Will Aam Aadmi Party's Haryana unit revisit its plan?

CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: AAP may have announced that it will defy traditional vote bank politics based on caste, creed and ethnicity but analysts say it is unclear whether this strategy will work in Haryana or whether the party will be forced to review its stance.

Political parties are experts at playing caste-based politics but AAP doesn’t believe in divisive politics, says Ashawant Gupta, the party’s convenor in Haryana. “We have nothing special to offer to a particular caste but the party seeks justice for all,” says Gupta.

“Voting happens along caste lines when the voters have no significant choice. But AAP’s rise as a credible alternative will help people rise above caste fault lines,” says AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, the party’s candidate from Gurgaon.

However, Pramod Kumar, director of Chandigarh-based Institute for Development and Communication, cautions caste lines are a real factor in politics. “They are more pronounced in villages,” he says.

Kumar says that governance has to be divisional, adding, “AAP learnt its lessons when it stood for demands of rickshaw drivers in Delhi but affected the interests of the commuters.”