What went wrong for BJP ?
Not a report card that comes with bragging right. AAPstarts have humbled the veterans. David has beaten the Goliath black and blue.
Political pundits saw the Delhi contest as a class contest. A better-offs vs the worse-offs kind of battle. But the capital's results are a class apart. With 54% voteshare, Aam Aadmi Party is clearly the choice of Delhi.
Delhi is a microcosm of India. People of all religions, regions and social strata rub shoulders on its flyovers and in its metro compartments. It's a city that symbolises the aspirational India of today. Issues of bread, butter, professional excellence, an urge to better living standards are what define an average Delhi voter. Most inhabitants of this city leave the caste, communal and regional baggage behind when they enter this city with the hope of a better future. Dilliwallahs don't like to see churches attacked, or riots at the heart of the city, and they don't flock to voting booths over demented appeals to teach a set of people a lesson.
In short, their concerns are real.
And this is precisely what AAP based its campaign on - which, as we now see, struck a huge chord with voters. A quick analysis at the vote share tells us that most voters in the age group of 18 to 40 have voted for AAP. This set of Indians has, or at least tries hard to, break away from the shackles of superficial concerns such as caste, creed, community.
This is the aspirational India that voted Mr Modi to a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha simply for the reason that it saw the Congress as an impediment to its dreams. Today the same set of voters see in Kejriwal a new species of neta who talks their language, promises to addresses their issues, has the guts to snub a Shahi Imam. Who invokes positivity in face of the negativity-infested BJP campaign. From the start, Kejriwal set out to win Delhi, while BJP only concentrated on defeating him. Divisive politics comes with a use-by date. It's a changed India. The India that voted for Mr Modi saw in him a development man (courtesy a well-packaged Gujarat model), not necessarily a Hindu Hriday Samrat (also a well-packaged image by his fringe constituency and his past). Let's be clear, most people hoped to better their lives as Indians when they voted for Mr Modi, not to teach the Muslims, Christians or 'sickulars' a lesson.
The sad part is that Mr Modi seems to believe otherwise. Or at least he is not saying clearly that he doesn't. What else explains his silence on the cacophony of hate that has drowned the chants of sabka saath sabka vikas (progress for everyone)? Most well-wishers of Mr Modi are asking him to beak his silence, to reclaim his headlines from fringe Hindutva groups who are more bothered about the Hindu birthrate than the growth rate.
This Delhi result should force the BJP to examine the utility of pampering the fringe for far too long
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