AAP ki aandhi uproots BJP’s lotus

Sakht jitne darkht the hairat mein pad gaye
Aisi chali hawa ki jad se ukhad gaye
(The wind blew so gustily that all strong trees were uprooted and were left wondering.)

The above shayari sums up how the wind in the form of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) uprooted the seemingly invincible lotus of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo. In a first major setback for the BJP after coming to power at the Centre last year, the party could not manage even a two-digit figure in the Delhi Assembly elections. On the other hand, AAP made almost a clean sweep, winning 53 and leading in 14 seats.

The magnanimity of AAP’s victory took even political pundits by surprise. Although all exit polls had forecast that AAP would win the elections, none of them had projected such a massive victory. India Today-Cicero exit poll had estimated 38-46 seats for AAP and 19-27 for the BJP in the 70-member Assembly. The exit poll conducted by Chanakya for News 24 had projected 48 seats for AAP and 22 to the BJP.

Meanwhile, the Congress was totally decimated and it could not even open its account. This is testimony to the fact that AAP has eaten into the vote share of the Congress.

AAP’s promise of ‘corruption-free’ government caught the people’s fancies and it scored over the BJP’s rhetoric of development. AAP offered better and ethical politics, which is not there to be found in the conventional political parties. It also has a policy of not compromising on four C’s of the prospective candidates: corruption, character, communalism and criminal cases. For instance, it cancelled the ticket of its candidate from the Wazirpur constituency after receiving a negative report about him.

Having won the people’s mandate by such an overwhelming majority, now AAP needs to live up to the expectations of the people. And this is what lies in their agenda now. “I had told you that anything less than 36 seats would be like a defeat for us. Now that we have won, we will focus on implementing our agenda, and the Jan Lokpal will be on the top of that,” senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who is likely to become the home minister, told Business Insider.

It remains to be seen whether the two-year-old party justifies the immense faith that the people of Delhi have reposed in it.
Image: Indiatimes