2014 which almost
killed AAP. Now that AK took a strong position against expansion without consolidation, PB
YY SB at any cost want to remove AK n place YY as national convener. A demand openly
expressed in media by PB SB and AVAM is now actively doing SMS and Call campaign
against AK to influence the decision of NC members against AK.
There are legitimate issues, but to raise them or solve them there is no need to write letters
and leak them to media. The sole purpose of leaking was to influence public opinion and
volunteers against AK.
The legitimate issues

1. 12 candidates found wrong character by PB. Perception of PB YY cannot and shall not be
the touchstone of who is right candidate and who is wrong. By making their personal opinion
public PB YY not only flouted the processes which they pretentiously espouse but also
undermined the entire party. who will judge whose opinion is right? there must be a system,
and Lokpal through due process cleared 10 candidates, and cancelled 2 tickets. if PB still
has issues, he should help better the processes. But isnt it completely irresponsible to
demand at gunpoint to cancel all 12 candidates when AAP was in the thick of the battle? In
fact the entire candidate issue was only to stifle AAP from inside so that AAP cannot declare
its candidates and lose Delhi. PB himself accepted that he wanted AAP to lose. This is
unpardonable.
2. 2 croe funds. How is AK responsible for this? were PB YY not part of the PAC which
cleared those funds??? In fact AK was busy in Delhi preparations right after LS defeat. With
what moral authority r they raising the issue while they themselves were part of the team
which cleared it. In any case legally it was clean money, AAP should have gone further to
verify the donor of such huge amount, they should do it in future.
3. One man centric party, internal democracy: this is the biggest joke of all. AAP is just a two
year old party. AAP was formed after IAC was divided form Janlokpal movement. The one
who fasted for 15 days twice keeping his life at risk was AK, not PB and YY was nowhere,
he was probably busy with his Jan kisan manch or something, a political party which failed
to get a single seat.
the charge of YY in leaked letter was this "when one man changes his mind, the party
changes its mind". There are two possible ways of looking at ti.
first way of looking, the problem of YY is that AK is having such high acceptance in party
that people follow what he says. First of all such high acceptance is natural and those who
want similar acceptance should work for it rather than complain.
second way of looking at ti, whenever AK changes his mind, the party changes its mind
without rationally analyzing issue and this has harmed the party.
Let us empirically check whether it happened.
a. Delhi election 2014, AK took up the bijli issue, the paani issue. nobody ever thought that
these two issues can defeat a 3 time chief minister and give a debutant party 28 seats. it
worked.
b. LS election 2015, AK opposed 430 seats, it was PB YY who pushed for it. The results tell
who was politically right, and who with their political immaturity killed AAP completely.
After LS defeat,
c. AK took the decision to apologize(never happened before)

d. AK was against Haryana elections while YY was desparate and even accused AK of
being dictator, lack of internal democracy etc. Haryana results prove that AAP would've
been buried 1000 feet under ground if it contested Haryana
e. Delhi elections 2015 - AK focused only on Delhi and started GOOGLE HANGOUTS (a
mechanism to involve volunteers), DELHI DIALOGUE (a process of consultation to evolve
policy). While AK was was working on mechanism to vols and processes to Policy building,
both issues raised by YY in 2014 leaked letter.
So it is clear from the above major decisions that AAP volunteers and leaders are not sheep
to simply buy into AK argument. AK makes a lot of sense, is logical and is fact based.
It is stupid to want AK to be wrong or be opposed for the sake of it just to make it look
democratic.
The issued raised are very important. They must be worked on but it is mischievous to write
letters, leak them to media when the man who saved AAP was delivering the promises
made to Delhi even at the cost of his health.The issue is that while AK ruined his health and
toiled to keep AAP alive and the hope of honest politics alive, some arm chair intellectuals of
AAP threatened to ruin AAP to teach AK a lesson, in the words of PB "agar delhi harenge to
Arvind ka dimag tikana pe aayega"