The Aam Aadmi Party, which was born out of public enthusiasm with the passion for corruption-free politics, is facing an existential crisis. This is the biggest crisis ever.
It is a tragedy that the party which was formed to make India corruption free has fallen due to allegations of corruption.
Although no obituary should be written for any party or event, it will be difficult for you to distance yourself from the allegations and it would be a miracle if that happens.
This is a self-made crisis. The liquor policy, once heralded by the AAP as yet another innovative idea in the art of governance and policy making, has turned out to be its Achilles heel. The Supreme Court’s rejection of Manish Sisodia’s bail application is a decisive moment. Till today, AAP, its leaders and supporters had full hope that maybe Manish Sisodia would get bail and he would come out of Tihar Jail with his head held high.
And there was a reason for that. The Supreme Court, during its hearing, had said that there was “no evidence” against Manish Sisodia and “the statement of any government witness was not sufficient” to keep him in jail indefinitely. These were powerful comments from the highest court of the country. But, unfortunately, this was a comment, not part of the decision. The court’s comment may make big headlines, but it has no bearing on the merits of the case. In our judicial system, only the final decision of the court matters.
Now the court has clearly indicated in its 47 page decision that a prima facie case is made out against Manish Sisodia. According to the court, it appears that there is a transaction of money involved and it also appears that the change in liquor policy was made with the intention of benefiting private players. The Supreme Court has clearly accepted the contention of the Enforcement Directorate that the increase in commission of liquor distributors from 5 per cent to 12 per cent was done for their benefit and due to this, a profit of Rs 338 crore was credited to their account. Was.
This shows that the court has accepted the ED’s contention that even though no cash has been recovered from him, there is a money trail which prima facie establishes his involvement in the case and it should be properly investigated. . Till then he cannot come out of jail, provided the case does not drag on for long. This means that Manish Sisodia will have to remain in jail for six to eight more months. This has not only strengthened the ED’s case legally and demolished AAP’s witch-hunt argument, but also morally acquitted the Modi government of any wrongdoing in the eyes of the public. This will be the biggest conclusion of the Supreme Court’s decision.

From now on, the Aam Aadmi Party’s argument of a conspiracy against the party and its leaders will not make any difference to a large section of the society. No doubt, the credibility of the judicial system has also failed over the last few decades, but people still hold the Supreme Court in very high regard and its integrity is still not doubted by the public at large. The apex court became the last hope of the public.
It is no coincidence that, within hours of the verdict, the ED was prompted to issue summons to Arvind Kejriwal to appear before the agency for questioning. There is a high possibility that he may also be arrested. And, if that happens, then in the context of the court’s decision, it will be difficult for AAP to weave the argument that Kejriwal is being deliberately targeted by the top agency of the Modi government. From now on, there will be a constant doubt hanging over their heads that since there is a strong case against Manish Sisodia – hence why he is not getting bail even from the Supreme Court – the involvement of the Chief Minister cannot be ruled out. Because it is well known that nothing happens in the Aam Aadmi Party without his knowledge or approval. Kejriwal is the party and the government, the rest only follow his instructions.
Undoubtedly, Kejriwal’s arrest will be disastrous for the party. The first question will be who will become the Chief Minister in his place? Second, who will run the party in his absence? The arrest of a Chief Minister is not a new thing in Indian politics. When Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Chief Minister of Bihar, he was arrested in the fodder scam. Then Lalu was seen as the messiah of the OBC community. He was a popular leader and was very powerful at that time. When he was arrested, his wife Rabri Devi became Chief Minister in his place, and the party and the government were saved. Similarly, Jayalalitha was also arrested. His representative O Panneerselvam was appointed as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Both RJD and AIADMK were left stranded by the absence of their top leaders. The question is will history repeat itself? Unlike RJD and AIADMK, AAP does not have the privilege of strong political legacy and institutional memory. There were other big leaders in RJD and AIADMK, who could have united and collectively faced the crisis. That situation does not exist in the AAP party today. Their two big leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in jail. Obviously this ten year old party is going through a huge crisis.

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