If the editorials and reports in Wednesday’s mainstream Indian newspapers are any indication, it is clear that Indians have heaved a collective sigh of relief at the thorough defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The noteworthy feature of the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory is that it had drawn into its fold people of all religious denominations and classes. In addition, the AAP energized the youngsters of India, capturing their imagination with its unifying message, nullifying the divisive tactics of the BJP.
Such a rainbow coalition was previously stitched together by the ailing Congress Party. The people have now latched onto the AAP bandwagon, which is an augury for a much better India.
The BJP’s spokespersons were in damage-control mode Tuesday night on national television, arguing that their share of the vote had remained intact and that the AAP had won Congress voters. They are right, the BJP suffered only a 1 percent drop, having received 32.2 percent this time compared to 33.07 in 2013.
However, the point they are missing is that they were not in power in 2013. Delhi had no government, so it fell under the direct control of Modi. Indians simply rejected Modi’s politics of hate and arrogance. It came in spite of his much-vaunted foreign jaunts in front of fawning crowds, and embracing foreign leaders and calling them by their first names.
Delhi represents all of India in one city. It has people from neighboring Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other states. Voting patterns there are a true reflection of what Indians are thinking.
In addition, Modi did his campaign a disservice by arrogantly belittling and lampooning Kejriwal, and dismissing him as an anarchist and runaway. The strategy was to turn the Delhi elections into some kind of a referendum on his performance.
But now that he has been comprehensively beaten, he and party hacks have refused to take the blame. It is as if Modi has morphed into the role of the title character in Hans Christian Anderson’s delightful children’s fairytale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” blinded by ego to his own faults and surrounded by sycophants who would tell him no different. The electorate knows the truth.
The torching of churches in Delhi, and the browbeating of Muslims in riots in Delhi’s Trilokpuri area, convinced people that Modi was not about development. They realized that he was leading an administration hell-bent on diluting the very ethos of the nation. India is known everywhere as the nosegay of cultures and religions. Religious diversity is at the heart of its beauty. Parochial, communal leaders have no place.
The last straw, perhaps, was the brazen attempt by rightwing henchmen and women to eulogize Nathuram Godse, the assassin of icon Mahatma Gandhi.
Whether Kejriwal is able to deliver is not the point. The message that voters have sent out is that they will not allow Modi and the BJP to tamper with the secular ethos of the country. It is also abundantly clear that large-hearted and secular-minded Hindus — such as Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Yogendra Yadav and Ashish Khetan — are the vanguard of this struggle.
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