Ideology Free AAP?

Shemin Joy’s article saying that AAP is “ideology free” got me thinking. Her article’s trigger was the forced resignation of AAP’s Delhi minster, Rajendra Pal Gautam, for being present at an event when Dalits converted to Buddhism and also ridiculing Hindu deities.

 

AAP, says Joy, seems to be willing to take on (or dump) whatever stance is relevant to the state they contest in – Delhi, Punjab and now Gujarat. If Dalits are important in Delhi, but not so much in Gujarat, the party’s policy on Dalit matters seems very different in the two states.

 

But isn’t that just politics as usual? The difference, as per Joy, and others she quotes in the article, is that AAP calls itself a “welfare” oriented party only. They try and stay agnostic on all other matters – Muslims, Dalits, CAA and pretty much all other polarizing matters. That’s the official policy and most of the time, the party sticks to it:

“With an “ideology-less” framework, Kejriwal tries to project that the AAP indulges in “politics of work” — like a startup providing services diligently — and does not get bogged down with ideology.”

 

Sure, the party does take steps that at times seem to contradict this – like Gautam’s firing, or the time when an AAP top leader changed her surname that might have led to her being mistaken for a Christian. But these seem to be one-off cases, not a general pattern of the party being pro/anti Dalit or Christian or anything else.

 

Joy then writes the lines that got me thinking:

“Kejriwal knows that an ideological stand may not be needed. However, this presents a problem as one cannot move ahead in politics with mere welfarism (lower electricity and water bills) as a poll plank.”

These are the questions that came to my mind. Can a political party really be ideology free (with welfare as their only aim)? Is Joy right in saying that one cannot win elections with only welfarism “as a poll plank”? If Yes, what does that say about our electorate? Or has AAP been able to pull off the ideology-free stance only because it just so happened that their path so far has been via states (Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat) that don’t have too many controversial topics or religion/community based vote banks? In contrast with say Mamata and the TMC – coming from Bengal, is her party doomed to be (and seen to be) pro-Muslim? Ditto with Akhilesh Yadav and the SP – since they rose in UP in a certain manner, are they now stuck with being (and seen to be) pro-Yadav, pro-Muslim? Is AAP truly ideology free or is it just that they haven’t yet been forced to take a stand on any deeply polarizing topics yet (Muslims, Hindus, OBC’s etc)?

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