The Aam Aadmi Party appears to have stopped aiming its attacks squarely at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is now directing its criticism at the BJP as a whole. The change followed a run of electoral disappointments in Punjab, Goa and the Delhi municipal polls.

A run of setbacks

In the recent Punjab Assembly election the party won 20 of the state’s 117 seats. It failed to win any seat in Goa, and in the Delhi civic body elections it finished behind the BJP. Party leaders reportedly felt that the earlier strategy of constantly targeting the Prime Minister had hurt it at the polls.

The new tone was visible when the CBI visited the premises of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain in two separate cases. The AAP blamed the agency and the BJP-ruled Centre rather than Modi personally. By contrast, when the CBI raided Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office in December 2015, he had accused Modi of misusing the agency and used harsh personal insults. In the past, his responses to the flogging of Dalits in Una and the death of scholar Rohith Vemula had also centred on Modi, and the party had described the Delhi Police as Modi’s police.

What the tweets show

• From March 4 to 10, the week before the March 11 results, Kejriwal posted or shared 181 tweets: 49 mentioned Modi, almost all critically; 22 attacked the BJP and the RSS; and 88 praised the Delhi government’s work.
• In the week after the results, March 11-17, he did not post a single tweet attacking Modi, though occasional criticism of the BJP continued.
• For the municipal campaign, the party focused on what it called the BJP’s misrule of the civic bodies.

Kejriwal has more than 11 million followers, second only to Modi. At a farmers’ convention last week he criticised the Centre over the agrarian situation without naming the Prime Minister.

Reactions

One AAP leader said Modi was at the height of his popularity and that direct attacks would only damage his opponents. Party leader Ashutosh, however, denied any change, arguing: “In current scenario, the BJP is synonymous with Modi.” Sanjay Kumar, a political analyst and professor with the CSDS (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies), called the shift a good sign, saying criticism of government policy and of the BJP would serve the party better.

See also: Election news

Originally published on 29 June 2017. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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