New Delhi: While the Aam Aadmi Party’s massive win against the Bhartiya Janta Party in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections is seen as a victory over the polarising campaign run by the Bharatiya Janata Party, AAP has still not taken a clear stand in terms of its ideological position.

In a recent interview to The Wire‘s senior editor Arfa Khanum Sherwani, AAP’s social media strategist Ankit Lal said that the party doesn’t want to restrict itself to a particular ideology. “Ideology is an 18th-century concept and in the present time, the youth doesn’t relate to ideology. We don’t want to limit ourself to an ideology just because somebody in the 18th century wrote about the Left ideology and later coined the Right ideology.”

He also added that AAP had no issues when it came to switching between the Left and the Right ideologies.

“Our basic model is to give solutions to the public. If the solution is in Left, we will go to Left and if the solution is in Right, we will go to Right,” he added.

On being asked why Kejriwal maintained a distance from the Shaheen Bagh protests to the extent that he had made a statement about removing Shaheen Bagh protesters in two hours, had the police come under his jurisdiction, Lal said, “We need to understand that the police is in the hands of the Central government, specifically with Amit Shah. So, he [Shah] should be asked this question and not them. Kejriwal bhai has said that we stand with everyone who is resisting an attack on the unity of India. When the students were attacked in Jamia, we sent ambulances, doctors and everything that was in our ambit.”

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When further asked whether Kejriwal was in favour of removing the Muslim women protestors at Shaheen Bagh, he said, “It is the duty of every government to find out an amicable solution to any protest. How do we take a stand on something that is not in our control? In the case of Shaheen Bagh too, Kejriwal Bhai meant that he could have spoken to the protesters if it was in his ambit. On multiple public platforms, he has also mentioned that Amit Shah should go and speak to the protesters.”

Upon being asked why Kejriwal had maintained a tactical distance from speaking about the attacks on students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia and Gargi College, Lal said, “Will there be any difference in the situation if he [Kejriwal] gives out any statement? But if Shah will go and speak, the situation can improve.”

Lal also added that even if AAP was physically present to support the students, the situation would not have changed.

“We held the home minister accountable for the attack on the universities, what could be a bigger statement than this?” said Lal.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will be sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi for the third time on February 16.

You can watch the entire interview here: