ISI must be happy as BJP is dividing India on communal lines: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has finally broken his long silence on arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). And this time his attack is even more aggressive.

Speaking on the fifth foundation day of the party at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, Kejriwal said Pakistan’s biggest dream would be to make Indian Hindus and Muslims fight each other, as it would weaken India’s strength.

“Those who are dividing the nation on communal lines are ISI agents. They are anti-nationals in the garb of nationalists,” he told thousands of workers on Sunday evening. Proceeding to directly name the BJP, he said: “What (Pakistan’s) ISI failed to do in the past 70 years, the BJP has done in the last three years.”

The AAP convener went on to declare the BJP as more corrupt than the Congress, referring to the Rafale deal, Vyapam scam, Sahara diaries and suspicious death of Justice BH Loya.

As the volunteers started chanting “bhrashtachar ka ek hi kaal, Kejriwal-Kejriwal!” he made an appeal to the voters of Gujarat, asking them to defeat the BJP in the upcoming Assembly polls.

“Mein aaj is manch se Gujarat ke logon ko appeal karna chahta hoon, saare desh ke taraf dekhna, aap saare desh ki tamanna puri kar sakte ho (I appeal to the voters of Gujarat to looks towards the nation. Only you can fulful their wishes),” said Kejriwal.

“Jis din vote daalne jao, ese candidate, esi party ko vote dalna jo wahan par BJP ko hara sake. Kahin par AAP jeet rahi ho to AAP ko de dena, koi aur party jeet rahi ho to usko de dena, lekin BJP ko harana humara maqsad hai (on the day of polling, cast your vote for the candidate who can defeat the BJP. If the AAP candidate is stronger, vote for him. If some other party is likely to win, vote for them – but defeating BJP is our purpose),” he added.

Thousands of volunteers from Delhi and 21 other states of the country had assembled to celebrate AAP’s fifth anniversary. Despite the central leadership having changed in the past five years, the majority of workers remains the same – the “aam aadmi”.

The stage was set on one corner of the ground – big enough to accommodate a crowd of about 10,000 people. Notably, unlike other AAP meets, there were lesser national flags at the national summit.

While Kejriwal took a dig at the BJP, for workers – who had travelled hundreds of kilometres just to attend the summit – the primary agenda remained the party’s anti-graft plank.

One such worker was 30-year-old Tulsiram Kadiyam from Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. A resident of Iragoan village, Kadiyam, who had picked up a large party flag from the venue as a souvenir, told Newslaundry: “Yahan se ye jhanda lekar ja raha hain Chhattisgarh, ki udhar bhi corruption mitana hai (I am carrying this flag to Chhattisgarh with a resolution to end corruption in my state.)” 

A cycle mechanic by profession, he has decided to not marry until the next Assembly election in the tribal state. “I want to give full time to the party till then. We have already started preparing for the polls by deciding on booth-level workers,” he said.

According to the Chhattisgarh state secretary of the tribal wing, Komal Hupendi, at least 15 people from Kanker had come to attend AAP’s national summit. When asked how they reached Delhi and who paid for it, 36-year-old Hependi responded: “Each of us has paid for our train tickets.”

For Delhi’s many workers, however, transport arrangements had been made, zone and Assembly-wise.

As expected, the fifth foundation ceremony also witnessed high-voltage drama – and it was started by none other than irked founding member Kumar Vishwas. The aggressive counter to it came from Delhi minister Gopal Rai.

When the poet-politician, who has kept “silent for the past seven-eight months”, spoke from the stage, he made the entire party brass uncomfortable. “My name was not on the list of speakers in the conference. I have not spoken for months. And now I can understand how volunteers who have not been heard for the past five years must be feeling,” Vishwas said.

“Bees logon ne mujhe gher kar kaha ki iss party mein itna apmanit karenge ki party chhod kar bhaag jaoge (once I was surrounded by 20 people who told me that we will humiliate you to such an extent that you will run away from this party),” an emotional Vishwas said.

Calling himself Abhimanyu from the Mahabharata, he added: “Main Abhimanyu hoon, meri maut mein bhi meri vijay hai (I am like Abhimanyu [son of Arjun in the epic]. I will be victorious even if I am killed).”

Interestingly, while he was openly attacking the “conspirators” who want him to join other political parties, Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan was sitting in the first row of leaders on the stage. Khan had been suspended in May for calling Vishwas an agent of the BJP, but was reinstated in the party barely two days before the National Council meeting in November.

According to Vishwas, who is also the party’s in-charge in Rajasthan, several leaders and workers who left AAP in the past five years did so due to individual differences, lack of internal communication, and the “ego and insecurity of a few in the party”. He urged them to come together to “save the nation”.

There is no denying the fact that poet-politician Vishwas remains popular among volunteers from across the country. The moment he started speaking, the virtually dead ground revived to life. And, whether the party leaders approved of Vishwas’ “back to basics” comment or not, the volunteers did respond to the idea with cheers and slogans.

The party brass seemed well aware of the embarrassment that Vishwas was capable of creating. Hence, Kejriwal entered the venue moments after Vishwas had finished his speech and, notably, he chose to sit alongside the poet-politician.

The next round of attacks started from senior party leader and Delhi minister Rai.

“We will not only fight against the Congress and BJP, but will also fight with Mir Jafar inside the party,” he said. Jafar had betrayed Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud-Daulah and sided with the Britishers in the Battle of Plassey.

“Many attacked the party in the name of the nation. Someone had dreamed of becoming the convener. Others are doing so to become MLAs and MPs,” Rai added,

While he didn’t take Vishwas’ name, Rai did try to counter the narratives of the in-charge of Rajasthan. Later, speaking to the media, he said that voters had taught an apt lesson to “Mir Jafars” such as former AAP legislator Ved Prakash, who had joined the BJP right before the civic polls in Delhi.

When asked whether his aggressive stance was triggered by Vishwas’ comments, Delhi convener Rai told this correspondent “no. It seems you are listening to me for the first time”.

Former Delhi convener Dilip Pandey told Newslaundry: “The Mir Jafar comment was not aimed towards Kumar Vishwas. If there are a few wrong people inside the party, we will have to fight them too.”

Such attacks have failed to shake the volunteers’ faith in Vishwas, though. “Kumar, by raising such important issues, has, in fact, increased his commitment towards the party,” Uttarakhand organisational secretary DS Kotilya told Newslaundry. “These conversations have cleared our confusion about the differences and rifts in the party. If he had to leave, he would have done so by now,” he added.

While the AAP has managed to appoint the people in-charge and conveners in 17 of the 22 states where it has an organisation, the less number of volunteers at the Ramlila ground should be a sign of worry.

The party used to draw a much larger crowd in the past. Though thousands of workers had assembled to participate in the national summit, it could have done better, especially when it has 67 seats in Delhi, is the principle opposition party in Punjab and claims to have reached 300 districts of India.

The party leaders did take note of this, and said that in the next two years, they must hold the programme from a bigger stage – from where the India Against Corruption movement was started.

Despite the differences within the top leadership, the aim for each member seemed clear – to pose a serious threat to the BJP in the 2019 general elections. Whether it was Vishwas or Kejriwal, they didn’t hold back from taking an offensive stand against the BJP.

But for AAP, it is equally important to set its house in order before it plans to throw a spanner in BJP’s 2019 mission.