Stop Crying. Start Swinging: AAP and Every Young Party Needs to Learn How to Fight Like Hell

 

Stop Crying. Start Swinging: AAP and Every Young Party Needs to Learn How to Fight Like Hell

If you're a young political party in India still whining about being targeted, here’s a newsflash: of course you’re being targeted. That’s what power does — it crushes threats. The real question is whether you're going to keep playing the victim or finally fight like hell. Right now, parties like AAP are getting steamrolled — not because they're wrong, but because they’re trying to fight a knife fight with a spoon. You don’t beat a propaganda machine with politeness. You beat it with noise, lawsuits, relentless public messaging, and people-powered resistance.

The BJP understood long ago that politics isn’t just about policy — it’s about image. They’ve mastered the dark art of throwing so much garbage at their opponents that truth becomes irrelevant. That’s exactly what they did with the Delhi liquor scam. Whether the scam was real or cooked up didn’t matter. What mattered was perception. Bury AAP under suspicion, throw the media into a frenzy, and sit back while the public starts asking, “What if it’s true?” That’s the game — and it works.

You’d think opposition parties would learn by now. Just look at what they did to Rahul Gandhi. The BJP spent years and billions branding him as clueless, soft, out-of-touch — and he’s still trying to shake that image. If he had even half the spine of his grandmother Indira or the raw aggression of Sanjay Gandhi, Modi wouldn’t be sleeping so comfortably. But instead, we get an opposition that treats political war like a seminar.

Take Pulwama — a scandal that was gift-wrapped. The J&K Governor, handpicked by Modi himself, revealed that Modi told him to suppress information about the Pulwama terror attack in the run-up to the 2019 election. That is massive. That’s a scandal that should’ve led to FIRs, public inquiries, mass mobilizations. But the opposition barely blinked. No legal push, no headlines, no coordinated campaign. A complete failure to weaponize truth.

Meanwhile, AAP leaders are being jailed without solid charges. No convictions. Just accusations, raids, and media trials. And what does the party do? Holds a press conference and calls it harassment. Great — now what? You do not sit back and take it. You do not politely let ED or CBI officers into your home as if they’re guests coming for tea. That house belongs to your family. Demand to see the warrant. Demand to know who ordered the raid. If they don’t produce official documents, they do not come in. And if they do, take their names, take their photos, and take them to court. File FIRs against the officer in charge and the person who ordered it. Accuse them of everything — illegal entry, harassment, political targeting. Make it loud.

Don’t just suffer the raid — use it. Get your neighbors involved. Let the cameras roll. Turn the whole neighborhood into a rallying ground. When people see you standing up, they start to stand with you. That’s when they stop seeing you as a politician and start seeing you as a leader.

And here’s the proof that it works — look at Punjab. When Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa threw a grenade into the news cycle claiming “50 bombs are planted across Punjab,” CM Bhagwant Mann didn’t sit silent. He went after Bajwa immediately. Demanded proof. Demanded to know how an opposition leader had access to this kind of intel. Asked why Bajwa hadn’t informed the government first if this was a serious threat. Mann flipped the accusation back on the accuser — and since then, Bajwa’s voice has vanished from the airwaves. That’s how you fight. Boldly, publicly, and with clear demands. And people notice.

This is how a party earns credibility: not by hiding from the fire, but by walking into it and owning the moment. If you want to sustain this kind of fight, you need a war chest. But you don’t need Ambani money — you need people. Ask every supporter for ten rupees. One cup of tea. When millions of citizens chip in small amounts, you raise serious money to fight your cases — and more importantly, you create real buy-in. People start feeling like they own the fight. They aren’t just voters — they’re allies. That’s how movements grow.

While Modi vanishes to inaugurate temples and pose in caves, opposition leaders act like there’s nothing they can do. But this isn’t governance — it’s optics. And behind the scenes, he’s flying with billionaires who come home with government contracts. That’s not public service — it’s privatized politics. And yet, no opposition party is filing a case, demanding disclosures, or exposing the deals. That’s negligence. You’re not supposed to just watch — you’re supposed to strike.

And let’s not forget electoral bonds. Billions came in through anonymous channels, including from the same people used to accuse AAP in the liquor case. There’s a direct line between money, messaging, and manipulation. It’s all there — and still, no one is hammering it into the national conversation every day. You don’t need new scandals. You need the courage to chase the ones already rotting in plain sight.

The BJP uses every state institution — CBI, ED, IT, media — as extensions of its political muscle. If opposition parties aren’t ready to use the courts, the streets, and the public as their own arsenal, they’re not serious. Every raid, every arrest, every attempt to silence must be turned into a megaphone.

This is a street fight. And you don’t win a street fight by asking for permission. You win by punching back harder. Build your machinery — legal, financial, narrative. Mobilize supporters. Make every attack cost them votes. You don’t earn leadership by pleading — you earn it by standing up when it matters most.

So make up your mind. Stop crying. Start swinging.