AAP’s RS “Prayog” — An honest appraisal calls for course correction
In Jan 2018, Aam Aadmi Party surprised many followers, commentators, supporters, donors by nominating 2 non founding members to the Rajya Sabha, using its quota of 3 RS seats resulting from its massive 67–3 victory.
While Sanjay Singh, one of the most vocal faces of the party, leader of the campaign in Punjab and consummate orator was a top choice across all party followers, members, media, the choice of Sh. ND Gupta, distinguished Chartered Accountant and Party’s taxation advisor AND Sh. Sushil Gupta, erstwhile Congress member and a total newbie to AAP raise many eyebrows, created ripples both within the party and outside and has been the subject of much speculation since then.
It has been said that AAP and Kejriwal wanted to make “exemplary” recommendations for RS, in keeping with their ideology of #NewPolitics but many top-level professionals, celebrities and industrialist declined given the strong fear of reprisal from a vendetta driven central government.
With Tier-1 folks declining to accept AAP’s nomination to RS, it was expected that AAP would strengthen its founding team / political team but for reasons best known to Kejriwal, he decided to go with 2 outsiders. He was even accused of “selling” out 1 seat to Sushil Gupta, given the latter’s personal wealth.
The main argument put forward by AAP to justify its decision/choices was that Sh. ND Gupta has had a stellar career as CA, president of CA institute and one of India’s foremost tax experts and his presence in RS and on AAP ranks would create positive momentum for professionals to consider joining / supporting AAP. Similarly, Sh. Sushil Gupta has done inspiring work in education sector and health sector and his presence in RS would further cement AAP’s brand on Edu/Health. It was also suggested that his networks and political capital in Haryana would help the party strengthen its Haryana campaign (Haryana was the next important strategic state after the unexpected failure to win Punjab).
Two years later, it may be a good time to review the gains & losses from this decision (any organisation that doesn’t audit itself will fail to improve).
In the aftermath of the RS decision, AAP saw a falling out with Dr Kumar Vishwas, one of most loved poets and orator par-extreme, whose mastery over literature, history of politics, cultural tidbits and wit and sarcasm had made him a near №2 in the party (yes, his public personality was even ahead of Manish Sisodia). Denied a RS seat, due to his involvement with the aborted in-house coup plotted by ex MLA and over-the-top media manipulator Kapil Mishra (Kapil is rumoured to have initiated the idea of removing Arvind Kejriwal as CM / party convener in the wake of MCD loss and promote his own case for CM and Vishwas to take up the party leadership sidelining Kejriwal).
The surprise move also saw the departure of ex-TV editor and senior journalist Ashutosh, who had penned a book comparing Arvind Kejriwal as the prince apparent for Indian politics, but could not reconcile to AAP leader making adjustments to accommodate caste friendly gestures (he was asked to use his surname in his campaign as election strategy).
Finally, AAP saw the exit of Ashish Khetan, another ex-journalist who had joined the party, had been a Lok Sabha candidate in 2015 and has been given the responsibility to lead Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), a think tank for the Delhi govt on integrating innovative technology and social engineering into governance. While Ashish left citing personal reasons (financial strain can be debilitating in Indian politics unless you dip into the coffers, which AAP and Kejriwal are strictly against).
The loss of these 3 tall leaders, in close succession took the wind out of AAP’s national expansion sails as these 3 were the primary faces of the party and other leaders were not ready to fill in their shoes. Such has been the significance of these setbacks that very few professionals and established faces have joined AAP fearing similar treatment after giving their best time, talent and resources to the party. Most critics of AAP point this major weakness as a reason for AAP’s inability to scale beyond Delhi.
What about the performance if the 3 RS members themselves? Were they able to contribute as expected? Did they fulfil the needs of the party and the government? The answer unfortunately is a resounding NO, with the exception of Sanjay Singh.
Sanjay Singh has been a resounding success on all fronts. One of the most hard-working leaders, he has tirelessly promoted AAP cause, brand and ideology both within parliament and outside. He has used his oratory and friendly disposition to build strong coalition with other opposition forces. His has used his media savvy to maintain both personal presence on mainstream media as well as party voice on key issues. He has done a major padyatra in UP to build the party base in the state. He has used his personality to lend a voice to party units across all states. I would rate him A+ on all counts. The way he bounced back from a humiliation in Punjab to lead Delhi 2015 to stellar success speaks of his political maturity and man-management skills.
Sh ND Gupta has been mostly a back-end resource, helping with party’s tax affairs, fund raising and lending support as possible. A below average public speaker, he has simply not found the fluidity in his personality to translate his professional success and RS role to drive momentum for the party. I would rate him as B across all functions.
Sh Sushil Gupta has been the biggest disappointment for me personally. He has totally failed to translate his work in schools / hospitals in Haryana to any political advantage in either Haryana or anywhere else. His brand of politics is very different from AAP’s code ideology and approach and sadly he has been like fish out of the water at most donor / supporter events I have attended. He has tried to help the party with convention community approaches, but his lack of towering personality, weak oratory and hesitant man-management has denied the party true inspiration leadership that was needed at this stage of its growth. I would rate him C+ at this time.
To summarise, while the party lost 3 top leaders with the political training, skills, experience and public acceptance at the very stage if was attempting to scale, it brought in/elevated two outsiders who have simply failed to deliver. In any organisation, if you get to that point, you find growth stalling, people working at cross directions and too much load moving to the boss — strains are already visible on Kejriwal’s persona.
What’s the way forward?
One of the key ideas that AAP started its existence was “right to recall” — voters must have a right to recall our elected representatives if they fail to meet public expectations, behave in a manner deeply at odds with voter interests or engage in criminal activity of any sort.
I believe that time has come for AAP to recall 2 of its Rajya Sabha members and nominate fresh set of leaders to reinvigorate its growth story. The euphoria of the 62–8 outcome in Delhi has created fertile grounds for committed, savvy man-managers and leaders with the persona and character to inspire and motivate the cadres, while building the brand and #DelhiModel governance anew. Both Raghav and Atishi would be great candidates in my opinion to fulfil this role and meet expectations of youth and women, two of the largest constituents who voted for AAP this election. Dilip Pandey is another leader who will be able to use thr RS nomination to build momentum for the party. Fortunately, the massive 62–8 mandate poses no electoral challenge to AAP in getting its nominees elected to RS again.
By exercising this option, AAP will send a new message to the political system — no position is AAP is permanent and performance and delivery are paramount. Every volunteer, leader is held accountable and every volunteer, leader is ready to step aside to let others more talented, more skilled and more ready to take the mission forward.
As AAP looks to once again prepare for presence outside Delhi and starts to build a local election machinery and presence, what it needs is a team of 8–10 inspirational leaders who can be the hubs to build communities of AAP supporters and volunteers and who have the administrative acumen, political smarts and personal brands to deliver.
Sometimes, when the going gets better, it is best to find the best folks to accelerate the going.
[I was leading the IT and social media team for AAP at that time and was asked directly by Kejriwal in late 2017 who I would recommend for RS and why?
I replied that in my view, since we will have only 3 seats and limited time to make impact on debates / raise issues, we must focus on sending people who will articulate AAP’s ideology, governance model, achievements most forcefully and use their personalities to create the impact to attract good people for the party (networking skills and inspirational leadership plus oratory).
Based on this reasoning, I suggested the names of Dr Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh as my top 3 choices. I was informed that Ashutosh has ruled himself out of any post. I settled for Ashish Khetan as my backup in that case.]
