The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which emerged on the political horizon of Punjab after winning four parliamentary seats and nearly 25 per cent vote share in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, has now become a major political force in the state. It is giving both the ruling Akali-BJP combine and the Opposition Congress sleepless nights, and although the two mainstream parties refuse to acknowledge the AAP’s emergence in public, a few of their leaders privately admit the rise of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
There are a number of reasons which have led to the emergence of the AAP. Firstly, the strong anti-incumbency factor against the ruling Akali-BJP alliance, which is at the fag end of its second term in office. Punjab has seen a decline in its economic position and is no longer among the wealthiest states in the country. Other indicators like education and health have gone down too. The drug menace amongst the youth has further led to anger and despair.
In this backdrop, there was an obvious space for a political alternative. The Congress, as the main Opposition party, was the natural choice. However, the aggressive campaigning by the AAP has catapulted it from the sidelines to the centrestage of state politics. People in Punjab, and the youth in particular, tend to lean towards parties who campaign aggressively.
Another important factor helping the AAP is its highly localised campaigning which helps the party connect with people.
The AAP has taken agitations to the village, block and tehsil level, be it on farmer suicides or political murders. This new method of localised agitation politics has helped the AAP understand the real problems of the people and get close to them. In the past, the party has held aggressive mass contact programmes, like Parivar Jodo and Punjab Joro.
According to senior AAP leader Himmat Singh Shergill, who unsuccessfully contested the LS election from Anandpur Sahib but still managed around three lakh votes, “More than 22 lakh families have joined the AAP through the Punjab Joro campaign in just one month. There are now one lakh volunteers of the party in the state who are working at the grassroots level. Punjab has seen both the Congress and Akali-BJP combine and is fed up of their corruption and family-oriented politics. The AAP has turned a new chapter in the politics of Punjab.”
The AAP is also very aggressive on social media and using the virtual space to maximise its reach. A recent song, Nasha, by its leader Kumar Vishwas, which targets the Badals over the drug problem, became a huge hit online. AAP leaders have aggressively attacked the Akalis on this issue, to the extent of calling Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia a “drug lord”.
However, the director of the Institute of Development and Communication, Chandigarh, Mr Parmod Kumar, who has followed the politics in Punjab closely for decades, says: “The AAP is still not in the winning orbit despite the attention it is getting. The initiative lies with the Congress. If it manages to capture the anti-incumbency wave against the Akali-BJP combine it can still emerge on top. If it fails, it can cede space to the AAP.”
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has described the AAP as a party infiltrated by Naxalite elements and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh has said that Punjab cannot afford an experiment like the AAP at this juncture. However, there is little doubt that the AAP would be a force to reckon with in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab.
