Atishi is a stop-gap. Kejriwal wants to be CM like kids candy! But this time it is not easy. The 'jail-bird' tag might cost Kejriwal a third (fourth?) in a row shot at the CM’s chair. But Arvind Kejriwal has a protective ‘kavach’ though how that will help the AAP win the elections is a mystery.

The issues and promises Kejriwal has picked up point to a shift. From being ‘secular’, Kejriwal has moved to what’s called ‘soft-Hindutva’. Uncertainty does that to politicians. Kejriwal isn’t the confident-self he used to be.

In this edition of the Delhi elections, Kejriwal is afflicted with doubts. And the zeitgeist of the times, a shift to Hindutva, is in Modi and Yogi’s favour, forcing Kejriwal to go soft-Hindutva.

Kejriwal, contrary to general thought, is close to Hindus, is the well-wisher of Hindus, and helpful, too! Whoever would have thought Kejriwal would make Bharatiya Janata Party eat crow on issues Hindu?

The AAP is working hard to appear more Hindu than the notoriously Hindutva BJP. On New Year eve, Kejriwal announced Rs 18000 honorarium for Delhi’s Hindu priests and Sikh ‘granthis’, now why didn't the BJP think of that, he asked, challenging the BJP to follow suit in BJP-ruled states.

Is Delhi dotted with temples and priests; gurdwaras and ‘granthis’? Ironically, this Kejriwal scheme was announced even as Delhi maulanas and maulvis were protesting the non-distribution of their AAP Government-granted “salaries” for the past 18 months. Kejriwal’sMaulana outreach was part of AAP’s Muslim-first policy, which the BJP could not match.

Today, the BJP is complaining against AAP’s Hindu outreach. Is Kejriwal giving the BJP the creeps? Isn’t the BJP feeling safe in its Hindutva-skin now that Kejriwal has taken a softer Hindutva hue? Doesn’t the BJP have powerful Hindutva-icons such as the ‘Ek hai toh safe hain’ Narendra Modi and the ‘Batenge toh katenge’ Yogi Adityanath?

Yogi Adityanath was in Delhi last week with an electrifying speech. “Your Delhi is dirty, it was way cleaner during Sheila Dikshit’s tenure,” he told a raucous crowd of BJP supporters. "Come to Ghaziabad and Noida for safety and cleanliness."

Kejriwal didn't hear, he spent New Year eve trading charges with the BJP on voter deletions and about cash-for-vote, a complaint against the BJP, which Kejriwal lodged with the “Param Pujniya” Mohan Bhagwat, who wants saner Hindu voices to prevail for “social harmony”, which is a subject close to his heart.

Will Arvind Kejriwal prove to be the poltergeist the RSS Chief wants; be a Hindutva leader without being a Hindu zealot? Kejriwal is a Hanuman-bhakt and he will be the last politician/leader to look for a ‘Shivling’ under a mosque, any mosque.

Also, Hanuman has not ever been paired with Shiva or Krishna, only with Lord Ram and the Ayodhya Ram Mandir has nothing to do with the Places of Worship Act, 1991. Did Arvind Kejriwal visit the Ayodhya Ram Mandir? Did Delhi Chief Minister Atishi bow to Lord Ram in his Ayodhya abode?

Atishi last week accused the Delhi Lt. Governor VK Saxena of ordering the demolition of temples in Delhi, which Saxena said was a lie. Atishi wouldn't back-off, she was articulating AAP’s soft-Hindutva, which has many interpretations including the one which frequently crops up – AAP’s nervousness going into these elections.

The unbeatable-in-Delhi AAP is floundering from one issue to another. If it isn't about Bangladeshi, Rohingya and Purvanchali, then it is about water and corruption or about schemes targeting women. Arvind Kejriwal is giving the impression he is crowded and claustrophobic, worried of what awaits the party and him, realizing that it cannot wait on Muslims and freebies to dole out victory!

What if Delhi’s voters like Maharashtra’s voters and those of Haryana and those who voted in the nine Uttar Pradesh by-polls vote for ‘Batenge toh katenge’ and ‘Ek hain to nek hain’? The zeitgeist of the time favours the Hindutva, in the Hindi-belt at least and Delhi is also part of the Hindi-belt.

Does not mean the BJP is expecting a victory, 100%? Despite the perceived advantages, the BJP is not all that sure. It doesn't know what Arvind Kejriwal pulls out of his electoral hat. If there is any politician more election-savvy than Kejriwal, that gentleman is yet to show his face and throw his hat in the ring.

Besides, Delhi’s voters haven’t lost their yen for freebies. If anybody knows the taste of costless living, it is the ‘aam Delhi voter’. The people of Delhi have gotten used to Arvind Kejriwal and his promises, empty or loaded. The man may speak with a forked tongue and have the Janus look. But nothing he says and promises sounds outlandish to the Delhi voter, whether it is about ending corruption or apologizing for the dire state of the Yamuna, Kejriwal can get away with anything short of murder! (IPA Service)