Delhi: Kejriwal's AAP is setting the agenda in what should be BJP’s election

Delhi Assembly election has thrown up a bizarre picture of contrast. For a party which could not put a step wrong, everything seems to be out of joint and for a political outfit which could do nothing right, everything is perfectly in place. One is still in a state of inertia despite its go-getting charismatic leader, the other is in brimming with energy despite having a leader prone to politically suicidal missteps. This sums up the story of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. The AAP has found peace in chaos while the BJP finds its peace more chaotic than it can handle.

AAP convenor and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. AFP

After a dream run for over more than 12 months across the country, the BJP appears to have hit a block in Delhi. The opponent here is not a regular political party which has pronounced weaknesses that could be exploited easily. Yes, the AAP gave up after 49 days in power; yes, Arvind Kejriwal called himself an anarchist and a few of his MLAs behaved as anarchists; yes, he came down several notches in the public estimation for his random allegations against powerful people; and yes, so many people left the party calling the leadership autocratic and dictatorial, but all that’s so yesterday.

If the BJP thought the AAP would collapse under the weight of its inherent contradictions – it gave whole of 12 months for that to happen – it was left disappointed. The latter not only managed to hold steady but also discovered order in chaos. If the BJP believed it could wreck the party by luring its leaders to its fold, it didn’t work either. It had, and still has, the media as a strong partner in its political mission, but the AAP has proved to be smarter at playing the media game. It has managed to neutralize the bias against it in the mainstream media by drumming up support in the social media.

The Hindutva outfits which formed a formidable flank against the secularists have turned out to be more a liability than an asset for the BJP in the capital state. Realising that it can no more use these forces without collateral damage on itself, it has tried to rein them in. Unleashing them could have worked had the Congress been the principal rival. The AAP does not have long enough a track record on secularism that could be held against it. Despite its several follies it is still perceived to be innocent in matters of crude political games.

Elections are won and lost at the booth level. The AAP has proved, in Varanasi and in Delhi, that it can match the BJP’s capacity for mobilizing masses at the lowest level. Its civil society network which operates at the grassroots, thus more intimate level, with people has held firm despite many of the AAP’s original supporters moving away from it. The fact that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is in BJP’s control and it has little to show in terms of performance is perhaps a factor at play here.

However, this does not mean in any way that the BJP is losing in Delhi. After its performance in the general elections, where it won all the seven seats in the state, driving the AAP to a poor second position in almost all segments, it still remains the number one contender for power. It has the charisma of Narendra Modi and the guile of the master strategist Amit Shah to fall back upon. The government at the Centre may have nothing to show in the form of achievements but it still attracts positive vibes from several sections.

Yet the BJP in Delhi does not look a picture of confidence like it did elsewhere in the country. It set the agenda for rival parties in other states, in Delhi it is playing catch up to the AAP. Something is amiss. It’s one aspect of the story that the AAP has blunted many of its weapons, the other is the party is highly disorganized here with no clear leadership or chain of command. That the election preparations have not moved much beyond the planning stages despite the intervention of party president Amit Shah is a proof of that.

It could be the result of complacency. The BJP may have to pay a heavy price for it.