Delhi verdict says development and liberal India

It is an interesting time in Indian politics: Aam Admi Party, formed barely over a year ago recorded a decisive victory in the Delhi state elections.  So big has been the victory that it has spelled disaster of proportional scale for the two national parties the BJP and the Congress.  Congress has been totally eliminated; BJP won just 3 seats in a seventy-member assembly.

This is at a time, when just eight months back, the BJP came to power with an overwhelming majority at the national elections. The party has been on a victory mode since in other bigger states. The face of the party and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is seen to bring in dynamism and leadership not witnessed in Indian politics for long. He is also keen to promote economic growth and rapid development.

Delhi’s voters make up the urban poor and rich. They come from different parts of the country and are reasonably well informed. Delhi represents the pan Indian ethos: a class of voters that have aspirations. Those originally from the city want it to be a place of opportunity, those coming from outside want to rise here. They have migrated and opted for a new life. It is place, where for most people the issues of caste, race, language are even religion are irreverent. Delhi has a vast young population and it reflects how India is going to be in years to come.

This Delhi election saw 11 million new voters. The AAP party promised them free WiFi.  In AAP they saw a renewed optimism. The party’s leader Arvind Kejriwal is an engineer from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology. He has worked with a big corporate firm and has been bureaucrat.  In their highly effective campaign, they spoke about real issues confronting the voters like water, sanitation, women’s security, electricity, and jobs - issues that haunt India at large. It had a well-defined programme.

A BJP cadre who didn’t want to be identified said, “they did their homework well. It was a great campaign.”

Apart from the poor poll strategies there are other issues that may have been a factor for BJP’s defeat. These factors have also been a concern in the rest of the country. Modi’s overwhelming mandate hasn’t seen him cracking down on the Hindu fundamentalist forces that have asserting themselves lately. Religious intolerance in the country has on been rise with a  renewed call to promote “Indianess” based on one language and Hindu religion.

On one hand, Modi has successfully projected himself to be globe tottering leader  aligning  and reinforcing India's founding values with other major democracies.   He is seen taking selfies with world leaders and even charming the US president, at home young people fear of reprisals and humiliation by the Hindu fundamentalist groups if they are out to celebrate Valentines’ day.

 A postgraduate student of Jawaharlal Nehru University says (with anonymity) , “ as women I know what it means to vote for BJP. I will be humiliated if I hold the hand of by boyfriend. They are a patriarchal lot.”

Anna Vetticad a writer and a journalist says in her Facebook post  “ I fear those whose stated ideology is to declare India a Hindu rashtra and relegate both women & minorities (religious minorities, linguistic minorities, sexual minorities) to a subordinate position in this country... people who say gay people are "abnormal", people who object to us holding hands in public, people who tell us it's "against our culture" to have silly fun like buying Valentine's Day cards and teddy bears for our partners/spouses. This is as much a vote against hate politics as it is a vote for development.”

By voting AAP to power the voters in Delhi have sent a clear message to all political parties. People in India want strong leadership, not a ruthless personality driven politics, they want development but not division in the society, they want policies based on reality and not ideology (replacing Sanskrit with German in 21^st century makes little sense). More importantly, they want a harmonious India that is liberal, multicultural, progressive and secular. This has been the verdict of the day.