The stunning victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly Elections is an astounding surprise not so much for the victory (that was projected by the exit polls) but for the grand margin of the victory – 67 of the 70 seats! It was a veritable victory of the proletariat and one can in a way relate it to the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land.”
A few days ago I read about an insightful analysis of the Delhi election trends. The author claimed that there was a polarization of the electorate on the basis of class. The middle class was supporting the BJP and the poor classes and minorities throwing in their lot with the APP. While the election results confirmed the analysis, it went much beyond. The AAP got 54% of the vote share which also included a large section of the middle classes too.
While many factors are put forward for the AAP sweeping the polls, there is another factor that led a good chunk of the middle class to vote for the AAP. It is rather intriguing that this time the BJP did not resort to communal mischief to effect Hindu-Muslim polarization as it had done in some states prior to their elections. However, this time the parivar hooligans targeted the miniscule minority Christians. There were five instances of attack and damage of Churches in Delhi in the few weeks before the elections. The lakhs of middle class people who have been benefitting from the Christian service institutions like education, medical and other services did not take kindly to the attack on Churches and so shifted their preference for the AAP.
The election has once again demonstrated that our Indian electorate do vote wisely and cannot be fooled by spectacular campaign gimmicks the BJP resorted to. The Delhiwalas voted for peace, harmony and development – but not at the cost of communalism. It is hoped that the AAP responds to the thumping mandate by governing responsibly and delivering the goods – the holistic well being of the common man, the ‘hoi polloi’ of Delhi.
