Moment of reckoning

Moment of reckoning

Exit polls for the three municipal corporations of Delhi suggest that BJP will retain control of them for the third consecutive time, sweepingly. This bodes ill for AAP which swept Delhi's assembly election in 2015. After all this is on the heels of disappointing performances relative to expectations in assembly elections in Punjab and Goa as well as AAP coming third in the Rajouri Garden Delhi assembly bypoll.
The party was the product of an anti-corruption movement and recorded early electoral success in face of enormous odds and on the back of volunteerism. But if it's hammered in the municipal elections, that will signify voter disenchantment with AAP ¬ especially given the poor performance of Delhi's municipal bodies under BJP. Key areas under their control such as sanitation are in a mess. Consequently the capital's residents every year have to cope with a host of vector-borne ailments such as dengue. In short, AAP entered the contest with a huge factor in its favour: the decade-long incumbency of BJP in the municipal corporations.
A look at the manner in which AAP has evolved since its spectacular triumph in 2015 is disquieting. In the manner of many other political parties, it's increasingly centred on the personality of a single leader: Arvind Kejriwal. After two years in power AAP still seems to conduct itself as an outsider, neglecting the essence of politics which is to find common ground with different sections of society and move things forward. All political parties evolve over time but the idealism that powered AAP's early electoral successes seems to have evaporated. Indian politics needs fresh blood and AAP's advent was a welcome development. If exit polls hold true, the party must make real course correction.