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Arvind Kejriwal had promised to form govt in Gujarat, his AAP earns the tag of Congress voter-cutter at the end

The Aam Aadmi Party tried very hard to make itself a third option in Gujarat, and relied majorly on the media and social media in this election

Though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may have performed poorly in the Gujarat assembly elections, before the elections the party had somehow tried to create an atmosphere that it was coming to power in Gujarat. However, mainstream media and social media also contributed a lot rather than just the self-proclaimed cleanest political party’s political theatrics.

But if the figures are seen on the day of the result, then the atmosphere, publicity, advertisements, and other paraphernalia provide a quantitative metric about how the party had fared in the elections. This is what has happened with the Aam Aadmi Party. The party had come with dreams of winning the Gujarat elections and is going with a tag of the vote-cutter taking away vote share from the Congress.

Right from the beginning of the vote counting, AAP was restricted to single-digit numbers. The leads for AAP never exceeded 8 seats at any point of time during the vote counting. Finally, AAP had to settle with 5 seats.

It was not yet decided when the Gujarat assembly elections would be held, at the time when AAP started campaigning. From party convener Arvind Kejriwal to other party leaders, like Manish Sisodia, Bhagwant Mann, and Raghav Chadha frequently came to Gujarat. However, Manish Sisodia’s name was revealed in the liquor scandal soon after the AAP started making efforts for the Gujarat assembly elections.

The party chief Arvind Kejriwal held a lot of meetings, did a lot of press conferences, and met people. He also made various promises and presented his party as the third option. Be it the announcement of allowances for women and youth, or free electricity and water, the Aam Aadmi Party continued to appear in the media and social media.

Kejriwal also played the Hindutva card

In a state like Gujarat, if a party aims to get respectable numbers, it must not offend Hindus. Knowing this, Kejriwal also made many attempts to create an image of Hindutva. Kejriwal who had once said, ‘can my Ram stay in a temple made by demolishing someone’s mosque’, started promising Ayodhya pilgrimage for elderly citizens and also started talking about ‘Krishna and Kansa’. As if this was not enough, he went on to talk about printing pictures of Lord Ganesha and goddess Lakshmi on currency notes.

However, in the end, all this did not work and the party didn’t perform well. While party candidates lost deposits in many seats, AAP gained nothing even where the party was expecting a few good performances. BJP single-handedly dominated the elections by winning a record-breaking 156 seats in the state. The people of Gujarat rejected AAP and bolstered their trust in the saffron party only to take the 27-year-old BJP rule in the state ahead to complete its three decades.

Why didn’t people have faith in the Aam Aadmi Party?

The Aam Aadmi Party tried very hard to make itself a third option, but the reason why it did not succeed is that it made promises to the people, but could not explain how they would fulfil the promises. On the other hand, during this period, news of scams continued to come out from Delhi where the Aam Aadmi Party is in power, which also made people rethink this self-proclaimed third option.

The Aam Aadmi Party did not even have workers who could work hard from village to village and go to the people and ask for votes. Sharing posts in support of the party on social media does not win the election. It has to come to the ground to win the election. The reason why the Aam Aadmi Party did not show up in most of the seats is that the lack of workers who can work at the ground level there hurt the party.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) relied majorly on the media and social media in this election. But one also has to get on the ground to woo the voters. The Aam Aadmi Party appeared very little on the ground. Even where it appeared, AAP could not explain to the people why they should reject the BJP and Congress and choose the Aam Aadmi Party.

AAP could snatch Congress seats but it miserably failed to do so

Also, most of the seats were those where the fight was between the BJP and Congress. This was the situation, especially in rural areas. In these circumstances, the Aam Aadmi Party could not make a place as a third party. In many seats, it happened that there was a fight between the candidates of the BJP and the Congress, and the Aam Aadmi Party was thrown out of it.

Social equations also play a big role in elections. The Aam Aadmi Party benefited from this in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections and the party won 27 seats. This time too, the party focussed more on Surat and Saurashtra, where the Patidar community’s agitation for a reserved quota had the biggest impact in 2017, and in most of these areas, the Congress snatched seats and brought the BJP below 100.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s calculation was to snatch these seats from the Congress and for this, they also tried to set up social equations.

The party has fielded Alpesh Kathiria, who became known as PAAS, in Varachha. Varachha is considered to be a Patidar-majority area. Apart from this, in Katargam, Olpad, etc., it also gave tickets to Gopal Italia and Dharmik Malaviya, who were once the face of the Patidar movement. The party also campaigned a lot in these seats but could gain nothing here too.

On the other hand, the party proved to be a breaker of the Congress vote. Because the BJP supporter votes remained safe and on this side, there was a breakdown in the Votes of the Congress.

The reason for this is that in 2017, the atmosphere against the BJP in the Patidar community (and in other societies as well) had completely disappeared by 2022. Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor, who were once poster boys of these social movements, joined the BJP, while on the other hand, the Congress also reduced the aggression. The BJP succeeded in turning various communities towards itself in these five years and especially before the elections and its effect was seen in all these seats.

Other challenges that put the party on the backfoot

Apart from this, the Aam Aadmi Party faced many challenges, big and small, during this period. AAP had no way of getting out of it, and at one point the party that talked about education and health had even come to play the caste card. While an old video of Gopal Italia pushed the party on the back foot, the controversy over Kejriwal’s minister attending the conversion ceremony also evoked strong reactions in Gujarat. Apart from this, the involvement of Manish Sisodia in the liquor scam in Delhi or the arrest of another Kejriwal minister Satyendar Jain, as well as the VIP facilities available in the jail, also continued to affect the party.

What is the future of The Aam Aadmi Party?

Many believe that this was the beginning of the Aam Aadmi Party and that in the future (i.e. in the 2027 elections), the party will do well. But in politics, and especially in the context of elections, a period of five years is also considered to be big and important. In 2017, the BJP, which somehow saved the fort, broke all records this time. In 2009, the BJP was seen nowhere, but it won a historic victory in the 2014 general elections on account of Modi’s tremendous popularity and since then he has been in power.

The Aam Aadmi Party does not have a similar organization yet. Besides, the crushing defeat in this election will have a huge impact on its workers. Because the workers were not hoping for victory but for some seats, which they did not get. And who can explain more than Congress what will happen if the workers do not come out?

Ayodhra Ram Mandir special coverage by OpIndia

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OpIndia Staff
OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
Staff reporter at OpIndia

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