Brilliantly done, Mr Kejriwal

Not since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own victory has an election result been this spectacular. In Delhi’s assembly elections (a constituency that has seven seats in parliament, all Narendra Modi’s BJP’s), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a populist upstart led by the former civil servant Arvind Kejriwal, won 67 seats out of a possible 70, inflicting a crushing defeat for the incumbent government. The BJP only won three seats, not including the party’s candidate for the post of Delhi chief minister, Kiran Bedi, a former policewoman, who lost her seat as she challenged Mr Kejriwal for control of the city. The Congress party did not win a single seat. There is much to take away from the AAP’s stunning victory. The party only established itself a few years ago, in the wake of a failed anti-corruption movement. But in these past few years, its rise has been mercurial. It gained power in 2013, albeit in a coalition with the Congress, but was infamously only in office for 49 days before Kejriwal resigned (for which he has since apologised), which led to this election.

The campaign was fierce. Mr Modi himself attended four rallies for his party with the campaign against Kejriwal being vitriolic; while he was already accused of being a “Pakistani agent”, this time he was accused of being a “Naxalite”. But evidently it didn’t affect the result. This clearly indicates that contrary to popular perception, the BJP is not equally popular in all parts of India. The AAP campaigned on local issues like clean water, electricity, an honest police force, etc. that struck a chord with voters. It also campaigned on a more secular platform, appealing across castes and religions. In this way, it seemed to have won the vote of many who had previously supported the Congress. It remains to be seen whether Mr Kejriwal can improve on his last stint in power, which was shambolic and short-lived. But with a majority that would make Mr Modi himself envious, he is already off to a much better start.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2015.

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