Social scientist Ashis Nandy has quite a way with his gnomic observations on Indian politicians. For Arvind Kejriwal, he had specially qualifying words that put a finger right on the AAP’s core dichotomy. The Delhi chief minister is both an insider and outsider in Indian politics, Nandy had said. “The Mufflerman,” he said in an interview after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won a startling 67/70 seats in the 2015 assembly elections, “should remain like Spiderman, an outsider.” But remaining a complete outsider would be “suicidal” too, Nandy said—what Kejriwal had to do is keep one foot inside.

So how much of a pure political animal could Kejriwal, the ‘common man’ who walked right over those yellow ­barricades to the other side, afford to be? Could his party become just another party, a product vying for space on the supermarket shelves? One among many, like numerous other sectoral interests?