TOPICS
It is far
from easy to live up to one’s promise and potential. The Aam
Aadmi Party was founded on a belief in the possibility of changing the system,
working outside of it. But over the last couple of years, the party and its maverick leader
Arvind Kejriwal have shown themselves unable to deliver on their promise or
rise to their potential. From the selection of candidates to the process of
decision-making in the party,
the AAP
is now seen running counter to its own stated philosophy of transparency and accountability in
public life. In Punjab, the party appears to have lost the political plot with
Mr. Kejriwal unwilling to allow an independent regional leadership to emerge.
Sucha Singh Chhotepur, who was sacked as the State convenor over allegations of
bribery, has demonstrated that he is no pushover by winning
the support of a huge section of the AAP. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the
cricketer-turned-politician who quit the BJP recently, chose to float an
alternative platform, Awaaz-e-Punjab, rather than join with the AAP. Delhi was
only a stepping stone for Mr. Kejriwal, who wants to project himself as an
alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From his choice of Lok Sabha seat
in the 2014 election — he chose to take on Mr. Modi in Varanasi — to his
frequent Twitter barbs aimed at the Prime Minister, it is clear that he fancies
himself as a national level leader. Delhi was no more than a launch pad for his
political career; Punjab, the only State where the AAP performed well in the
Lok Sabha election, is the next logical step. Whether it is Mr. Chhotepur or
Mr. Sidhu, it is clear no one will be allowed to share the leadership space
with Mr. Kejriwal in the AAP’s Punjab unit.
But
Punjab is not the only cause of problems in the party. In recent months, some
of its ministers and MLAs have been caught on the wrong side of the law. The
party did defend some of them, alleging, and perhaps not entirely falsely, that
the Centre was using the Delhi Police to target the party and its prominent
members. Indeed, this became another issue in the AAP’s battle to bring law and
order in the national capital region under the State government’s purview. In
the latest controversy involving its Women and Child Welfare Minister Sandeep
Kumar, the AAP took the high moral ground, and sacked him soon after a video
recording of him with a woman in a sexual act was released by a media house.
Mr. Kumar was removed from the party as well, as it became clear he had known
of the presence of the camera. Evidently, there was more to lose than gain from
defending Mr. Kumar, who alleged he was targeted as he was a Dalit. Mr.
Kejriwal seems to have set his sights high, but Punjab will judge him by what
he did in Delhi as well. The AAP needs to recover its purpose as a catalyst for
political and social change if it is to grow beyond Delhi.
Vocab
Word
1.
live
up (to) phrasal verb ---satisfy, fulfil, achieve,
meet.
2.
maverick adjective ---
unorthodox; unconventional, nonconformist,
bohemian.
3.
transparency noun ---clearness,
openness, straightforwardness, honesty.
4.
accountability noun --
responsibility, liability, answerablity, culpability.
5.
allegation noun ---claim,
assertion, declaration, statement.
6.
float verb--- launch,
establish, set up, institute.
7.
rather
(than) adverb --as
opposed to, instead of.
8.
stepping
stone ---- an action which helps someone to move forward
& achieve a goal.
9.
take
on phrasal verb ----compete against, oppose, challenge,
confront/face.
10.
barb noun -----insult,
affront, hurtful remark, contempt.
11.
fancy verb ----think,
imagine, guess, believe.
12.
on
the wrong side of phrase ----disfavour
with.
13.
purview noun ------the
range/limit/scope of authority, responsibility, influence.
14.
allege verb ---claim, assert,
declare, swear.
15.
set
one's sights (on) phrase ---aspire to, aim/try for, strive
for/towards.
16.
catalyst --- a person/thing that propels a change.
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