Arvind Kejriwal the victorious leader of AAP celebrating after his victory over BJP
(Courtesy Indian Express)
The Indian Prime Minister Mr. Naridera Modi, who not long ago had won a landslide victory in Indian national elections claimed time and again that his BJP Party will win Delhi State elections by a big margin. But it was not to be as Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party (Common Man Party) won a landslide victory in Delhi State elections by winning 62 of 70 seats, leaving a mere 8 seats for the BJP.
This is all the more shocking as AAP's performance has been mediocre at best and just a few months ago the party had faced massive failure in national elections. AAP had made several promises in the 2015 elections when it had won 67 out of 70 seats of Delhi legislature, but its performance has been disappointing at best. Most pre-2015 elections promises have not been fulfilled, one such promise was to create 500 new schools and only 30 have been created while at the same time student enrollment has fallen by 8% during the last five years. Similarly, the AAP Government has failed on most other fronts. However, its anti-corruption stance and accessibility is popular amongst the voters.
The election results are a clear rejection of Mr. Modi's extremist policies and its recently enacted draconian laws i.e. Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registration Act. These laws are religion-based and against the provisions of the Indian Constitution and its secular nature. Usurping Kashmir (a disputed region with Pakistan) and the perpetual lockdown of 80 million Kashmiris for six months has been denounced by moderate Indians, Amnesty International, The European Parliament, and the U.S. Congress. All these actions of the Modi Government have drawn the ire of young Indians, especially students who are demonstrating in strength in various cities across India.
Delhi State elections are an even bigger disaster for the Congress Party - India's second-largest political party, which for the second time in five years failed to win a single seat in Delhi legislature. This is an unmitigated disaster for one of India's oldest and largest political parties. Congress Party seems leaderless and the Rajiv Gandhi family seems to be unwilling to let go of its hold and allow new leadership to emerge. Its last stint in the central Government was corruption-riddled and several scandals were associated with Sonia Gandhi and her family. Congress needs to clean up its act, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi need to exit its leadership and allow bright and intelligent leaders like Shashi Tharoor and other new leaders to take over the reins of the party.
