AAP inside out

The first edition of this book appeared in 2018. Between then and now, Mayank Gandhi, an activist dedicated to social transformation, justice and equity has exited power politics, preferring to watch from the sidelines, the rise (or decline, depending on your persuasion) of a movement he helped create that became a caricature of itself, then a political party and then a monstrous leviathan.

- ADITI PHADNIS

Although Shrey Shah, a lawyer who hopes to become an IAS officer one day by using the strengths of the system to purge itself, is listed as a co-author, Mr Gandhi, his mentor, says he "helped" him write the book. This, then, is essentially Mr Gandhi's narrative.

The book explains that around 2011, Mr Gandhi became a part of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement and a member of its 24-person "core committee", which was officially the full extent of the movement in a formal organisational sense.

Mr Gandhi also served as a member of the national executive of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) until 2015, besides acting as the party's head in Maharashtra. His unit was disbanded because of differences with the party chief Arvind Kejriwal. In 2015, he resigned from the party's national executive.

The original version of the book describes in detail how the transformation of AAP was mirrored in the transformation of its leaders. The current version brings it up to date, including references to the Swati Maliwal episode and the liquor excise scam: Not discussed in much detail, except to strengthen the belief of the authors that AAP had lost its way.

The book is worth reading just to revisit what AAP was and what it has become. Mr Gandhi's conclusion: AAP was on a slippery slope when it decided to become a political outfit but it has slid further beyond recognition.