In last five years, Delhi faced problems no less than any other states. In fact, we can say, the problems were much more in terms of their uniqueness coupled with a new party ruling the State lead by an inexperienced Chief Minister and team of novices. Problems were varying from pollution to women security to water to crimes and what not. According to a report, over sixty thousand deaths reported in Delhi in last five years due to pollution. Therefore it would have been natural if people of Delhi wanted a new Govt run by experienced team so as to rescue Delhi from this so called agony. On top of that, this agony was multiplied by both Congress and BJP through their interviews, social media campaigns, rallies etc. Even the things tried out first time in India were criticized to the extent possible. So, if anyone from a distance saw Delhi, it might have occurred to him that this Govt would see its end in 2020. However it didn’t but something very unique happened that we can say is a new beginning in Indian Politics where Aam Aadmi of Delhi chose a party with which they could connect and approve as one of them.

If one starts analyzing, what are the factors that made this possible, answers will be many. Some will say good work by AAP, some will say wrong timing and declarations by BJP, some will say freebies by AAP but no one said people wanted to test one more time like they wanted BJP at center once more in 2019. People of this country witnessed how things change and development stops with a new Govt coming in and how old developmental works takes a U-turn. Recent example of Andhra Pradesh and daily news from this state is an example which people of Delhi never wanted to create. They also understood, no Govt is perfect neither can do things overnight, however whatever unique things done by AAP in Delhi may not even progress an inch if another Govt comes to power and thus decided to vote in favour of AAP.

In the midst of all these, the two most important entities that changed the equation in favour of AAP are Arvind Kejriwal and BJP. Similar to the campaigns of Rahul Gandhi contributing sometimes to BJP’s win, BJP’s campaign and wrong timing of some actions bent the needle to AAP’s favour. People who earlier decided to vote for BJP seeing Modi and national interests also took a U-turn post the brigade of BJP representatives came from other states to do campaign. And on top of that, absence of a local dependable face for CM but trying to win the state election by keeping the gun on PM’s shoulder were rejected by Delhi strongly.

Local Vs National: In the entire campaign of AAP, Arvind Kejriwal only spoke on development and chose words carefully even when criticizing the oppositions. While BJP was busy on promoting their actions taken on national level at local level and Congress was trying hard decide what to say except bashing central Govt, Kejriwal evolved as a seasoned politician and kept silence in all these CAA/NRC but was showing himself more receptive to arguments etc. In spite of BJP trying to show him as Anti CAA, people actually didn’t find any reason to consider him Anti CAA or Pro JNU or Anti Hindu or Pro Muslim. This balanced stand with the “Prashant Kishore Effect” worked damn well.

Talk Vs Action : The whole campaign of AAP was on highlighting development, revenue of Delhi going up in spite of the free and subsidized amenities, Open house Report card and interview with Media. Very evident was the confidence of AAP and Mr. Kejriwal on their works which is possible only when people worked at ground zero, know what is going on and what’s being done. Be it Mahalla Clinic or Water or Education, good amount of work has been done considering all roadblocks and time to time issues with Lt Governor or CBI etc. On the other hand, BJP campaign was confusing due to absence of local level candidate except the guest appearance of Manoj Tiwari time to time with his laughable style that irritated the people of Delhi. While Arvind Kejriwal was talking about development similar to what brought BJP to Centre, BJP candidates were busy in mudslinging thereby creating a complete contrast between their ideology and intent. The infusion of Modi, Yogi, Shah and others didn’t work out since, Modi being PM is supposed to say what as PM he did or plan to do which is completely national and excellent from emotional point of view which actually brought him to power at centre but its state election. Yogi told in language which may be applicable to Uttar Pradesh but couldn’t affect people of Delhi. And in all these drama, Delhi people continued their search for new BJP CM and got disappointed. I should say, even Smriti Irani could have bagged 15-20 seats had she be announced as CM face of Delhi.

Face Vs No Face: Gone are those days when elections were used to be won with loyal supporters of parties. In this age, the same person votes for Congress at municipality level, BJP at centre and AAP at state purely on three things- Aspiration or emotional level like how his country is represented at global arena, respect and strength against neighbors etc, State level on how overall security, development, day to day need, prices are being controlled, education is managed, healthcare facilities available etc and on municipal level on how the road to his home is being done, whether the roads at his area are illuminated, is there patrolling happening at night etc etc.  So no voter is loyal and thus, unless a face with a track record is there to see, people will feel unsecured and confused and with already so much confusion already around, people don’t like any more confusion especially in such areas where it is not a big challenge to remove. And AAP didn’t fail the people of Delhi but projected a face already dear to them or became dear due to the work done in past few years.

Free Vs Chargeable: Even if the freebies given by AAP sometimes are not appreciated considering money from taxpayers being utilized in such free or subsidized things, the strong protest by BJP on this freebies scared people. And when assumptions are easy to be spread today, many must have thought, it’s not only going to be chargeable but may be more that what is reasonable as new Govt has to recover the deficit. When BJP is not fully aware of how this is being done by Kejriwal, they should not have spoken on this. And the simple easy to understand explanation by Arvind Kejriwal in layman’s language on how this is being done convinced people to a large extent apart from the dream and taste of free things for another five years.

Sense Vs No-Sense: Kejriwal also lost his cool once and told there is some settings between Modi and Pakistan but in most of the campaigns, while whole agenda of AAP was highlighting only the work they did with a control on language being used against oppositions, both BJP and Congress continued that strong one side agenda. Sense was prevailing more on AAP and Kejriwal on choosing words vis-à-vis what BJP did. The issue is not only choosing the words, but propaganda through social media showing Delhi people themselves in poor lights thereby creating an enemy without any reason. Showing Delhi people as beggars who long to have only freebies, or as anti-nationals or as divided Hindus actually turned even the pro BJP to anti BJP. Moreover when the controversy on CAA was already going on fueled further by  religious sentiments and instigating violence through fear of losing Indian citizenship, using that card or harping again and again on the religion was detrimental.  I can surely say, had there been no other representatives of BJP from other states but only a battle between one right candidate of BJP vs Kejriwal, a few more seats could have come to BJP.

All said and done, what I personally like is the evolution of two men from humble background to the power that shows the power of Democracy and the intelligence of citizens in voting the right candidates for the right positions and overall disposing the “Dynast Politics” with a ZERO. Now time to support each other for greater good of Delhi and Nation in stead of carrying an anger for revenge that will not help anyone but put the country into trouble.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed are entirely my own and do not have any connection with any organization, individual, association or Religion.