The Delhi elections have once again proved that what matters at election time is perception. ‘Sheeshmahal’ got stuck in the minds of the people. As people get transactional, parties are no longer bothered of long-term development of the state and the people. Short-term electoral games decide the focus on the governance model. Now it is deposits into the bank accounts of the female voters. Even the ‘double engine’ has realized that the only way to end the three decades power drought in Delhi was via the ‘revdi’
For Arvind Kejriwal, 2025 elections was not a walk in the park. Fighting fourth consecutive assembly election on the strength of one man’s personality is always a daunting task. Even the Prime Minister with a robust, well-oiled, battle-ready election machinery and with all resources at his command could not repeat the magic in 2024.
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The defeat of the Aam Admi Party has number of lessons for the future. The Saturday outcome will not only shape Delhi’s politics in the near future but shall also influence the national political discourse in the country. The BJP’s triumph in Delhi gives a fresh boost after the Lok Sabha melt down. After Haryana and Maharashtra and Delhi, it now again looks invincible. The resurgence shall provide them an extra muscle in Bihar. 2027 is not far away when Goa shall again be put on test. Will the India block wither away? Has the Delhi verdict made the search for a progressive alternative to Narendra Modi more difficult?
When AAP arrived in 2013, they promised to clean- air, water and politics and make Delhi safe for women. They promised transparency and accountability in Governance and made appointment of Lokayuta, their central show piece. Delhi’s air is going bad to worse and garbage is unmanageable. Drinking water crisis and transport system is collapsing and the Lokayukta is not be heard. There is some song and dance over Schools and Health Clinics. Everybody promises the moon at election-time but why seek accountability only from them? They came on the political horizon with a promise of alternative politics. Their revolutionary promises inspired many educated and high placed Indians here and abroad gave up their comfort-zones for new politics.
The purging out of Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Ashutosh and the expensive renovation of the official residence has cost a lot for a muffler man driving a Maruti 800. The albatross of liquor scam round their neck made it an Alcohol Affected Party. All this gave the party which came as a party with the difference in 2013 to be a very poor of image itself in 2025. The party lost the shine and its leader lost the sheen. Democratic no more! Personality cult was at it’s height with Atishi, the CM claiming she was only keeping the chair warm.
How can a party which promised complete statehood for Delhi welcome bifurcation of J&K? The party with the difference did precious little to douse the flames in the CAA communal riots in North East Delhi. On Shaheen Bhag, the stand that if the CM had the police, he could have cleared the roads within a few hours. All this was not expected from someone who promised alternative politics. Hanuman Chalisa chanting, pilgrimage grants and doles to purohits cannot compete with power of emotive communal hatred. Playing on the mid path all the time brings no friends from the left and the right is in any case monopolized. The grammar of politics cannot be a ‘service delivery mechanism’ only with free water and electricity as it’s centrepiece. A political party must be rooted in ideological moorings, though at election time there may be some dilution.
There are too many lessons for Goa. Both are small states with small constituencies. Both have cosmopolitan outlook. Both have a vocal middle class and well-off citizens with a higher per capita income. In both states, land is in short supply. In Delhi, it is in hands of central government. Here we believe our land is in the hands of Real Estate sharks controlled from Delhi. DDA and builders are cornering their land and here PDAs are frittering away ours. Both AAP and Congress are targeting the same voter base.
Both AAP and Congress did not learn any lessons from the fiasco in Haryana. The avoidable confrontation had certainly its bearing on the Saturday verdict. It could be argued that Congress danced to the BJP tune in Delhi. For Congress, it was to reclaim its relevance and fight for existence in Delhi. It may have increased its vote share from but it contributed to the non-denting of the PM’s invincibility. Somebody can always question what business AAP had in Haryana and Gujarat. It is all a game of one upmanship. All this was avoidable if both had acted with caution and vision.
AAP made a determined bid for 3rd term. We must give it to them they fought an aggressive battle. ‘The double engine’ dismantled the power structure that was aligned against them despite RSS being powerful in Delhi. Even the municipal corporation elections were taken so seriously that the HM & PM campaigned there as though those were national elections. The opposition has to learn from their killer instinct. In Goa, we shall have municipalities and ZP elections as a precursor to the 2027 state elections.
Hunger for power is what must drive all political parties. Dogged determination to succeed is normally the story of success. But that hunger must be based upon long term development of the state and its people. Personality based politics, not driven by substance but by rhetoric may work for some time. What can happen when the future is sought to be built on the personality and credibility of a single person has been demonstrated in Delhi!
(The writer is a Senior Advocate and a political thinker)
