AAP's economic policy contradiction comes from within

Corporate bigwigs are rushing to join the party but lack of cohesiveness on crucial economic policies is clearly evident

Nearly a month ago, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) pledge to contest 300 Lok Sabha seats would have sounded absurd. Now few political pundits would be shocked if the party picks up 30 to 40 seats and emerges as India's third-largest party in general elections due by May. These days the one-year-old party attracts a new breed of supporters: India’s corporate bigwigs. Most traditional political parties often bank on the support of celebrities and big business as a sign they’re worth voting for. The moot question is: Why all these high profile executives are suddenly finding interest in politics? Do they think that it is high time to make a career in politics or just like to serve the nation in a better way through joining politics?

 

 

Quite a few commentators and media columnists observed that the newest party is providing an attractive platform for professionals to realise their ambition of entering mainstream politics. Some of them would sincerely have a desire for serving the people through the AAP platform. At the same time, some could be seeking to piggy back on the AAP in order to fulfill their own political dreams. The real test for AAP would be to filter out such people; moreover, too many bigwigs becoming the face of the party will also dilute the ‘Aam Aadmi’ (common man) profile of the party.

 

Meera Sanyal, the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India, who contested South Mumbai as an independent in 2009, might well be a candidate for the AAP this time around. Infosys' former chief financial officer V Balakrishnan has also joined the AAP, and so has Captain Gopinath, the man who set up budget airline Air Deccan  — he had contested as an Independent against BJP’s Ananth Kumar from Bangalore South and lost in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Before that, he lost in the 1994 Assembly elections from Gandasi seat in Hassan district on a BJP ticket  — as well as Adarsh Shastri, the grandson of the former prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and an executive at Apple. Of late, some other eminent personalities have also joined the AAP. 

 

“It seems that there is a substantial change in psychology of people. They want to get involved with public life. Politics is no longer seen as ignoble  job in the present context. Educated people must join the movement to cleanse politics, even if it comes with a cost, observes A K Verma, professor at Kanpur Christ Church College. 

 

But as corporate honchos rush to join the AAP, another question remains unanswered: Will business be good for AAP? In present scenario, the party needs to be clear about how it plans to tackle economic problems. Some economists are of the view that AAP may not be bold enough to push through economic reforms that are crucial to boost India’s flailing economy. They point to the party's first decision after coming to power on providing subsidies to bring down power tarrif as a key indicator. 

 

By yoking society's quest for clean politics to a backward economic vision, Mr Kejriwal risks dragging the country back toward a pre-liberalization worldview. Simply put, AAP stands for a false choice between clean government and prosperity, between the dream of a life without graft and a life without want. Should Mr Kejriwal's following continue to swell, the biggest loser will be the very "common man" he claims to represent, writes Sadanand Dhume in The Wall Street Journal.

 

Admittedly, the biggest problem the AAP faces is: near free-for-all style of governance. Some members of the AAP’s core team are largely seen as representing the Left-Socialist school of thought. Pollster and researcher Yogendra Yadav and Ajit Jha have socialist antecedents. Medha Patkar, who has offered support but has yet to become an AAP member, is best known as a rights campaigner for Narmada dam oustees. Gopal Rai was associated with the Far Left All India Students’ Association at Allahabad University. Binayak Sen, out on bail from the Supreme Court on charges of sedition and helping Maoists, is a member of an AAP policy group on police reforms. 

 

Gurcharan Das, a former CEO of a multinational firm and a popular author and columnist, predicts the new party will “self-destruct” when the aspiring urban young who voted for it in Delhi realise what the party stands for.“The first test they have flunked is FDI in retail. Those aspirers want jobs in supermarkets, not in kirana [small grocery] stores,” according to Financial Times.

 

A sample of the party's lack of cohesiveness on crucial economic policies was witnessed on NDTV on Thursday night. Former journalist and spokesperson of AAP, Ashutosh hit out against Captain Gopinath for opposing the Delhi government's decision to ban FDI in multi brand retail.He questioned Gopinath's decision to join AAP without reading the manifesto of the party. This in full public view even as BJP and Congress watched with glee as two senior members of the newly formed party sparred with each other. Ashutosh was further left red-faced when reminded by Kiran Bedi that she had received a tweet by one of her followers asking her to remind Ashutosh that he had tweeted a few months back that 'All those who oppose FDI are idiots'. Clearly Ashutosh stumbled to provide a cohesive answer. 

 

This shows that handling the growth of AAP itself will be a challenge for its leadership. "The AAP is still a party in making. The AAP’s stellar performance in Delhi polls has shaken  the existing national parties to a large extent. The party has not taken a clear ideological position yet. The diverse viewpoints within the party will adequate checks and balances to control the organisation," said Verma. 

 

Will AAP really be able to carry the hopes of a billion Indians? To be honest, it is too early to predict anything at this juncture.