Kejriwal’s exit is a good omen for Opposition unity

The alacrity with which AAP is supporting the Uniform Civil Code indicates the type of politics AAP is going to play in the coming months

It is the best thing that has happened to the Opposition unity moves. The abrupt exit of Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grouping taking baby steps has come at the best possible time.

When the Opposition leaders will be meeting by the middle of this month in Bengaluru, in Karnataka, they will be relieved to see that AAP and its leaders are not in their midst and that they have parted ways without much trouble. Cohesion is the name of the game when one must take on the mighty election machine of the world’s largest party whose only obsession is to win elections — at any cost.

Only time will tell whether the tactics employed by the ruling party would ultimately strengthen democracy. The fact that a major section of the Opposition has been forced to get together ahead of the Lok Sabha elections is a signal that all is not well in the mother of all democracies. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Rightly or wrongly, the Delhi Chief Minister’s decade-old career has shown that he might have changed the grammar of politics in modern times, but has always remained a lone ranger and his own man. It was strange when recently Kejriwal became active in the unity moves given the fact that just six months back, he had poked fun at the coming together of Opposition parties against the ruling party.

An ambitious leader, Kejriwal has been a man of intense likes and dislikes who prefers subordinates, not colleagues. Kejriwal is fast on the uptake but forgets sometimes that politics is a game of patience, and is not instant noodles. At the same time, it must be said that his Delhi model has made the difference notwithstanding the diatribes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the ‘revdi culture’.

The parting by Kejriwal is a blessing in disguise for the Congress and its allies in the Opposition grouping which wanted the coming together of genuine friends and partners who can unitedly weave magic by generating fresh ideas. Their coming together is an admission of the fact that Modi has brought much churning in India through his polarising persona and politics.

At the same time, it must be admitted that if Kejriwal had genuinely become part of the Opposition grouping, he would have been an asset. The Delhi Chief Minister has been a man of single-minded focus and is every bit a political person. His biggest strength is the rapport he enjoys with the masses with his simple, sarcastic, and effective oratory. Though going through a bad patch lately, Kejriwal knows perfectly how to remain on the pitch and how to collect singles in the face of an aggressive onslaught from the other side.

Despite this, there has always remained a suspicion as to where he belongs. Also, no one knows what Kejriwal stands for and where he stands in the ideological scheme of things. The impression that AAP is the ‘B team’ of the BJP has refused to subside despite the growing problems between the Delhi government and the Centre.

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad, when he was party General Secretary in charge of Delhi affairs, had remarked that “Kejriwal is Chota Modi” and “Modi is Bada Kejriwal”.

In one stroke, it showed that Kejriwal is no ordinary mortal, and that he has set his sights high.

The problem with Kejriwal is that he hates playing second fiddle, which is so necessary for any co-operative effort, and that too in politics where people have long egos. We are living through too petty a time when it comes to relationships, political or either. People want to be influencers and self-interests are supreme. At such a time, building an abode for anti-BJP forces is a ticklish task fraught with many problems.

Kejriwal was a slippery customer and was known to everyone who is anyone in the Opposition space for a long as he never intermingled with his peers. In a month or two, he embarked on a sort of public diplomacy to drum up support against the Centre’s controversial ordinance on Delhi that he felt drastically cut his powers.

It was also intended to push the Congress into a corner by seeking to force a stand by it. He failed to understand that the Congress might have fallen on bad days in the past decade, but has an innate sense of how to outsmart the smartest when push comes to shove.

The alacrity with which AAP has come out with in principle support to the Uniform Civil Code soon after Modi made a strong pitch for the controversial move indicates which type of politics AAP is going to play in the coming months.

With assembly polls in Delhi scheduled within six-seven months after the Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal must remain on his toes regarding strategy, planning, and action if he wants to create a hattrick and continue as Delhi Chief Minister. It is going to be a tricky and treacherous affair.