BJP’s landslide ends Kejriwal’s reign

The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) magical run of more than a decade in power in Delhi ended today (February 8) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returning to power after a 27-year-long hiatus. And, the Indian National Congress (INC), which had ruled Delhi for an unbroken 15 years between 1998 and 2023, was out for a duck for the third successive Assembly election.

For the BJP, it is a big moment. It has bagged Delhi in the wake of its victories in Maharashtra, Haryana and Chhattisgarh. The latter two states had been ruled by the Congress, while Maharashtra was being run by an alliance that included the Congress.

For the BJP, this further consolidation of power (the party, either alone or in alliance with its National Democratic Alliance allies, now controls 19 states and two union territories) is sweet revenge. In last year’s General Elections, the BJP had failed to win an absolute majority and had to look to its NDA allies to form a government at the Centre.

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turns 75 this September, it is further proof that he still has it in him to pull off victories. The big celebration at the BJP’s central office on Delhi’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg on Saturday evening addressed by him is proof of his popularity.

This victory will also silence the murmurs in the party and the wider Sangh Parivar – especially among Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s followers – that Modi should abide by the rule of retirement at 75 that he has imposed on his party colleagues.

For the AAP, it’s time for an introspection. Its top leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Saurabh Bharadwaj, have all lost. The BJP’s campaign against the AAP included the jailing of its top leadership allegedly on corruption charges. It had thrown the party into a disarray and prevented the AAP government from doing any serious work. There was also the matter of the renovation of the CM’s official residence, ‘Sheesh Mahal’.

Taken together, this, perhaps, damaged the AAP far more than the complaints about poor infrastructure and unsafe water.

People tend to judge their politicians by the standards that the latter set for themselves. Kejriwal and his party, it may be recalled, had emerged from an anti-corruption movement that also dislodged the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2014.

Perhaps, the only significant AAP leader to have won a seat is Atishi Singh. She has vowed to carry the fight against the BJP forward. But can she give the party a facelift? Does Kejriwal have any other tricks up his sleeve?

For the moment, it will be sufficient if the AAP can ensure the continuance of its government in Punjab. A senior BJP minister has claimed on a TV channel that the BJP’s Delhi victory would reverberate in other parts of the country, including Punjab. In Delhi, people have noted the number of AAP turncoats who had opportunistically joined the BJP.

For the Congress, too, it is a moment to rethink its political strategy and the impact its decisions have on the opposition unity. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s post on X that sums up the sentiment: "Aur lado aapas mein!!!”... "samapt kar do ek dusre ko" (Fight amongst yourselves..... Destroy each other).

Twelve years ago, in 2013, when the BJP had emerged first in the Assembly elections to Delhi but short of a majority, then the AAP, a political start-up had come second, pushing the Congress to the third place. At that time, the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi decided to back the AAP to form a government. Senior party leaders, including the then powerful Janardan Dwivedi, while backing unhappy party workers, had warned against the move.

Kejriwal, thus, became the CM of Delhi, but his government resigned 49 days later, after it failed to push the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly because the Congress refused to support it.

In the 2015 Assembly elections that followed a spell of President’s rule in Delhi, the AAP was rewarded. It won a whopping 67 of the 70 seats and Kejriwal was again sworn in as CM. Five years later, the AAP won 62 seats, losing just five seats, and returned for the third time. But today, (February 8), the AAP’s winning seats slumped to 22, while the BJP won 48 and the Congress failed to open its account.

The BJP secured 45.8 per cent of the votes; the AAP got 43.8 per cent and the Congress 6.4 per cent. If the AAP and the Congress had combined forces, the results might have been different.

The Congress is a national party and it has the huge stakes in ruling India. If a united opposition performs well in a General Election, the Congress stands to gain the most. Surely, conceding space in Assembly polls which it cannot win on its own would have been a small price to pay.