With the Delhi Govt and the MCD both under AAP, Kejriwal must perform to a T now
It is not often that a political party celebrates after losing an election. The BJP’s supporters did that after it became clear that their party was relinquishing its 15-year control over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The reason was simple: they had expected a landslide in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party at their expense; what they got instead were 104 seats against AAP’s 134. This is quite creditable, especially if we take into account the functioning of the three MCDs (which were united just before the announcement of the election) in the last 15 years. They have been accused of incompetence and corruption; from waterlogging during rains to the (literally) mountains of garbage, the local authorities have failed quite miserably. It was sheer hard work and perseverance of BJP leaders and cadre that helped them overcome, to a large extent, the negativity created by performance in MCDs. Its campaign blitzkrieg, involving Union Ministers and top leaders, was in sharp contrast with the canvassing by the Congress which has been reduced to a single digit, nine. The grand old party must learn from the never-say-die attitude of the BJP workers; the latter succeeded in ensuring a respectable number of seats in the MCD for their party. Grandstanding, which Rahul Gandhi is engaged in, has its use in politics, but it must be complemented with work on the ground; profound statements and smart tweets alone do not yield political dividends.
There is also a lesson for AAP: Its flirting with soft Hindutva is not bringing votes. In the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, where communal riots took place in February 2020, the BJP won 21 out of 41 municipal wards. It may be recalled that AAP, which habitually slams the BJP, did not criticise the saffron party at that time. This had disheartened AAP’s Left-liberal supporters. AAP has been continuously trying to portray itself as a Hindu party though without fringe baggage. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has become a Hanuman bhakt; he and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, appear in televised Diwali puja. Kejriwal expresses his approval of a uniform civil code; he throws up the idea of printing the pictures of gods and goddesses on currency notes. AAP, however, fails to derive any political mileage from religious polarisation. But the hard work and persistence of AAP leaders and activists stood them in good stead. As is its wont, the BJP did everything to discredit and demean AAP — from using Satyendra Jain’s video clips to accusing Sisodia of corruption — but Kejriwal’s party managed to get a clear majority in the MCD. With the State Government and the MCD both under AAP, now Kejriwal will not have any excuse for non-performance. But he is an ingenious person; he can always blame the Lieutenant-Governor for impeding AAP from doing good work for the Capital’s people. We hope that AAP focuses on performance and not on deflecting blame.