The bugles of victory are giving resounding echoes in the political skies of India, as the Aam Aadmi Party has not only successfully passed, but, in fact, topped the litmus test of its survival.
The election campaign that saw the big-wig politicians stoop to newer lows every passing day, ended on the 6th of February. With votes being cast on the 8th of February, the whole political-drama climaxed on the 11th of February as the Aam Admi Party emerged triumphantly.
With a whopping sixty-three seat majority in the seventy seats legislative assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, the party has decimated all claims of it being a failed experiment.
Despite having witnessed multiple blockades, like the initial breakaway of its founding members, the LG-CM strife, disqualification of its MLAs, and accusations of being a political dimwit, the party managed to make its way as the indisputable victor of the 2020 election. This triumph is deeply rooted in the bouquet of welfarist policies of the Aam Admi Party. The last five years of the Kejriwal government were centred on a politics of on-ground development.
While there were numerous hurdles in the way of the Muffler-man, he along with his team managed to revolutionise the health and education sector in the capital, thereby setting a standard before the electors and the elected alike.
Subsidised rates of water and electricity helped shape the Aam Admi Party’s poll performance as did the policy of free bus-travel for women. The Aam Admi Party’s agenda of development has emerged as the new mean between the BJP’s communalism and the left’s communism.
While I believe, the Delhi election is too minuscule, to be seen as the public mandate against the divisive Hindutva Politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party, it still has a lot to say.
The BJP left no stone unturned to secure a win in the elections. With thirty-five rallies by the master-planner of the party, (who also happens to be the country’s home minister) alone, the AAP faced a tough fight.
But the Aam Aadmi Party ably sold its welfare-narrative to the people, as it paired itself with Prashant Kishor (political strategist). The party in its infancy successfully managed to wipe out the Grand Old Party (Congress) from Delhi and gave a fierce fight to the mammoth BJP.
The last few months in Indian politics have been critical to the country’s democratic health. Just in line with its propaganda and hate politics, the ruling party tried its best to steal AAP’s narrative of development and to communalise the election campaign.
From sitting MPs giving genocidal calls to a sitting CM communalising Biryani, the campaign was vitriolic and vicious. The people of Delhi have placed their trust in the AAP.
Kejriwal’s brand of politics can be defined as one “of the people, by the people and for the people”. While earlier, the Delhi CM might have refrained from taking a strong stand against the ruling party’s divisive agenda, due to political compulsions, Kejriwal should now expressively condemn the actions of the BJP over the last few months.
Kejriwal is under attack, both from the left and the right. His new developmental centrism has led him to face brickbats from all directions. His stand on the abrogation of Article 370 and his silence on the stifling of people in Kashmir have been problematic.
The recent developments in Delhi are scary and problematic. I think the Aam Aadmi Party should clarify its stand on these issues. Kejriwal definitely has his flaws, but today, as we seek to safeguard the soul of India, anything that can fight the fascist tendencies of BJP offers hope.
While Kejriwal might not be the best, he definitely has emerged as the least bad, amongst a current lot of politicians. He has proved that a party can win votes on the basis of its work. Let us hope this party thrives qualitatively and quantitatively.