'Kejriwal’s strategy of not reacting proactively when the riots began would not only cost AAP electorally, but allow BJP to restrict it to Delhi'

The party that swept the Delhi elections a fortnight ago is today facing a credibility crisis that not only mars its plans of expanding outside the capital, but also threatens its survival within.

Aam Aadmi Party sources told The Telegraph that its national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s strategy of not reacting proactively when the riots began would not only cost the AAP electorally, but also allow the BJP to restrict it to the capital.

An AAP functionary, privy to an internal assessment of Kejriwal’s popularity in the aftermath of the riots, said: “Even after the chief minister spoke out in the Assembly, 80 per cent of sentiments expressed about him online is negative. We want to go national on the basis of positive sentiments for Kejriwal’s governance. With the current feedback, we may lose the municipal polls again. People are comparing 2020 to 1984 (when the anti-Sikh riots took place).”

In 2017, the AAP had failed to win even one of Delhi’s three municipal corporations. The party functionary said: “We are looking keenly at Uttar Pradesh, which has Assembly and local body elections in 2022. In our 2017 debut (when the AAP came fifth after the four major parties of the state in local body polls), more than 85 per cent of our representatives who won were Muslim. Muslims in Uttar Pradesh see us as an alternative to the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. (MP) Sanjay Singh had warned that if we are perceived as ineffective in a riot, we will not be an alternative for Uttar Pradesh’s voters.”

On Thursday, Kejriwal announced a slew of measures to tackle the riots, a day after civil society stepped in to fill the governance void when it comes to rescue, relief, and medical assistance.

The Delhi government’s steps include opening helplines, deploying more revenue officers, including night magistrates, to deal with emergencies and aid relief work, using civil defence volunteers to deliver cooked food and milk to riot victims, and increasing the usual ex gratia compensation for the next of kin of each of the deceased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

The other measures are holding meetings with insurance companies to process claims for damages quickly, sanctioning subsidised loans to restart livelihoods, making arrangements for psychiatric counselling, giving books and uniforms to schoolchildren and rescheduling exams.

The question the AAP is, however, unable to answer is why it waited for four days to put in place measures as basic as helplines and additional staff to cope with emergencies.

An AAP office-bearer told this paper: “We have lost trust. Many see us as ineffective at best and opportunists at worst….The situation is that because we stayed back, we have lost ground to the BJP.”A party source said: “What you may see is more pro-Hindu statements from some MLAs. Almost all Muslims voted for us, and at least half of Dalits did too. But in terms of numbers, non-Dalit Hindus are the bulk of our voters. There is a feeling that we are dealing with an age-old problem that has no solution, so some may choose to co-opt Hindu sentiments.”