(This story originally appeared in on Apr 16, 2017)

NEW DELHI: Senior AAP functionary Kumar Vishwas has created a stir by uploading a video on Twitter which directly criticizes the AAP government and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal without naming them.In the course of a 13-minute address to countrymen, in which he spoke on a range of issues - from Kashmir to Pakistan - he has virtually indicted the government for trying to protect its own when they come under the corruption scanner."If in Delhi you form a government on the anti-corruption plank with the promise of freedom from corruption and fall silent and try to protect your own people when they come under the scanner, you will be questioned by people," he says.The fact that this is preceded by a message to the Centre that when you seek public support in the name of nationalism and win and if those fighting to protect the country are attacked while on duty, then people will question the government and there will be no solace to AAP and its leadership.However, the party is maintaining its composure in public and has described it as a measure of democracy within. Kejriwal even tweeted the video, describing it as "shaandaar" and one which shakes you up from within.What could also hurt the party leadership is the seeming equivalence drawn by Kumar between Narendra Modi and Kejriwal.Reflecting on the state of the nation, Vishwas says: "We clearly don't appear to be worried as we are too busy pleasing our political bosses. We are only chanting `Modi, Modi...Arvind, Arvind...Rahul, Rahul...faces keep coming before us...India is Indira, Indira is India....Modi raj aa gaya, Yogi raj aa gaya...A K raj aa gaya...we don't seem to realise that all this is short-lived.Whether it is Modi, Rahul, Yogi or AK....it is about five years...10 years...25 years...but India is beyond all this and will be there for thousands of years even after we are all gone."He asserts that "these governments are not permanent, they come and go....these palaces, PM house, CM house are temporary...so I ask of you all to come out of your nests, your brackets and act." The video starts with Vish was expressing his anguish over the treatment meted out to the country's men in uniform who had gone to Kashmir for polling as seen in a video. "I want to ask whether we in this country can stop for some time and think beyond our political parties and flattery of our leaderships.Can we ask the question that with the same party government at the Centre and in the state, how can a son of India be attacked by goondas?" He also later raises the issue of farmers committing suicide.Speaking to TOI, Vishwas said, "My message is clear. I have said country first, politics later. I don't want to say anything beyond that. Each is free to interpret the message his own way." He did point out that AAP had tweeted his video message from the official twitter handle though much after it had created a stir on social media.The message - though only a tiny segment of the entire video -assumes significance as it comes in the wake of the Rajouri Garden bypoll debacle where the AAP candidate lost his deposit. The party is yet to recover from its performance in Goa and Punjab. Soon after the Rajouri Garden result was announced, former AAP MLA from the area Jarnail Singh had called for a "deep and honest introspection" by the party on why it lost so badly , indicating that just his resigning from the seat to join the Punjab battle cannot be the only reason for such a debacle.There have been murmurs and allegations within the party of a coterie surrounding the CM, making him lose connect with reality and the core issues that AAP had earlier identified, like Lokpal, as a route to combat corruption. The candidate selection process and strategy planning for Punjab and Rajouri Garden elections are being cited as a reflection of the internal state of affairs in the party, said sources.The first signs of unrest were visible when in March AAP MLA from Bawana Ved Prakash resigned to join BJP. "I felt suffocated. The ministers never take our calls. Manish Sisodia and Kapil Mishra never answer our calls," he had alleged.He had also said that Kejriwal was unaware of what's happening in the party and is surrounded by people who believe in running the government "through laptops".