The Delhi Verdict

Saturday’s Delhi Assembly election results have three clear-cut meanings. First and foremost, it is a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party, which had, during its ten-year rule, taken the national capital nowhere near what he had claimed to have stood for. Secondly, it is a vindication of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies. And third, it is a reassertion of the people of the capital state that the Congress has no business whatsoever in governance. The decisive mandate, which went in favour of the BJP also opened the doors for the saffron party to the Delhi Assembly for the first time since 1998, in the process further stamping the prominence of Modi in the saffron polity. It must be kept in mind that this is the third straight major victory for the BJP after the assembly election wins in Haryana and Maharashtra. With Delhi in its bag now, the BJP has further consolidated its position in Northern India. A resounding win across various segments in the country’s capital—which includes community votes, women, first-time voters, villages, Dalit segments, and migrants from different states who have become voters there—also bears the clear meaning that the BJP will continue to project itself as the party of people’s preference. What is most significant is that the BJP had entered the fray for the Delhi Assembly as a faceless entity, refusing to project an individual as its chief ministerial candidate. And, despite that, the BJP came out with flying colours against Kejriwal and his AAP, particularly decimating the self-styled “Mr. Honest” in his segment. This also signals a massive surge in saffron sentiments in the capital and anti-incumbency against the AAP. Another noteworthy aspect is that the BJP’s Delhi victory will strengthen the saffron party’s prospects in the ensuing Bihar elections, apart from giving it a much-needed boost to focus its attention on Punjab, the only other state where AAP is in power now. Simultaneously, the Delhi verdict also provides a clear reading of the future of the Congress party, which has drawn a big zero in the outcome. Though the people of Delhi have preferred to wipe out altogether the name of Congress from their minds, the Congress party, however, refuses to accept that the Delhi result is the latest example of Modi magic. Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh, for instance, has said that the Delhi result, rather than being a vindication of the policies of Prime Minister Modi, is a rejection of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of deceit, deception, and vastly exaggerated claims of achievement. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, despite scoring a big zero, on the other hand, has claimed that it was his party that had created an atmosphere against the ruling party in Delhi in “the public interest” on which the BJP scripted its victory.