Decline of AAP

AAP began with great expectations. There was hope of new type of politics. It was to be an alternative to all political parties. There was talk of grassroots democracy, no high command, no government accommodation to ministers and MLAs and so on.
In 2011 there was India Against Corruption movement. Anna Hazare was the face. Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Baba Ramdev, Santosh Hegde, Shazia Ilmi, Swami Agnivesh and many others were part of it. Lokpal Bill was the main demand. Cracks developed in the movement. Some wanted to join politics. Anna Hazare did not want to join politics. Arvind Kejriwal and others formed Aam Aadmi Party on 26/11/2012. It had members from different parts of India and viewed as a national party.
AAP contested Delhi elections and won 28 out of 70 seats. Congress with 8 seats supported AAP. Arvind Kejriwal became CM. He had disputes with Central Government and Lieutenant Governor and resigned after 49 days.
In the Lok Sabha elections that followed in 2014 AAP contested more than 400 seats and won 4 seats in Punjab. Arvind Kejriwal contested against Narendra Modi in Varanasi and lost.
In 2015 AAP had said good bye to grassroots democracy and so on. High command had taken over. Arvind Kejriwal was the high command. In Delhi elections AAP got 67 seats out of 70. Within weeks there were actions against Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. Both were out of the party. This shocked and disillusioned many. They quit AAP.
In the years that followed AAP contested elections in Punjab, Goa, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan without much success. When the time came to send AAP members to Rajya Sabha, out of 3 seats 2 went to who were not members of AAP. This disappointed many. Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan left AAP. Some MLAs started leaving AAP. On 6/9/2019 Alka Lamba quit AAP and joined Congress. She was in Congress before.
Some politicians against whom Arvind Kejriwal had made certain accusations filed defamation cases against him. One of them was Arun Jaitley. After fighting them for some time he submitted apologies. That dented his credibility.
As elections draw near Arvind Kejriwal resorted to freebies and waivers. He said it is free ride for women in buses and Delhi Metro. Water bill payments will be waived. Supreme Court on 6/9/2019 ruled against free ride for women in Delhi Metro as it will cause loss to DMRC.
Like most parties in India AAP has become property of one man. It is just like other parties. While other parties did not give much hope of different politics at their founding, AAP gave that hope. Disappointment is great. Cynicism about anyone who talks of different politics is great. Not many will miss AAP if it ceases to exist.