The PTI is a personality cult | The AAP is a party The AAP is extremely critical of mainstream parties and accuses them of corruption but its own organisational character is marked by humility. They are not only against the VIP culture; the party leaders have themselves set many examples. For them, austerity really begins at home. They are transparent and have instituted a system of accountability within the party. The PTI is critical too, but its tone and tenor is marked by arrogance. The PTI enthusiasts do not reserve their hatred for other leaders alone but are ready to direct it at even the common voters who refuse to support their party. You clearly can’t expect this from the AAP. More importantly, they have a well-laid out party structure and membership plans. And given their emphasis on developing systems, they are likely to stay the course as they expand and gain power. In contrast, the PTI revolves around the person of its leader – Imran Khan. It is not a party with an agenda, simply one with a celebrity. One of the main demands of the PTI’s election candidates from their own party during the election campaign has been that Khan must visit their constituency. We know one of its stalwart had even quit the party when the leader failed or refused to oblige. The party thinks that Khan’s celebrity status is its biggest political asset. In other words, all that the PTI stands for is invested in the person of its leader, Imran Khan. Let me put it in another way. Imagine for a moment, that Imran Khan quits PTI for any reason, will the party stay the course or will there even be a party? Or are we are most likely to be left with a second grade version of PML-Q? Now, if Arvind Kejriwal quits, will it be curtains for the Aam Aadmi Party? Such an eventuality will certainly be challenging for the AAP too but given its sharp emphasis on its agenda rather than its leader, it is likely to stay the course. Clearly, with the PTI, the charisma of an individual leads the politics and in the AAP’s case, it’s the politics of the party giving birth to a charisma.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 20:04:04 +0000