Will It be Lotus Or Broom For Delhi?

The fight is pretty clear. Battle lines have been drawn between political parties for the upcoming Delhi elections that are yet to be announced. AAP begun its war march on the territory it abandoned exactly a year ago. The party has already announced its list of candidates for all 70 seats in the country’s capital.

Somehow, after nearly 8 months of being in power at the centre, BJP seems to be experiencing some jitters on Delhi turf but they still have the Modi’s magic wand. The election dates for Delhi could be announced anytime soon and political parties will hit feverish pitch with their campaigning and acrobatics to win the most priced voter in the country. Delhi elections, for any party, is both a nightmare and a dream given the fact that the region is a heady cocktail of so many aspirations, pursuits and people’s hope to scrape off a decent living amid the bitter cold and boiling hot summers on the wide road of the capital. Of course, with deep seated poverty, also lie the epicenter of snobbery of the elite; the art and the likes of fine living that people in villas and apartments can only boast of. For the normal junta, it is about getting from point A to point B every day.

Any political party would know Delhi is a different ball game altogether. The region isn’t a single line story.

Having been drubbed in almost all elections that happened after the general assembly elections which saw Modi win a clear mandate, Congress isn’t being too enthusiastic about Delhi elections. Well, naturally, when there is a void in the space of leadership in the party, would there be any scope to face elections? After dragging its feet for quite a while, Congress has finally declared candidates for about 24 constituencies in the 70-seated Delhi battleground.

But, what is indeed interesting is the fact that BJP and AAP are seeking to reaffirm their image through Delhi. In some sense, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal has gone back to voters after having abruptly left the Delhi seat around the same time last year. AAP had posted a historic win in Delhi and somehow managed to mess things up for itself, before citing reasons and abruptly resigning. Many public humiliations over, AAP has come around to salvage its image.

Whatever the world ridiculed him over, Arvind Kejriwal aka the ‘mufflerman’ turned it into his identity. He has been holding campaigns to raise funds to meet the Delhi election expenses. There’s been ‘dinner with the mufflerman’, ‘selfie with the mufflerman’ et al, and people are coming in thousands to attend them. This surely has caused a lot of unrest in the BJP circles that AAP’s fortunes still haven’t sunk!

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been walking the power corridors since last May after Modi swept the country in a mammoth wave, has been able to sustain the ‘development’ image amid controversies in the subsequent times. Conversion row in the name of ‘ghar wapsi’, remaining unclear on ‘black money’ promise and a lot of other things that had shown the dreams of a ‘glorious India’ image to the great middle class are somehow falling short of being realized to people’s satisfaction. The streak of Modi’s winning wand continues unabated is all fine, but the middle class is worried that PM has been spending more time abroad, and fighting elections in state than tackling issues on the home front.

AAP with its dramatic identity seems to have made amends with the voters who were angry that Arvind Kejriwal let them down when he jumped off the CM’s seat. One summer over, anger isn’t simmering. The tail end of this winter will hold a mirror to two parties. Results, irrespective, will surely be interesting!

Image: aamaadmiparty-india.blogspot.com