The claim, often made by Congress workers, that AAP is a “vote-cutting party” is not merely unacceptable. It is also a direct attack on the very idea of pluralism. This argument conveniently absolves the Congress party of its own political failures, while simultaneously projecting Congress as the sole guardian of democracy. Why should that be the case? Does being an old party give Congress the birthright to be the only opposition to the BJP? Does being a formerly ruling party give it exclusive ownership of the political space on the left? More importantly, who are journalist-writers for The Wire, Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari, and for that matter, Congress to decide which party is right for the country? Have they become bigger than the people of this country?I am referring to the article in The Wire, on AAP’s role as an opposition party, Kejriwal Discharge: At Crucial Time for Opposition Politics in India, How Much will AAP Oppose BJP?, published on March 10, 2026.While the authors conveniently blame AAP for “cutting into Congress votes” in states like Goa and Gujarat, they carefully ignore one basic fact. Congress has been out of power in Gujarat for nearly 35 years and in Goa for almost 25 years. AAP, on the other hand, is barely 15 years old. What exactly did Congress do during those three decades when AAP was not even an idea on papers?Take Gujarat as an example. A significant number of Congress leaders there either function as political subordinates of the BJP or join the BJP at the first available opportunity. In Goa, the situation has been equally embarrassing. In 2022, Congress failed to form a government even after emerging as the single largest party because eight of its MLAs promptly defected to the BJP. A party that cannot even respect the mandate of the people has been portrayed in the piece as some innocent victim that is supposedly being dislodged from its “rightful” place by a “cunning” Kejriwal. The language reflects deep political bias rather than any serious journalistic analysis.More importantly, the real story here is not about AAP. It is about Congress’s own incompetence and arrogance which has been quite often ignored by the “liberals”. The larger political trend across India is quite clear. Wherever credible regional forces have emerged to challenge the BJP, Congress has steadily declined. This has happened in Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and across the North-East. The reason is not the rise of regional parties. The reason is Congress’s persistent arrogance and its complete detachment from the realities faced by ordinary Indians.While authors raise concerns about Kejriwal’s influence within AAP, they conveniently ignore the fact that the party they are implicitly defending functions as little more than a family enterprise. Rahul Gandhi may not formally hold the highest office in the party, but everyone knows who ultimately calls the shots. Around him sits a coterie of deeply ineffective leaders who, if left to themselves, would struggle to win even a municipal ward election.Now consider one final fact. Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and other senior AAP leaders collectively spent 82 months in jail in a case that has now been dismissed by the court as politically motivated and lacking evidence. Which Congress leader has endured anything remotely comparable in the fight against the BJP? And yet the audacity remains to label AAP as the BJP’s “B-team”.Who are journalists to decide what AAP’s ideology should be? If the people did not believe in AAP, how did the party become a national party in just 13 years?The problem that those criticising AAP have is not really with Kejriwal as a political figure. The problem is that an educated, relentless street-level fighter has managed to capture the imagination of a large section of the Indian electorate, including many who traditionally identified with progressive politics. And he has done so despite sustained attacks from both the BJP and the Congress.The attitude reflected in this article mirrors the same mindset that dominates large sections of the Congress ecosystem. A self-appointed group that believes it alone represents India, democracy, and opposition politics.Continue drowning in that arrogance. Not only AAP, but every other political force in this country will challenge and replace Congress wherever it takes the people’s mandate for granted.Arvind Kejriwal is not a man in a hurry. He is a man with a vision. He possesses the political sharpness and the willingness to fight on the streets that make him a genuine challenger to the Sangh and the BJP. He talks the language of the common man; his teams fights and work on issues that affect the daily lives of Indians. And perhaps more importantly, he also represents a challenge to the complacent and entitled politics that has come to define the Congress party.It is time for authors to show some humility and pay attention to the facts that I have explained above. More importantly, for Congress, it is time to listen to, and respect the mandate of the people of this country. The fact that your party once ruled this country doesn’t make you the de-facto choice for opposing BJP, let alone serving the people of India.Ashutosh Ranka is a national spokesperson for the Aam Aadmi Party. He is a public health consultant and a graduate from IIT Kanpur and London School of Economics.