The indomitable rise of Arvind Kejriwal has been watched by both the BJP, and the Opposition with equal unease. In fact, the opposition, especially the Congress seems warier of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) than the BJP, and with good reason. For if the AAP is growing, then it is at the expense of the Congress more than any party as is what happened in Delhi and Punjab.
As far as the BJP is concerned, if there is one opposition leader who is on the rise it is Arvind Kejriwal. The only drawback— and it is a gamechanging one— is that Kerjwal does not have a pan-India party to back his ambitions. Individually, Kejriwal has a pan India presence but he needs a strong cadre to change this goodwill into votes (the way Modi has the BJP & the RSS support). In fact, if you compare Kejriwal with Mamata Bannerjee then the AAP leader scores in terms of a pan India identity. Mamata is handicapped by a strong regional identity and lacks connection both with the Hindi heartland as well as North and Western India. This was apparent from her dismal performance in the Goa assembly polls recently. Unlike Kejriwal who could expand outside Delhi, Mamata Bannerjee seems hemmed in within West Bengal. Currently, both the AAP and the Congress have two chief ministers each— while AAP has Delhi and Punjab, the Congress has Rajasthan and Chattisgarh and is sharing power in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
Congress, of course, has a base but is in search of a credible face. That churning is on but in the meanwhile, Kejriwal is busy expanding his horizons and is targeting the Gujarat and Himachal polls that are up next.
However, it is interesting to note that to counter Narendra Modi, the AAP leader is copying from the former’s stylebook. If one is a ‘chai wala’, the other portrays himself as the ultimate ‘aam admi’, both believe in welfare economics and freebies. If Modi is the Hindutva poster boy then Kejriwal can also recite the Hanuman Chalisa at the drop of a hat (and in front of TV cameras). Both are charismatic campaigners, convincing orators, and autocratic leaders. Both work 24 X 7 and don’t take sabbaticals. If Modi flaunted his Gujarat model then Kejriwal convinced the people of Punjab to vote for him on the basis of his Delhi model. The only difference is that while Modi likes to dress up, Kejriwal prefers to dressdown.
In fact, while one admits that to achieve his prime ministerial ambitions (which he has), Kejriwal needs a pan India cadre. But if you look at what happened in Punjab during the recent polls, then that’s a classic case of winning a state without a base. Let alone a state presence the AAP did not have enough candidates from within the party setup. But it reached out to individuals such as mobile shop owners, social activists, and even the son of a municipal sweeper. The candidates won on Kejriwal’s ticket, just as the BJP MPs have been sweeping the 2014 and 2019 elections in Modi’s name. Hence, watch out for the muffler man, though he seems to have discarded the muffler of late. Perhaps that is because Arvind Kejriwal has finally cleared his throat and knows exactly what he is going to say!