Arvind Kejriwal must be in a shock! With the constant bickering (departure of Shazia Ilmi and several others and the very public spat between Yogendra Yadav and Manish Sisodia), lack of funds and vision, and even the one-upmanship that is on display these days, this existential crisis is something that he would have never dreamed of.

His party which was ably helped by the media and activists is suddenly in the news for all the wrong reasons. It is easy to say that the party is new and lacks direction at present, and that given a period of time it would improve, but all the evidences today sadly point to the contrary. And the only one to be blamed for the heartbreaking plight of this party is unfortunately its very own supporters. These blind enthusiasts, who pushed Arvind Kejriwal and all its top leaders to fight against political and seasoned heavyweights in the 2014 general elections, despite knowing that they were new in this field, are the reason why AAP, once a beacon of hope has become a butt of all jokes. This is not to absolve Arvind and others completely; he and other leaders too must be blamed for showing similar rowdy tendencies because a leader needs to lead the mob and not be led by it. But being political greenhorns, it seems they have mistaken democracy for ‘mobocracy’ which is harming their decision making. Also, where is the need for a referendum for everything (Janlokpal and CMship etc)? This is extremely dangerous as India is a country of more than a billion plus people and this approach will make decision making abysmally slow. They need to remember that all political units, howsoever democratic, need a leader to guide the supporters and it should not be the other way round. Getting carried away with the supporter’s shenanigans is no short of death, and this is particularly true for AAP.

What is common for these cheerleader-type-supporters is that they hero-worship their leaders and want them to display unabashed and unrealistic bravado instead of mature response. They are completely blind to the fact that if AAP has to be the dark horse, then it needs to first hone its rough edges with the toughest challenges that grip this country like unemployment, security, law and order issues and several others. Take for example Kashmir issue; leaders like Prashant Bhushan have openly said that the referendum is the best foot forward. When there was a hue and cry in the media, AAP distanced itself from it and said that this was the Bhushan’s own stand and not that of the party’s. Same is the case with reservation policy; no one knows what the party believes in. Now these are burning issues that cannot be swept away by any broom under the hocus-pocus of political circus and AAP needs to develop a rational course of action to deal with these political riddles.

But unfortunately for the party, the wild cheerleaders are impatient; what they seek is to see the AAP leaders behave like ruffians and anarchists and orchestrate ways to disrupt the normal functioning. In short, AAP supporters are like a wild cantankerous mob high on their own perceived moral crusade. The ruckus on Churchgate in Mumbai (when metal detectors were thwarted by AAP supporters) and the protests they carried outside Tihar Jail in May this year (after Arvind was lodged there), the flash protests outside Arun Jaitley’s house and the current blunder of damaging the office property of Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, clearly point to their disruptive mob-like enthusiasm. The blind belief in their own morality and their leader’s leaves little room for any discussion and any scope of improvement, which is stopping AAP from reaching out to others and in expanding its base.

What AAP needs at this time is to lie low, strategize and be clear on all issues, right from women rights to Armed Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA) to employment and all others. It also needs to make everyone, even Arvind Kejriwal, accountable for every foot-in-the-mouth statement that comes out. Also, its errant supporters who push the party to political hara-kiri should be done away with; it is always wiser to have intelligent foes than dumb friends.

Arvind also needs to reinvent AAP and make it a lean and mean political machine that fights with intelligent bantering and is also willing to open itself to scrutiny. One of the reasons why AAP was able to charm Delhi was its deft usage of mainstream media (which it now calls paid as the same media is pointing to the chinks in its armor) and it paid handsomely in the Delhi Assembly elections. There is no harm in again going back and trying the same tactics, because there are no permanent enemies and friends in either politics or in the media.

In short, instead of behaving like a rowdy political unit, AAP needs to surrender to the will of the masses in general and not to its draconian and unbending supporters in particular. AAP needs to remain relevant not because all others are corrupt, but because it has ignited a fierce interest in the young for politics. Those writing its obituary also need to take it easy and let this fledgling party figure it all out, after all Arvind is a maverick, he may have a few surprises for all of us in the end!