'AAP has to run a marathon and could face a new crisis on the way. The beauty is to learn from the crisis, correct the mistakes and move forward.'
VBalakrishnan, a former chief financial officer of Infosys and a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, discusses the AAP crisis with Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com:
How do you view the current developments in the Aam Aadmi Party?
I don't know what the real issues are. A lot of things are talked about in the press. In my view, the Aam Aadmi Party is a great idea -- an idea of clean politics, good governance and removal of corruption.
AAP is a political party and in any such organisation differences between members are bound to occur. All these differences need to be talked about and settled, rather than bickering in public.
It is alright to disagree as long as you are not disagreeable.
Don't you think the current developments have affected AAP's image?
The events of the past few days did, to some extent, affect the party's image. But whatever has happened has happened. You cannot go and change the past.
The party should look forward and focus on building a credible institutional mechanism to address such issues in the future.
AAP's failure is not an option before us.
I would say the collective cause is much more important than any views of individuals. AAP is still a new party, hardly two years old. It is still trying to find its feet.
Differences are bound to arise. But there should be a way to resolve those without affecting the organisation. I think it is a process of growing up.
Has AAP become a personality-centric party, that of Arvind Kejriwal, and not idea driven?
I do not want to come to such drastic conclusions based on recent events. To me, the idea of AAP is much more important than anything else.
Was that not the case in the beginning?
The idea was relevant when it was conceptualised and is relevant even more now.
Let us be real. Arvind was and is the face of AAP. His ability to connect with people, articulate the idea and galvanise the people is unparalleled.
He is a mass leader and has wider acceptance. It is very difficult to separate him from the AAP.
He is the most acceptable leader; he is very much needed for the party to succeed.
The complaint is that he has become an autocrat...
It is time for the party to set aside all differences and galvanise under Arvind's leadership to reinvent itself.
We should use every crisis as a learning experience, correct ourselves and move forward. The future generation will not forgive us if AAP as an idea is allowed to fail.
Is it essential for a movement to be a political party to bring about changes in the system?
The mainstream political parties were not willing to change and had no desire to change. The movement got shaped into a political party as it was taunted continuously to become mainstream and to show the world how change could happen.
Finally, the challenge was accepted and the movement got itself converted into a political party.
AAP accepted the challenge and formed the party, contested the elections and came to power too.
I am convinced like most of us that you need power to make the change.
The first time your party came to power Kejriwal described himself an anarchist and resigned. Was it a right decision not to administer and quit?
You have to look at everything contextually. There were two options after the elections -- not to form the government and face re-election or accept the support given voluntarily by the Congress and run the government.
The AAP had made certain promises to the people; that they would bring swaraj, remove corruption and make sure that the Lok Pal bill was passed. They were elected for this, but when they started executing the promises, the Congress backed out.
In fact, they defeated the bill along with the BJP in the assembly.
What is the point in clinging to power when you can't deliver the promises made?
So, if you understand the context it is easier to understand and appreciate the decisions. The negativity came about because of the goodwill enjoyed by the party with the people.
As an AAP member, how did you feel then?
I spoke to many people. The general feeling was that AAP should have been in power and made the changes happen.
Nobody said we ran away.
That was the point of view of other political parties. But when we spoke to people in Delhi, they said we should have continued. They were happy that in those 49 days, they didn't see corruption at all.
That is why this time, Arvind said, we will not leave power but asked the people to give us a full majority so that we can provide a stable government and bring about all the changes we promised.
The people of Delhi agreed and gave AAP the absolute majority.
Did the astounding result come as a surprise to party members?
We all knew we will get a majority, but not this kind of brutal majority.
Do you think it was because people were frustrated with the other political parties that they gave this kind of mandate?
We ran a positive campaign based on a development agenda for Delhi.
We explained the context of our earlier decision to resign, apologised for that decision and asked for an absolute mandate to deliver on the promises.
Unfortunately, the other two political parties ran a very negative campaign. They had nothing to offer.
People saw through the differences in the campaign and gave AAP the majority mandate.
...And then started the intra-party fights. People now feel that AAP too has become just another political party...
There were differences of opinion on various issues between leaders. I am happy at least that in AAP such things can be discussed in an open and fearless manner.
Having said that, it is very difficult for an organisation to move forward if differences come in the way quite often.
In the corporate world, the buck stops with the CEO. Of course, he will get counsel from his team. But finally, he decides and success or failure is always attributed to him.
In the political world, it is very difficult to do so. You have to carry everyone together. You have to build consensus. But if the differences go beyond a point -- affecting the functioning of the party -- then certain steps may be necessary.
Why has the party not been able to make a dent anywhere else apart from Delhi even though you have high-profile volunteers?
We are hardly two years old. Despite that, AAP got around a 2 per cent vote share across the country in the general election. For a new party to get that kind of vote share in its maiden election is unparalleled.
This shows that there is wider acceptance for the party. Also, AAP has to fight with limited resources. Give us some more time.
I have no doubt that AAP will flourish and grow bigger. If we can show good governance in Delhi, it will help us generate much wider acceptance in the country.
Till now, other than the BJP or the Congress, there was no alternative. Today, we are there. It is a question of being a much relevant alternative.
As a person from the corporate world, how do you look at giving power at half the rate and free water? Is it sustainable?
Today, no party can afford to have pure leftist or pure rightist policies. You need to find a fine balance. AAP is neither left nor right and was well accepted by the people of Delhi.
The reality is that India is home to more than 100 billionaires while it is also home to the largest number of poor people with one-third of the world's 1.2 billion extreme poor living here as per the UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2014.
So any government that comes to power has to make sure that the quality of life of those below the poverty line is improved. At the same time, the government has to see that industrial growth happens and jobs are created.
It is not one against the other; you have to balance both.
Water and electricity is lifeline for every citizen. Unless basic things are given to people, what is the use of a government?
The dignity of every citizen needs to be protected and a government should always focus on removing inequality in the system.
No government can afford to say that they will remove all the subsidies. They should have a short-term and long-term plan to address these issues.
You mean this is sustainable as a short term plan?
Fiscal profligacy is not the answer. But in the short-term if the government can afford certain costs to address the imbalance in the system, they should do it.
Do you feel a noble experiment has failed? An early death, perhaps?
These are too strong words. Every organisation goes through a crisis without exception. AAP has to run a marathon and could face a new crisis on the way.
The beauty is to learn from the crisis, correct the mistakes and move forward to build a much stronger organisation.
I am sure that AAP will reinvent itself and come out of this crisis as a much better organisation.
