Ceritalah | What does New Delhi election reveal about the best way to defeat Narendra Modi and BJP?
- By delivering on education and avoiding identity politics, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal steered his Aam Admi Party to victory
- However, winning the Indian capital is no proof you can win the country – that will require greater cooperation and regional alliances
Nevertheless, relations between the two giants are far from perfect, as trade and investment disputes cast long shadows.
To add insult to injury, earlier this month, Modi suffered an electoral defeat in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with all its money, media backing and vitriolic anti-Muslim attacks, failed to dislodge the Aam Admi (“common man”) Party (AAP) and its unassuming leader, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The AAP won 62 of Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats with the BJP taking the rest.
Kejriwal, a former tax official, is the polar opposite of the bombastic Modi and his allies such as firebrand monk Yogi Adityanath and hardline Home Minister Amit Shah.
In 2011, Kejriwal, with Gandhian icon Anna Hazare, fronted massive nationwide protests seeking to pressure India’s government to set up a “Jan Lokpal” (ombudsman) anti-corruption body with far-reaching powers. Breaking with Hazare, Kejriwal formed the AAP in 2012 before winning power in Delhi’s 2013 Assembly elections and again in 2015.
Fast-forward to 2020 and the BJP went all-out against Kejriwal, labelling him a “terrorist” for supposedly being soft on the peaceful female Muslim sit-in protesters blockading the Shaheen Bagh area – a crucial traffic artery – over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Yogi Adityanath accused Kerjiwal of sending biryani rice to the women. Amit Shah urged Delhi voters to vote for the BJP by pressing the voting machine buttons “with such anger that its current is felt at Shaheen Bagh”. Yet it was the BJP that was jolted. So how did Kejriwal do it?
