AAP bounces back, red flag for Modi

Tuesday was no ordinary day. The spectacular victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) catapulted February 10, 2015, into a red-letter day that no one, especially the BJP and the Congress, will ever forget. Who would have dared to imagine that the AAP – ridiculed, criticised and dismissed for unilaterally ending its 49-day government would bounce back in regal style. The AAP’s win is of great significance because it has once again shown that no one can take the common voter for granted.

The outcome is the first major setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his own remarkable election victory last year. The BJP has never done so badly in Delhi, ever. The results cannot but be seen as a clear reflection on Modi’s leadership and performance. After all, the BJP had in the last stages of its campaign sought to sell the Modi government’s “achievements” of the last nine months. The verdict is a protest vote by Delhi’s middle class, which had so decisively backed the party in the national capital nine months ago.

Despite the negative publicity following AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation after 49 days early last year, Delhiites forgave his indiscretion. While this has left even the AAP astounded, what it has done is to place enormous responsibility on Kejriwal’s shoulders. The moot question is: will the AAP deliver on its promises? The answer to this is so important that it could even affect the future course of Indian politics. If Kejriwal and his band of elected representatives manage to fulfill their promises, the country’s electoral history will take an important turn as delivery has always been the bugbear. People have got used to promises not being fulfilled and that is one reason why they have constantly changed governments through the ballot box. AAP seems to have touched this chord, and that is “frightening”, in Kejriwal’s words. Not just Delhi, but the rest of India will closely follow events there. The AAP has its work cut out and it is bound to be an uphill task to manoeuvre through the ossified bureaucracy and the peculiar position of Delhi being a quasi-state to achieve its goals. In all this, what is the status of the Congress? In its decades old history, the party is now in a serious crisis which will require all its experience to come out of. Of the 70 seats, it won zilch. The BJP managed three. And to think both these have dominated politics for years now. The AAP has surely pulled the rug from under the complacence, disdain and arrogance of these two big parties. Tuesday’s results surely deserve the sobriquet of being near-revolutionary.