DUB Speak

The Curious Case of Delhi Elections

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The election results of the Dilli Vidhan Sabha polls have turned quite a few heads. From handing a groundbreaking victory to AAP with great majority, to the dramatic dwindling of BJP to 3 seats and the reduction of Congress to zero, these elections have definitely been about the rise of the underdogs. While AAP in itself is not a perfect political party and does not seem to promise cent percent efficiency, what it does very effectively is demonstrate a political will to move away from corrupt and communal political maneuverings.

Arvind Kejriwal’s abrupt resignation in February 2014 raised many eyebrows and led an enormous number of people to lose faith in him and question his political capacities. Following this, the party was publicly defamed by the media and political colleagues alike and Kejriwal’s public image was slandered. The party retreated in its cocoon but kept working from the margins, slowly regaining the lost faith of the public.

The sweeping victory of Narendra Modi in the General Elections last year attracted many eyeballs to Modi’s model of development. Offering a fresh outlook on governance, Modi promised a way out of the mess of corruption and scandals that Congress had enmeshed the country in. However, as BJP settled in, it also led to a rise of pro Hindutva groups such as VHP and RSS that doled out xenophobic, sexist and fascist comments on a frequent basis. The attacks on pubs and moral policing of Valentine’s Day and the change in education syllabi to suit the ulterior political motives of Hindutva did not go down well with the intellectually motivated sections of society. In such a scenario, AAP offered a new perspective, an opportunity to create a level playing field, to move away from capital dominated politics, and construct an arena that promises optimum representation of maximum groups.

However, what remains to be seen is how AAP achieves its near impossible promises of full statehood to Delhi or passing the Jan Lokpal Bill in contradiction to the Union’s Lokpal Bill 2013 even with majority this time. The recent elections offer a timely opportunity to BJP to introspect and fall back to the agenda of development that gave them an astounding victory in 2014 and curb the menace created by these pro Hindutva groups.

[email protected];I think my life would be much better off if I’d make as much effort in reading books as much as I do in buying them. A bibliophile through and through, I possess a keen interest in the history of art and museums and I believe that walking with oneself is the best form of adventure. On a more random (a.k.a siddhi) note, my dream destination is the Rann of Kuttchh, because I find it oddly displaced in time, an entirely different story, and that’s how I truly want to be.

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