The inevitable question being posed is; has the Modi—Amit Shah juggernaut halted and what would be its bearing on the national stage? Yes, the juggernaut has come to a halt at the moment but the real test is yet to come; the coming elections in Bihar, West Bengal and other states will decide which way the wind is blowing. Already non-BJP forces—Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar and the Left Parties — have joined hands with Arvind Kejriwal and this may have bearing on the national scene. If the Delhi election trends continue, the BJP’s “acche din” (good days) may be over.
The Delhi elections, however, are unlikely to have any impact on the Modi Government at the centre because it has comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha but it can no longer be able to bulldoze its way as seen hitherto. As Modi got down to the task of running the government and Amit Shah began to manage the victories in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, Kejriwal kept his nose to the ground in Delhi. He posed himself as the savior of the poor, working to expose the water mafia in the Jal Board and kept an agitation against the allegedly corrupt practices of electricity discoms.
One reason for the AAP’s landslide victory is said to be shifting of the Congress votes en bloc to Kejriwal. Muslims, Christians and other minorities voted whole hog for the AAP. Also most of the anti-BJP votes went to Kejriwal’s party and not to the Congress. This made a big differences. BJP’s Delhi unit was found wanting as it pitched an outsider—Kiran Bedi—as the last minute choice for the Chief Minister’s post, creating a division within its ranks. The BJP tried to prevent Delhi elections as Modi versus Kejriwal battle but the fact remains it was the Prime Minister’s might that was challenged. Sources say that the BJP leaders had guessed that it was losing, so they brought Bedi but the gamble failed.
Kiran Bedi’s defeat was shocking indeed. She lost from Krishna Nagar constituency from which the BJP was never before defeated. A downcast Bedi says she would continue with the BJP and work for the party. Modi used to talk about a Congress Mukta India but, as leader chose to put it, the PM made it a BJP-mukta Delhi.
It is early to say who would be taking the responsibility for the BJP’s rout in Delhi but somebody has to be held accountable. The state BJP leaders say they were not responsible because all decisions were taken by central leaders, pointing to Amit Shah, who brought Kiran Modi. Shah is, at the moment, indispensable and will continue on his post. Who will then be made accountable for such a massive debacle?
Results of all the seventy seats, having been declared, the AAP has touched an astounding figure of 67 and the BJP shrunk to four. The Congress remained a big zero
The challenges before Kejriwal are immense. Will he be able to live up to the expectations of the people of Delhi? Will he be able to deliver all the promises, he has made—some possible, some not? Give him, at least, a year before passing a judgement. (IPA Service)
India
AAP’S MASSIVE VICTORY MAY LEAD TO REALIGNMENT
ANTI-BJP FORCES GET A COMMON CAUSE
Harihar Swarup - 2015-02-10 11:56
It was indeed a Super Tuesday. The BJP was routed and the Congress completely decimated in the Delhi Assembly elections. This was unexpected and not even projected in the Exit Polls which had forecast a landslide victory for the Aam Admi Party but not a setback of this magnitude to the BJP. Delhi elections were not an ordinary state election— unheard off, never witnessed in the annals of history. It was a battle which could reshape the very nature of urban politics in a changing economy and alter equations at the national level. Increasingly politically aware and aspirational voters were looking for an agenda which mirrored their daily anxieties—prices, corruption, security, water and power—and they have found it in Kejriwal’s assurances.