On May 5, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held a small rally at Rajendra Nagar, in central Delhi. On display was a flex banner sporting an image of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal behind bars, and beside it was a big replica of a washing machine with “Moti Washing Machine” written on it. The small crowd cheered as Saurabh Bharadwaj, a Minister in the Delhi Cabinet, introduced a “tainted” politician, Ajit Panwar.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party’s washing machine is incredible,” said Bharadwaj, with party colleague Atishi and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, who is currently out on bail, next to him. The AAP candidate from New Delhi, Somnath Bharti, was also there. “They put in a corrupt leader and get a clean leader on the other side,” said Bharadwaj. The reference was to the narrative of how “tainted” opposition leaders became “clean” once they joined the BJP.
Delhi, with 1,47,18,119 electors, votes on May 25 in the sixth phase. On May 10, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal, who is in judicial custody in the Delhi liquor policy case, till June 1. Underscoring that the general elections take place only once in 5 years, the court observed that it was “dealing with the case of an elected Chief Minister, not a habitual offender”. The development comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate vehemently opposed bail for Kejriwal in court.
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The BJP won all seven Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019. But this time it faces the AAP-Congress combine, with the AAP contesting four seats (New Delhi, East Delhi, South Delhi, and West Delhi) and the Congress three (North West Delhi, North East Delhi, and Chandni Chowk). While the AAP and the BJP started campaigning months ago, the Congress took time to get its act together. Ticket distribution produced bad blood in the Delhi Pradesh Congress committee, triggering a string of resignations, including that of its president, Arvinder Singh Lovely. He, along with three former MLAs, rejoined the BJP, which he had left in 2018 to join the Congress. Lovely and the other defectors told the media that they found it hard to justify the AAP-Congress alliance.
The alliance, meanwhile, held joint rallies and mobilised party workers after the INDIA bloc’s mega rally at the Ramlila grounds on March 31. Interestingly, the AAP campaign has also embraced the name of Ram. The party’s manifesto, released on Ram Navami, April 17, promised governance based on Ram Rajya ideals. On the same day it launched a website, “AAP Ka RamRajya”. “There are two ideas of Ram Rajya. One belongs to Mahatma Gandhi and the other to Nathuram Godse,” Bharadwaj said. “We are inspired by the Gandhian model.”
Modi’s “guarantees” vs people’s issues
Against the projection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “guarantees” and its focus on “corruption” of opposition leaders, the AAP-Congress combine talks about the ruling dispensation’s use of Central agencies against opposition leaders, crony capitalism, price rise, unemployment and the Centre’s alleged attempt to undermine mayoral elections in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The Congress also talks about the promises in its “Nyay Patra”..
Kejriwal knew that his arrest was imminent, and in November last year at a party workers’ convention, he launched the “Main Bhi Kejriwal” (I am also Kejriwal) campaign. Addressing party workers, he said: “You need to go to each house, hold street corner meetings, and expose the BJP and Modi ji. Whether I stay inside jail or outside, not a single LS seat in Delhi should go to the BJP this time.”
On May 6, Lt Governor V.K. Saxena wrote to the Union Home Ministry recommending an National Investigation Agency probe against Kejriwal for allegedly receiving funding from a banned terrorist organisation, Sikhs For Justice. The AAP has refuted the allegation, saying that “such charges are regularly levelled before every election”. .
Sympathy factor for AAP
Delhi has for years voted for the BJP in Lok Sabha elections and for the AAP in Assembly elections. But now, if the roadshows of Sunita Kejriwal, are any indication, her husband’s arrest has generated sympathy in the AAP’s favour. The sentiment has been amplified in the AAP’s campaign song, “Jail ka jawaab vote se denge” (We will fight jail with votes)
The Congress candidate from North East Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, has also been exhorting voters to avenge the jailing of opposition leaders with votes (“jail ka badla vote se”). “The Congress and AAP stand united in the fight to save democracy and the Constitution,” he told reporters after meeting Sunita Kejriwal on May 1.
The voters have other reasons also to vote against the BJP, a big one being the anti-encroachment drives. The Central Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs informed the Rajya Sabha last year that as many as 55,000 illegal constructions and encroachments had been identified over the past six years and nearly half of them were demolished or cleared.
Leaders like Sanjay Singh and Kanhaiya Kumar have been talking about complex political issues in simple terms. At a rally in North East Delhi, Kanhaiya said: “Going against the Supreme Court’s ruling, the BJP government at the Centre brought in an ordinance to retain its control over administrative services in the National Capital Territory. They won’t let anyone work for the welfare of the poor.”
Kanhaiya Kumar, who is the Congress candidate from North East Delhi, at a roadshow with supporters from the Congress, the AAP, and the CPI, after filing his nomination on May 6. | Photo Credit: MANVENDER VASHIST/PTI
The lack of gainful employment opportunities and price rise are pressing issues for working-class people, especially migrant labourers. Manindra Nath Thakur, an associate professor at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU, described this section as the “backbone” of the AAP’s support base because of the Delhi government’s welfare measures such as water and power subsidies, free bus travel for women and the elderly, neighbourhood healthcare facilities, and improvement in government schools. The government recently announced the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, promising Rs.1,000 a month to all women above 18 years.
Thakur, however, also pointed out that the basic contradiction in the AAP-Congress partnership remains a challenge for the alliance. “Unlike the BJP, the Congress has a disadvantage when it comes to putting up non-local candidates. Due to a renewed leadership crisis at the local level, the party’s voting networks may tilt towards the BJP,” he said. Referring to the sympathy factor in favour of Kejriwal, he added: “It is easier for the AAP to galvanise Congress support in its favour…. Irrespective of the election outcome, Kejriwal is poised to come out of jail as the biggest challenger to brand Modi.”
Interestingly, the AAP candidate from West Delhi, Mahabal Mishra, a strong Purvanchali leader, has been a Congress MP from the same seat. The Congress candidate from North West Delhi, Udit Raj, won the seat in 2014 as a BJP candidate.
The BJP has an edge in Lajpat Nagar, which is dominated by Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan. “We need Modi to secure the country from internal and external threats,” said Rajinder Malhotra, a retired bank employee.
BJP pins hopes on fresh faces
However, senior BJP leaders from Delhi like Vijay Goel and Harsh Vardan are not visible in the campaign. Apart from Manoj Tiwari in North East Delhi, the six other BJP candidates are all fresh faces. Bansuri Swaraj, the lawyer-daughter of former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, is making her debut from New Delhi against the AAP’s Somnath Bharti, also a lawyer and a three-time MLA from Malviya Nagar.
If roadshows of Sunita Kejriwal, such as this one at New Delhi’s Tilak Nagar on April 29, are any indication, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest is working in favour of the AAP. | Photo Credit: Amit Sharma/ANI
Harsh Malhotra, a former Mayor of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation, is contesting from East Delhi, a seat that cricketer turned politician Gautam Gambhir held. He is fighting against the AAP’s MLA from Kondli, Kuldeep Kumar, son of a sanitation worker.
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In North East Delhi, it is a straight fight between Kanhaiya Kumar and the BJP’s sitting MP Manoj Tiwari. While Kanhaiya lost on a CPI ticket from Bihar’s Begusarai in 2019, Tiwari is seeking a third consecutive term, having defeated the Congress’ J.P. Agarwal in 2014 and former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in 2019.
North East Delhi, which is dotted with unauthorised colonies with poor civic infrastructure, has 10 Assembly segments. The BJP represents three of them, while the AAP represents the rest. The “Modi wave” and the Purvanchali factor are thought to have shaped Tiwari’s wins. (He is a prominent figure in Bhojpuri cinema, and North East Delhi has a fair sprinkling of people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.) This time, however, Tiwari may be battling anti-incumbency. “He was nowhere to be found during the COVID crisis. We never saw him among people in the past 10 years,” said Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Sant Nagar in Burari, echoing the common grouse in Delhi that MPs do not use local area development funds on basic amenities or on problems such as air pollution, solid waste management, and traffic congestion.
The riots that rocked North East Delhi in February 2020 seem to have had a polarising effect on this election. Muslims constitute around 13 per cent of Delhi’s population and 29.34 per cent of North East Delhi’s. “Muslims have a very limited choice. They can certainly vote against a party or a candidate, but they can’t vote for a candidate or a party of their liking,” said Tanvir Aeijaz, who teaches politics and public policy at the University of Delhi
UPDATE: On May 10, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal till June 1.
