Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) returned to government with a huge mandate as it won 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly. Though the number is short of five seats from its previous its win in 2015, this second consecutive victory against the BJP’s horrible religious fanaticism is spectacular. The victory speech of Arvind Kejriwal sets the agenda: “This is a vote for those who build schools, who provide electricity and healthcare. This augurs well for the country.”The public has endorsed his policies for a second time.
All along the way, Arvind Kejriwal has turned up a strong face to defeat the BJP’s hate-filled nationalist cause. Other than the ideological front, the AAP has worked well for improving access to education, health care, water and transport for Delhi’s poorest people. In a way, the AAP’s victory is not just a defeat of the BJP’s Hindutva ideology it is also a win for AAP’s pro-poor style of governance. Since its victory in the national election in 2019 the BJP has faced a flurry of defeats in state elections. At the national level, the religious hysteria created by the Modi group worked well but in Indian state elections it seems that governance matters more.
Jamshed Alam Siddiqui
Lahore