AAP's turn to Hindutva: Can a pretender take on the original?

Only time will tell whether the AAP, which will mark a decade in electoral politics on November 26, has strayed from the ideals of its icons

Many supporters of the AAP are dismayed at Arvind Kejriwal’s demand that currency notes carry pictures of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha to improve India’s economic situation. Some have lamented how an IIT alum has suggested such a recourse. For others, it has corroborated their conviction that Kejriwal has been walking the slippery slope to succeed Narendra Modi, given that the Delhi CM is 18 years younger than the prime minister, as the next Hindu Hridaya Samrat (Emperor of Hindu Hearts).

Kejriwal’s ideological moorings, or their lack, is open to debate, as is the one between pragmatism and idealism. As for facts, the Delhi CM’s demand came in the wake of his sacking of Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam after the BJP accused the Dalit leader of disrespecting Hinduism. The AAP felt the need to burnish its Hindunness in the context of the upcoming Gujarat assembly and Delhi civic polls.

Only time will tell whether the AAP, which will mark a decade in electoral politics on November 26, has strayed from the ideals of its two icons, B R Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh, in its bid to get the national party status.

Read | Out of closet: A ‘kesariya’ Kejriwal

The AAP insiders argue that their party’s silence on the riots in north-east Delhi in February 2020 and the release of those convicted for raping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family members was strategic. “There is a difference between being a devoted Hindu and being anti-Muslim or anti-Christian,” said a party leader, emphasising that minorities, such as Muslims of Delhi or Sikhs of Punjab, understand that. Unlike states, where minorities have been discriminated against, all communities have access to the government’s welfare schemes in Delhi, he added. In the run-up to the Goa polls earlier this year, Kejriwal promised to arrange free pilgrimages to Ayodhya for Hindus and Velankanni for Christians. “For Muslims, we will provide a free trip to Ajmer Sharif and to Shirdi temple for those who revere Sai Baba,” Kejriwal said in November 2021.

Interestingly, the AAP rules two states with significant minority populations. According to a CSDS post-poll survey, 77% of Muslims – comprising 13% of Delhi’s population – voted for the AAP in the Delhi polls. The voters across castes and religions supported the AAP in Punjab, including Hindus, a minority in that state, Sikhs and Dalits.

More than the AAP’s ideological positions, its appeal is among the urban poor, fascinated by its claims of ushering in affordable healthcare and quality government-run schools in Delhi. The party also utilised the frustration of the voters with the two big national parties and their allies, such as the Akalis. It hopes to replicate it in more urbanised states, such as Gujarat.

It should, however, remember how Congress lost its moorings in Punjab in the 1970s and the rest of the country a decade later. In the late 1970s, Punjab Congress leader Giani Zail Singh, himself a trained ‘granthi’, took to starting his party meetings with the ‘ardas’, the Sikh religious prayer. Singh’s move backfired and the Akalis, the party known to champion Sikh religious causes, won the 1977 elections. Punjabis rejected the pretender, when they had the original to choose.