#dnaEdit: Day of underclass

The Aam Aadmi Party’s landslide victory in the Delhi assembly elections is an emphatic recognition of an alternative politics that held out the hope of real change to the ordinary citizen. It was inconceivable, even a month ago, that the AAP, down and out after the Lok Sabha elections, could make such a spectacular comeback. Yet, it is a tribute to the party’s tenaciousness, that the promise of bijli-paani-makaan was driven home convincingly in street-corner jan sabhas and through effective social media interventions, all funded by transparent donations. The victory is remarkable because Delhi has become Narendra Modi’s political base and the BJP had rested complacent in the belief that Modi’s charisma and his oratory would win the day again. What they did not bargain for was an indefatigable campaigner like Arvind Kejriwal, who focussed tirelessly on motivating his grass roots workers, and went back to the people repeatedly to apologise for last February’s hasty resignation. While Kejriwal and his cadre worked overtime, the BJP leadership smirked at his discomfiture, preferring the Lieutenant-Governor’s rule over the rigours of another election campaign. This gave the AAP valuable time to rebuild its organisation and mollify discontented voters in Delhi’s underbelly: the slums and unauthorised colonies.

The tepid response to Modi’s first election rally was inexplicably followed by a series of strategic misfires. The triumvirate of Modi, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley, own responsibility for inducting Kiran Bedi and projecting her as chief ministerial candidate, a Himalayalan blunder of sorts, in hindsight. The next mistake was to not pit Bedi against Kejriwal in the prestigious New Delhi constituency; a tactic Kejriwal used to great effect to rally his cadres and knock incumbent Sheila Dikshit off the pedestal. The media and party-workers soon discovered that Bedi was miscast and did not have the temperament for a gruelling political campaign. The AVAM allegations on political funding further heightened the perceptions of the ruling party putting its arrogance on display. But with overwhelming victory, comes the crushing burden of expectations as Modi has realised, and soon Kejriwal will. The AAP bagged a whopping 54.3 per cent of the vote share on a voter turnout of 67 per cent while the BJP notched 32 per cent. The dominant discourse during the elections was framed within the class perspective of the poor emphatically banking on Kejriwal. While the results seem to indicate that Kejriwal has caused fissures in the BJP’s middle-class constituency, he must not forget who his prime backers are. 

Data from a 2011-12 NSSO survey show that a sizeable 60 per cent of Delhi earns less than Rs13,500 a month. It is clear from reading together the voter turnout, vote-share and NSS data with media reports that it is the poor of Delhi who are Kejriwal’s staunch backers. It is to improve their standard of living that Kejriwal and his legislators must dedicate themselves. Their demands for piped water supply, lower power bills, pucca housing, better government schools and hospitals, affordable private schools and hospitals, and women’s security is non-negotiable. In matters of land, policing, and sanitation, Kejriwal will find himself severely hemmed in by the Centre, with its control over the Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Police and the municipal corporations. Through cooperation and, where necessary, confrontation, the AAP must learn to work with the Centre for the larger good. The national repercussions of the Delhi results are immense. The AAP’s victory has renewed its covenant with those who visualised it as an alternative political platform. Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee, facing the heat of the BJP juggernaut, have been effusive in congratulating the AAP. Praising Kejriwal is the easy part, but how many leaders in India’s fractious Opposition can replicate his methods?