NEW DELHI: The trademark muffler was in place, wrapped around the neck though and not the ears and chin for which he has been caricatured at least a thousand times.
But as Arvind Kejriwal climbed the spiral staircase to reach the roof of the single-storey party office, the cheers from the thousands of workers and supporters below reached a pitch that could perhaps be heard at the rival BJP’s national headquarters located less than half a kilometre away.
Attributing the Aam Aadmi Party’s stunning victory to “kaam ki rajneeti” (politics of development), the Delhi Chief Minister stressed that the people of the national capital had “given a clear message that vote will be given only to those who will work for them.”
“This is a good sign for the nation. This is a victory of the entire nation,” Kejriwal said and invoked Lord Hanuman in his brief speech to the admiring and delirious party workers.
“Lord Hanuman has blessed Delhi and I thank him. We all hope that Lord Hanuman’s blessings will continue for the next five years,” he said before leaving for the Hanuman temple at Connaught Place in the heart of Delhi to pay his obeisance and thanksgiving.
The Delhi CM’s analysis of his party’s win hit the nail on the head. Riding on the success in education, where his government was able to turn deplorable government school infrastructure into modern classrooms, and health, where mohalla clinics offer cheap and good healthcare, the AAP brought about a material difference to the quality of life of Delhiites, especially the poorer sections.
And in the last one year, particularly after the 2019 Lok Sabha debacle when the AAP not only lost all the seven seats but three of its candidates even forfeited their deposit, the Delhi government unveiled a string of populist measures that caught the imagination of every section.
Free water, subsidised power and free bus rides for women touched the lives of almost everyone in the capital. Kejriwal backed up these steps with a publicity drive that left in its wake a BJP and a Congress clutching at straws.
The combination of tangible work on the ground and freebies ensured the AAP’s encore of 2015. It won 62 seats and managed to get 53.6 per cent of the votes, which are only marginally short of its staggering performance in the last polls.
In a way it was not a level playing field from the start. The BJP’s lack of a credible local face hobbled the saffron party to such an extent that, days before the voting, Kejriwal challenged the BJP to name its chief ministerial candidate against whom he could have an open debate.
The BJP also lacked strong local issues around which it could build its campaign. Realising this, the Centre announced that it would regularise 1,731 unauthorised colonies in Delhi, benefitting about 40 lakh people.
A Bill to enable this was hurriedly passed in Parliament in early December. But in the end, it proved to be too little too late as it could not counter the immense goodwill the AAP had generated through its welfare interventions.
BJP Lok Sabha member Parvesh Verma’s personal attack on Kejriwal, when he called the Delhi CM a terrorist, also appeared to hurt the party. A senior BJP functionary involved with the party’s campaign admitted that it did not go down well with the voters. Continued on
Personal attacks cost BJP the polls
Admitting defeat, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari appealed to party workers not to be disappointed. “The good thing is that our vote percentage has increased in comparison with the 2015 elections,” he said.
But the BJP’s defeat only seemed to underline that strong regional players with a good record of bread and butter issues can be a threat to the saffron party.
The Congress put up another poor show. Not only did it draw a blank, its vote share also went down to 4.26 per cent. “It is very clear that whatever we wanted to say in our manifesto they (the people) have not accepted it,” said Delhi Congress president Subhash Chopra.