Mr Imran Khan, the Aam Aadmi Party is not India’s PTI!
AAP is not driven by a particular ideology — Left or Right — it continues to be dominated by left-liberals.
The writer is a senior correspondent at Tehelka news magazine and can be followed on Twitter @kunalmajumder
Just a day before the Delhi assembly election results were declared and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) created history, Imran Khan was in New Delhi attending a conference. Speaking to Delhi’s elite in a five-star hotel, the former cricketer declared that the anti-corruption politician Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP was India’s answer to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)! While most present in the audience might have nodded in agreement, the fact remains that the PTI has absolutely nothing similar with the AAP except for being an alternative to existing political parties.
Let’s begin by looking at the genesis of both the parties. The AAP was founded with a singular agenda of ending corruption by bringing in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a piece of legislation which has been criticised for being unconstitutional as it gives widespread powers to certain organs of the government. However, supporters of the AAP, mostly from the middle class and the lower middle class, believe it can bring about a change and end corruption in India. From a social movement, it was transformed into a political one with this promise. Even today, after becoming the second-largest party in the Delhi state, Kejriwal says the AAP would not have existed if the Congress and the BJP had adopted the Lok Janpal bill. Kejriwal has promised to make it the first legislation if voted to power.
The PTI was, on the other hand, founded by Imran Khan as an alternative to the existing political set-up. It seems to have no specific agenda except a broad-based one. The PTI is a one man-driven party; in contrast the AAP promoted a wide range of leaders. All these leaders who had absolutely nothing to do with mainstream political parties and had come together with a singular purpose — to end corruption.
The PTI, meanwhile, saw turncourts from other political parties hovering around Imran Khan before the elections. He happily inducted them, gave them electoral tickets and forgot his original supporters who had stood by him for years.
Now, look at Kejriwal; he has power at the cusp of his hand but he refuses to ally with either the BJP or the Congress. All he needs to become the next chief minister of Delhi are eight more MLAs. The Congress has them and is willing to spare but he says ‘no’. He refuses to ally with someone he stood against even though it would give him easy power. On the other hand, Imran Khan didn’t think twice before allying with the Jamaat-e-Islami in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where he considered handing over the all-important education ministry to the right-wing party.
The biggest difference between the PTI and the AAP lies in their ideology. While the AAP is not driven by a particular ideology — Left or Right — it continues to be dominated by left-liberals
In many ways, the AAP is an inward-looking party. It is criticising the problems that exist within the Indian society and polity whereas Imran Khan’s PTI seems to be an extension of Pakistan’s existing political culture of blaming others for the ills of the country and continuing with appeasement of the extreme right.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2013.
Let’s begin by looking at the genesis of both the parties. The AAP was founded with a singular agenda of ending corruption by bringing in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a piece of legislation which has been criticised for being unconstitutional as it gives widespread powers to certain organs of the government. However, supporters of the AAP, mostly from the middle class and the lower middle class, believe it can bring about a change and end corruption in India. From a social movement, it was transformed into a political one with this promise. Even today, after becoming the second-largest party in the Delhi state, Kejriwal says the AAP would not have existed if the Congress and the BJP had adopted the Lok Janpal bill. Kejriwal has promised to make it the first legislation if voted to power.
The PTI was, on the other hand, founded by Imran Khan as an alternative to the existing political set-up. It seems to have no specific agenda except a broad-based one. The PTI is a one man-driven party; in contrast the AAP promoted a wide range of leaders. All these leaders who had absolutely nothing to do with mainstream political parties and had come together with a singular purpose — to end corruption.
The PTI, meanwhile, saw turncourts from other political parties hovering around Imran Khan before the elections. He happily inducted them, gave them electoral tickets and forgot his original supporters who had stood by him for years.
Now, look at Kejriwal; he has power at the cusp of his hand but he refuses to ally with either the BJP or the Congress. All he needs to become the next chief minister of Delhi are eight more MLAs. The Congress has them and is willing to spare but he says ‘no’. He refuses to ally with someone he stood against even though it would give him easy power. On the other hand, Imran Khan didn’t think twice before allying with the Jamaat-e-Islami in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where he considered handing over the all-important education ministry to the right-wing party.
The biggest difference between the PTI and the AAP lies in their ideology. While the AAP is not driven by a particular ideology — Left or Right — it continues to be dominated by left-liberals
In many ways, the AAP is an inward-looking party. It is criticising the problems that exist within the Indian society and polity whereas Imran Khan’s PTI seems to be an extension of Pakistan’s existing political culture of blaming others for the ills of the country and continuing with appeasement of the extreme right.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2013.