That the Aam Aadmi Party would take a hard line against BJP's prime minister candidate Narendra Modi was evident when it launched a fresh campaign against corruption by naming top politicians. The initial list, which did not have Narendra Modi's name, was amended in a day just to add the name of the Gujarat Chief Minister. A fresh attack on NaMo initiated by AAP ideologue Yogendra Yadav brought it into the open, now that the AAP is not going to spare anyone in a battle which is being projected as a triangular fight between the AAP, Congress and BJP.
Yadav, who had earlier told Firstpost that a "phenomenon like Modi can be countered only with positive development work" has definitely changed his stance since. His recent attack on Modi on Twitter shows that with Modi too, AAP has retreated to their tried and tested way of attacking individuals. "What is the exact relationship between Modi and Adani group? How has Adani become super rich in just 10 years?" Yadav had tweeted.
Narendra Modi. PTI
A party insider points out that the rising Modi phenomenon had to be tackled this way. "No one has spoken about Modi's link with the Adani group before this, but it's very important to raise the issue of the Adani group's relation with the Chief Minister of Gujarat," the party member said.
One thing should be noticed in this case, that while Yadav on Twitter accused Modi of keeping the convict Babulal Bokharia in his government, Yadav, the AAP's chief political strategist, however, refrained from directly attacking Modi for his the 2002 riots.
According to observers this is a clever move by the AAP, which has brought questions like industrial corruption and children's death to the fray while bypassing the issue of riots. "Through the last decade every single person in Indian politics has spoken against Modi relating him to the riots and it has only resulted into a polarisation, from which Modi has only gained. But no political party talks about the connection with the Adani group. In the name of industry changing the purpose of land usage is rampant in Gujarat, but congress has never spoken about these corruptions. The Aam Aadmi Party by raising these questions will definitely set precedents for a refreshing positive approach to politics," says an editor of a Gujarati daily.
"Even a cursory glance at rural districts like Narmada or Bharuch will show how the shining Gujarat model has been stumbling and wobbling in these interiors, where children death because of malnourishment is not an uncommon thing. So raising these issues are very important. By not attacking Modi directly for his role in the riots, AAP has managed to prove that it is not practising the line of politics that the Congress has been preaching," he explained on the condition of anonymity.
There are points of view though, which believe that the recent attacks on Modi linking him with Adani or Reliance as Prashant Bhusan had done a few months back, will affect the support it garnered from the corporate class. "Right after its Delhi win Delhi when people like Mira Anyal or Captain Gopinath joined AAP, it showed that the party was filling the void of a market oriented but clean political outfit. But the recent attacks on Adani or the Reliance may take away that support from the Aam Aadmi Party," says political analyst and journalist Kumar Ketkar. Ketkar however, believes that at the same time it will fan the middle class or working class sentiment against the corporates.
As for the attack on Modi for his possible involvement in industrial corruption, Ketkar thinks it is a master stroke by AAP. "The best thing they could do is not attacking the BJP or Modi for the riots. Congress has pigeonholed Modi as someone non-secular. If AAP had done the same thing, they again would have been branded as the B-team of the Congress. At the same time AAP would lose the sympathising Hindu votes that they had garnered as a result of anti-incumbency," explains Ketkar.
That the Aam Aadmi party is not merely a B-team of the Congress has already been successfully projected by the party when it managed to implicate heavyweights like Veerappaa Moily or Sheila Dikshit for their alleged roles in corruption. The recent incidents of AAP ruffling the feathers of both the BJP and the Congress shows that the party is challenging the status quo in Indian politics, believe experts.
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