The Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral rath has gathered an enviable momentum since the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections in which the party performed way below expectations. Its trampling of the Opposition, especially in Haryana and, then, in Maharashtra must count as significant achievements. And now, the lotus has bloomed in Delhi — after nearly three decades. This must make the BJP’s victory taste all the more sweet. The Aam Aadmi Party, after humbling the BJP on two earlier occasions, has now been humbled at the hustings: even Arvind Kejriwal, its tallest leader, has been bundled out. The Congress, not unexpectedly, has drawn a blank.
Poll pundits would be eagerly awaiting the details that would help them identify the causal factors that contributed to the BJP’s triumphant return to power in Delhi. But some of the reasons explaining the AAP’s rout are palpable. Anti-incumbency definitely played its role in Mr Kejriwal taking a tumble — after all, his party had been in power for a decade. Despite its initial success in addressing the needs of especially the downtrodden in the fields of health and education during its earlier terms, it is possible that the AAP fell short of the voters’ expectations on resolving other civic issues — Delhi’s poisonous air is an example — this time around. That the party’s hands were often tied on account of its run-ins with a hostile lieutenant-governor did not help matters. The BJP’s relentless campaign to smear Mr Kejriwal’s image has also had an effect. The prison terms for Mr Kejriwal and his colleagues in the liquor scam case on grounds of alleged impropriety may have dented the AAP leaders’ squeaky-clean images. It must be pointed out that Manish Sisodia, who had to spend time in prison too, has lost in these polls as well.
Mr Kejriwal’s apparently opulent lifestyle became an issue during the poll campaign. The BJP also cleverly matched the AAP’s offer of freebies instead of relying on its traditional tactic of polarisation. That seems to have borne fruit too. Whether the Congress cut into a share of the AAP’s votes needs to be looked at. What must also be examined is whether the BJP has succeeded in eroding the AAP’s formidable following among Delhi’s poor and the working classes.
The results of the Delhi elections would, quite naturally, have repercussions on national politics. The BJP, now further energised, would also aim to wrest Bihar on its own. It would be interesting to see what this goal would mean for its equations with the Janata Dal (United) whose support is crucial for the survival of Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre. Another consequence of the BJP’s successive electoral victories would undoubtedly be a renewed push for its contentious ideological projects: the imposition of a Uniform Civil Code on the nation being a case in point. The Opposition has serious reasons to be worried. After putting up a fight in the Lok Sabha polls, it has continued to lose crucial states to the BJP subsequently. The feuding among allies — the Congress’s wranglings with the AAP are just one example — has not helped matters. If it is to be a force to be reckoned with, the Opposition needs to put its house in order — and quickly.
