Never write off a politician: AAP”s nine lives remain
In India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled off miraculous victories in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in December 2023 and the Maharashtra assembly elections in November 2024. It was expected to lose both these elections due to anti-incumbency and yet won both of them handsomely with election-eve direct cash transfer schemes for women. .The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi could have done the same. In fact, they wanted to. They announced they would transfer ₹1000 per month to poor women in Delhi a few months before the election. And yet, bureaucrats and their own finance ministry raised objections to the plans to raise debt to finance the scheme. .This is only one of countless examples where the AAP government in Delhi was a government which had responsibility without power. Delhi has always been half-state and half-union territory, but in recent years, it was even more disempowered than it used to be. A Supreme Court judgement making Delhi bureaucrats answerable to the elected government was overturned by the central government through a law. .Can AAP survive the political tempest in India?.The result was that the AAP government couldn’t really do much for anyone. In the second term, they ruled with their hands tied, sometimes literally when the top leaders including the chief minister, were imprisoned. They had to release videos of their ministers begging bureaucrats to do the smallest of things. .In the election campaign, when their candidates went around asking for votes, voters complained of unkept promises, the candidates said they tried to get it done but the Lt Governor wouldn’t sign the file. Voters then asked back why they shouldn’t vote for the BJP to get their work done. .This was the main and, this writer would argue, the only reason why they lost the election. Allegations of corruption and the lavish renovation of the chief minister’s residence didn’t really have appeal beyond the core voters of the BJP. For the swing voter, it was the pause in governance that made them switch. .Arvind Kejriwal: The common man who built a palace.A respectable defeat .Despite having no real power to govern, it is remarkable that the AAP is only 3 per cent points behind the BJP-led NDA. They won 22/70 seats, which is more than what the BJP and the Congress won together in the last two elections. .After two consecutive terms, many popular leaders become unpopular even in states where they have full power — a recent example being that of KCR in Telangana. People get fatigued of the same faces, the same political elite with the same cronies, the same old speeches and promises. If nothing else they want a fresh cabinet. .It is therefore an achievement for the AAP to have been in power in Delhi for 10 years when their powers were curbed day after day and the leadership was put in jail for months. .Given how respectable the defeat has been, it is surprising to see how the Congress, the BJP, the media and the political chattering classes are all declaring this defeat as the formal demise of the AAP. .Yes the AAP also happens to have a government in Punjab, but the pundits have decided it’s not going to last long now. They have already concluded on AAP’s behalf that Arvind Kejriwal is going to appoint himself as the chief minister of Punjab and cause a rebellion in his own party. Even if the Bhagwant Mann government lasts, there seems to be a consensus that a weak Congress, a half-dead Akali Dal or a non-starter Punjab BJP will win the next assembly election in Punjab in 2027. .Why AAP needs to lose Delhi for its own good.A cat has nine lives .There’s this adage in Indian politics — never write off a politician. The moment a politician’s career is declared over is when he/she starts scripting a comeback. .Today’s dominant BJP won only 2 seats in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. Indira Gandhi was humiliated by voters in 1977 and brought back to power just three years later. The Congress party was declared history very recently but in 2024, showed it was the default opposition that would rise anyway when the BJP declines. .We see such extremes often in south India, where parties look like they’re finished when they lose and five years later they’re back as if they had never gone away. .Arvind Kejriwal has been freed of an impossible situation in Delhi. This is a blessing in disguise. He had anyway diminished himself in 2013 by becoming Delhi chief minister after leading a national movement. From then on, he has made endless political mistakes. .Nothing is as humbling as defeat. Destiny is giving the AAP a chance to reflect on their mistakes, to replace their hubris with humility, to go back to the masses and script a revival. Failure is a great teacher..Shivam Vij is a journalist and political commentator based in New Delhi. He tweets as @DilliDurAst, the handle means ‘Delhi is still far’
Source: Shivam Vij
White House bars AP reporter for third day in ‘Gulf of America’ flap
The White House barred an Associated Press reporter from covering an open press conference with President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the third day its reporters have been blocked from covering the president..“It is a plain violation of the First Amendment, and we urge the Trump administration in the strongest terms to stop this practice,” the AP said Thursday in a statement..The White House blocked AP from attending an event with Trump and adviser Elon Musk on Tuesday, in what the newswire described as punishment for refusing to adopt the president’s new “Gulf of America” label in its style guide..“This is now the third day AP reporters have been barred from covering the president – first as a member of the pool, and now from a formal press conference – an incredible disservice to the billions of people who rely on the Associated Press for nonpartisan news,” the wire service said..The Associated Press is a permanent member of the so-called “pool” that provides around-the-clock coverage of the president. As a newswire, stories written by AP reporters are published in newspapers and on websites across the US and world. .The AP’s style guide is also the basis for many broadcasting and news services, including Bloomberg News. In a Jan. 23 guidance note, the agency said that the “Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years” and that the organization would “refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”.The White House Correspondents Association, which represents hundreds of journalists covering the presidency, issued a statement Thursday evening calling on the White House to “immediately reverse course and restore access to AP journalists.”.“Free speech and a free press are among the defining values of American democracy and must be preserved and protected,” WHCA President Eugene Daniels said. “Our pool system is critical to ensure all of our members can cover the presidency, and prohibiting journalists from access because of their editorial decisions is viewpoint discrimination.”.During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly barred media outlets from his events over their coverage. During his first term, Trump officials sought to strip press passes from reporters but relented after a federal court sided with members of the media.
Source: Bloomberg