In 1984 when the Left Front Government first introduced the law to authorise the colonies for rehabilitation and registration, my mother and their family members could first imagine to have a dwelling place in their name. I grew up in a milieu where there was a political polarisation and bitter rivalry between parties, but never was there any cynical vocabulary of hatred and communalism, especially in the refugee colonies where the residents have been victims of a long-drawn partition.

I came to Delhi in the late-1980s as a school-going student when I first encountered the political campaign of BJP on Hindu identity in the Lok Sabha election of 1989. However it was limited to a discourse of 'cultural nationalism' (a term I had no idea about at that time) and played patriotic songs from popular old Hindi films to drum up nationalist sentiments. I must confess I really loved those songs owing to their music and lyrics: in fact all of them appealed to a collective and inclusive idea of nationhood (The most memorable among them was "Door Hato Sab Duniyawalon, Hindustan Humara Hai" from the blockbuster film Kismat in 1943: a film on the national movement against the British rule) What was the most striking in that campaign was the absence of hate speech and cynical 'othering' of any community in public platforms despite the consolidation of a majoritarian identity. One must not forget that the 1989 election was contested in the shadow of the pogrom against the Sikhs in 1984 followed by the Punjab militancy. The refugees from West Pakistan formed a huge segment of the electorate in Delhi: a population which had been a victim of violence during the partition, like the families of my parents. However, Delhi was yet to become a communal couldron in terms of a public discourse.

The Assembly elections of 1993, happening in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition and the consequent communal polarisation across the country, witnessed an expected shift in the narrative. The majoritarian undercurrent was coupled with a muscular nationalism to generate a hysteria: as if the pent up emotions suppressed for years have suddenly exploded with a volcanic eruption! It was an election fought in the backdrop of a communal divide and frequent reference to Pakistan; but neither there was any overt hate speech against any community, nor was there any threat of violence. Expectedly BJP won with 47% votes and 49 seats against a split opposition (Congress and Janata Dal) and a polarised electorate on the agenda of 'Ram Mandir' but miserably failed to give a 'Ram Rajya'.

Those 5 years of BJP rule was a nightmare for Delhi: unprecedented power crisis, perennial water crisis, broken roads, complete collapse of Delhi Government schools to facilitate private schools for profiteering, free hand to the private-owned 'killer' Blue Line buses in the name of public transport and the onion crisis at the end of their tenure which was the proverbial last nail in their coffin. Those 5 years witnessed three political heavyweights as Chief Ministers — Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj — but practically no governance to improve the quality of life in the national capital. Small wonder then the BJP Government was booted out in 1998 even when the NDA Government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had come to power.

What has changed fundamentally in the last 27 years, between 1993 to 2020, in the political climate of Delhi? In my humble opinion the change has been two-fold. First, the emergence of a credible third alternative in the political landscape which focuses only on a limited but the most important agenda of an inclusive and citizen-friendly development: a task which the Aam Aadmi Party has performed incredibly. Second, the maturity of the Delhi electorate to reject the politics of hate and bigotry so consciously engineered by the BJP for petty electoral dividends in the just concluded assembly elections since the party had no alternative programme to offer. In 1993, BJP could win the election without resorting to overt hate speeches and threat of violence owing to a communally charged electorate, most of whom still nursing the wounds of the partition.

However in 2020, the BJP leaders accused of hate speeches and spouting venom against the minorities (Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma) are relatively young. More importantly these hate-mongers have neither suffered the pain of sudden homelessness and destitution, nor they have any experience of being a victim of persecution and violence. These 'babalogs' (scions of privileged political families) have the audacity to rake up old wounds and sufferings of our parents just to encash them during elections. This cynical commodification of individual trauma — an utterly fraudulent attempt to hoodwink the voters — smacks from a sense of impunity acquired for such acts from their political bosses (MoSha) and also an utter contempt towards the intelligence of the electorate.

What was the most shocking in this election was the rabid and the unabashed manner in which the minorities have been attacked and abused by the 'star' campaigners of the BJP who left no stone unturned to inflict a divisive agenda on the people on communal lines. The vitriolic campaign of BJP reached a new low in this election, as evident in the open threat of violence ('Goli Maro Saalon Ko") or conjuring threats of rape (supposedly from the women protesters of Shaheen Bagh). The more BJP stared at defeat during the campaign trail, more was the desperation, and more was the verbal muck and filth.

Kudos to the sensible voters of Delhi to show BJP its place; the muck of its own creation. This historic mandate is an overwhelming rejection of everything BJP stands for: organised violence against University students, overt victimisation of minorities, communal bigotry, corporate mafia, unabashed hate-mongering, cynical use of individual trauma and toxic masculinity as exemplified in the 56" chest. The vicious hate speeches against the women protesters in Shaheen Bagh were expressions of deep-rooted misogyny in the BJP DNA.So were the orchestrated attacks against students in campuses as evidence of BJP's primordial hatred towards education. Delhi has voted for a simple agenda of inclusive development without any empty rhetoric.

Take a bow, Delhi! For the first time in more than thirty years, you have made me feel really proud! And thanks for making me feel that I belong to this city and no longer a migrant out to prove my citizenship to all and sundry!(IPA Service)