(Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will be published later this year.)
A well-meaning psephologist once told me that he found an uncanny resemblance between Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal. Both would lead their respective parties to victory, both great orators and both autocratic with zero tolerance to dissenting voices and ideas. Both also have equally unyielding second-in-commands and confidantes.
A week before the Delhi elections and in many other editorials in the last three years, I have consistently maintained that Kejriwal, despite being a mass leader who had his pulse on the ground, a man whose party named and shamed various business houses, risked being a cult, endangering the prospects of the Aam Aadmi Party.
When Sanjay Singh, member of the AAP political affairs committee tweeted this morning, "The people who want to remove Arvind Kejriwal from the National Convenor's, do they know what the worker is feeling?" was a sense of deja vu.
But Prashant Bhushan, who had shot off a letter to AAP with a set of what he called 'concrete steps' to be the party with a difference, rubbishes the claim. In a conversation with me this morning, Prashant laughed off allegations that suggested that his rebellion was a calculated move with the backing of finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It must be noted that Prashant Bhushan has been in the news also for the mail leaks from Essar which establishes a corporate- journalist- politics nexus and named Nitin Gadkari as one of the beneficiaries.
On his part , Bhushan dismisses these allegations as the imagination of a fertile mind "My joining the BJP or aligning with Jaitley is next to impossible. What I sought from the AAP is what I wrote in the letter, a clean model of governance that the masses voted us for."
The note authored by the two asks for: the setting up of an internal ethics committee, a probe into cheques of over 50 lacs received in the form of donations by the party, allowing state units of AAP to work on strategy rather than have Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and the rest make decisions for them, record minutes of national executive meetings and the PAC and make it public to the aam aadmi.
On February 26, Kejriwal had offered to resign as national convenor, which was then rejected. It was followed by a decision which according to those close to Bhushan was taken by the coterie that surrounds Kejriwal, allowing the latter to reconstitute the PAC, paving the way for the exit of Yadav and Bhushan from political decision-making processes.
While the success story of AAP might continue unabated with both the Left and Congress in an abysmal disarray in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal needs to shed the autocratic image that he has refused to detach himself from.
His party enjoys the reputation of a socialist image whose beauty lies in the pluralism of views and ideas, not just of its leaders but also of the aam aadmi. If Arvind wants the AAP to be a party with a difference, he needs to apply the same logic of propriety that he expects from other political parties and alleged crony capitalists. Let Arvind Kejriwal not be the prototype of the political leader George Bernard Shaw described as, "he knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Let's Work Unitedly To Confront Pressing Challenges: PM Modi To Global South Global South Facing Challenges Of Food, Energy Security: PM Modi PM Modi Addresses 3rd India-Hosted Voice Of Global South Summit Trinamool MP Summoned By Cops Over "Sniffer Dog" Claim In Rape-Murder Probe Indian-Origin Family, On Way To Daughter's College, Killed In US Car Crash "Here For Personal Work": Hemant Soren Aide In Delhi Amid Switchover Buzz Bengaluru Student, Returning From Party, Raped By Biker Who Gave Her Lift "Leads To Breach Of Trust": Zomato To Remove AI-Generated Food Images Four Reasons Reading Drives Us Mad - And Why We Still Keep At It Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.