Aam Admi Party (AAP) is bracing itself to jump into the electoral battle in Assam and is set to popularise the “Delhi Model of Development” in Assam keeping a safe distance from all other parties in the state.
The party supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, will be visiting the state in November to sound off the election bugle ahead of assembly elections in 2021.
The party has already started recruiting members; as many as 200 workers from Asom Gana Parishad have joined the party in recent times, claimed AAP state coordinator, Bhaben Choudhury.
Choudhury said that the party plans to contest in 80 seats in the assembly elections.
Choudhury added, "We are here to change politics and not just be an option." The central command has sent senior AAP leader Rajesh Sharma to Assam to take stock of the upcoming polls.
Sharma oversaw the recently conducted meetings in Biswanath district ahead of the visit of the Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal in November who is taking a keen interest in Assam politics.
The party wishes to replicate the much-touted Delhi model in Assam whilst giving it a local touch and has identified two key areas: education and healthcare. In education, the party plans to give importance to government schools and revamp focus on primary schools with initiatives like Parents Teachers Meet.
AAP also wishes to replicate the popular Mohalla Clinics in Delhi and call it as “Gaon/Suburia” Clinics where it proposes to allocate one doctor per village locality. The party has already begun door to door campaign by distributing oximeters among the villagers as an attempt to get introduced with the masses.
Amid the ambitious education and healthcare agenda, the party has also been vocal about its stand on other key issues such as the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The state party coordinator believes that the party is "definitely against the CAA, but that doesn't mean it automatically is with the other anti-CAA parties and groups,” he further clarified.
A few of the senior-level leaders from Congress and BJP have even approached AAP in the meantime, as claimed by the party.
G Plus spoke to AAP volunteer Sibsagar Unit, Laxmikanth Dubey, who claims that "the other parties teaming up against BJP lack unity and suffer from power struggle issues. But the youth believe in Kejriwal. We are not just a party, it's a formula." However, none of the members could give a clear response on their political affinity with other parties if and when the situation emerges of a coalition.
In Assam, a host of anti-CAA voices now find themselves divided and are planning to contest elections independently.
The Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have joined hands. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) are planning to float their own party. Even though the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi has sought “a united force to have one inclusive party”, there seems to be a lack of single opposition.
Meanwhile, AAP has neither distanced themselves from the aforementioned parties nor are they with them. The party is open to a seat-sharing agreement provided "the other parties come clean about their ideology and intentions." This ambiguity is prevalent among all the upcoming parties that wish to contest the elections. As such, can AAP be sustainable only on the development agenda alone against the bigger players or is it just another party struggling to consolidate the anti-incumbency momentum?