My Weekly Column: AAP's 'New Spokespersons' Attitude Reflects Sheer 'Credibility Loss' At All Points

The Aam Aadmi Party has changed, and it shows in the way the party has restructured its team of spokespersons. If the earlier bunch looked and spoke like earnest outsiders eager to be different from the run of the mill politicians speaking for respective parties, the new ones speak the language of the insider.

The frankness, intellectual clarity and lucidity of the former perhaps reflected what the party was then – an entity bubbling with ideological energy; the hard-nosed, combative and clever approach of the present order makes you realize that the AAP has moved on and entered a new phase.

After throwing out Yogendra Yadav as the chief spokesperson, it has constituted a team of 21 spokespersons with one media coordinator. 

Deepak Bajpai will serve as the latter. A conspicuous absence from the new team is Atishi Marlena, the party’s best known female spokesperson on television. Marlena had replaced Shazia Ilmi after the latter’s exit from AAP. According to the non-partisan volunteers, the exit of ‘loyalist’ Marlena has been due to her ‘non-aggressive stand’ in the case of Yadav and Bhushan.

“Sanjay, Singh, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh, etc were visibly aggressive on news channels while giving bytes against Bhushan and Yadav. Even, Khetan tweeted against the Bhushans. Now, they have been rewarded for this act,” an AAP volunteer remarked.

What does the change of spokespersons, especially Yogendra Yadav, tell about the AAP’s new character? After all, AAP’s success owed a lot to its spokespersons who had been deputed either to interact with the media or to debate on news channels.

“It was during Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan that the party could connect with the intellectuals and it gave credibility to debates on TV channels. As a result AAP was successful in establishing a strong connection with the intelligentsia across the country, and many joined the party. Now gradually, that connect will be gone. It’s a big loss for AAP,” remarked party’s senior leader Prof Anand Kumar, who has recently been removed from National Executive and National Council.

A senior leader of AAP counters, “Where’s the problem? Any party can appoint its members as spokespersons it finds proper. There is also rotation system, when an old guard is replaced by a new one. It’s the decision of the party’s top leadership and they are free to appoint, who they want to, as per the need of the party. It’s an internal matter.”

Even, Prashant Bhushan, who was never a designated spokesperson of AAP, was often visible on TV channels fire-fighting for the party. Whether it was related to any scam or on party’s internal issues, his appearance provided credibility to the talk. Today, he’s out too, like the AAP ombudsman (internal Lokpal) Admiral (retd) L Ramdas. These steps have had a negative impact on the image of AAP, which started as a ‘political party with a difference,’ with high intellectual quotient.

“The way things have developed over the past few weeks, has rendered AAP into a regional party. It was AAP that vociferously spoke about Lokpal, and it’s the same party that has shunted its own Lokpal Adm Ramdas. A spokesperson is the face of a political party, who creates a perception about the party on public mind. But, by removing its credible faces, the AAP is bound to get a dent in its image,” said Indrajit Deb, an advertising and brand consultant.

Even political analysts have termed the recent exit of credible faces from AAP as “brain drain”. Instead of its previous avatar of an intellectually articulate yet assertive party, the mantra for these new spokespersons is to be aggressive, and to even spew venom at times. The difference between AAP and any other political party is passé.

Added political sociologist Prof Manjit Singh, “By ousting legal luminary Prashant Bhushan and political expert Yogendra Yadav, who were one of the most credible faces in the AAP amongst public, the party has lost its basic principle of changing the system though a movement, which it has been propounding. Now, those who have been clamouring for power are calling the shots in the party. This basic character is lost and this will weaken the party in long term.”

In the latest turn of events, the only woman in the National Executive, Christina Samy from Chennai, has resigned. “AAP has lost trust in its own founding principles and the constitution and system of Lokpal. It has shattered the hopes and dreams of millions of common people,” said Samy in her resignation letter on Wednesday evening.