The defection to the Bharatiya Janata Party of seven Rajya Sabha members from the Aam Aadmi Party has prompted three sorts of reactions.

The first is aimed at the defectors, who are being seen as shameless opportunists.

The second is aimed at the AAP supremo, Arvind Kejriwal, who, it is said, sought to erect a personality cult around himself, and in the process drove away many able individuals from his party.

The third advances the argument that no sensible opponent of Hindutva should have voted for AAP in the first place, since the anti-corruption movement this party had its roots in was supported by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, and since as chief minister of Delhi Kejriwal repeatedly flaunted his Hindu credentials and notoriously did not even visit the non-violent protesters against religious discrimination camped in Shaheen Bagh.

There is merit in each of these criticisms. The defectors indeed appear to be motivated by fear or greed rather than moral or ideological conviction, Kejriwal is insecure about others in the party getting too much attention, and AAP has been less than firm in standing against the dangerous majoritarianism of the ruling party.

Nonetheless, whereas for many observers the existential crisis that AAP now faces prompts a sense of schadenfreude, manifesting scorn and contempt, for this writer it prompts a certain sadness. For there were things that AAP has done in the thirteen-and-a-half years of its existence that have helped deepen Indian democracy.

#WATCH | Delhi | Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal leave from the BJP headquarters after joining the party pic.twitter.com/jrzrbNvNo9— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2026

#WATCH | Delhi | Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal leave from the BJP headquarters after joining the party pic.twitter.com/jrzrbNvNo9

One reason to look at AAP more kindly is the nature of its past electoral successes. For an altogether new party, without deep pockets or an organisational infrastructure, to win two successive elections in Delhi was a hugely impressive achievement. The scale of its victories was staggering – 67 out of 70 seats in 2015, and 62 out of 70 in 2020. Besides, they defeated the Congress and the BJP, both parties which had held sway in Delhi and at the national level. Then, in 2022, AAP also came to power in Punjab. This hat-trick of David vs Goliath style victories was unprecedented in our democratic history, giving succour to those of us who would like to think that in the world of Indian politics money and muscle do not always........

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