The BJP is evidently euphoric. It seized power in Delhi after remaining on the sidelines for 27 years. The Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal has been ejected from power and Kejriwal himself tasted defeat along with his close associates. The AAP’s vote tally went down to 43 percent from the 53 percent five years ago. Even as the AAP had managed to wrest power in Punjab too, the party’s loss in its home turf — where it was born out of a spirited campaign against corruption some 12 years ago – is stark. The emerging situations might conspire to unseat the AAP from power in Punjab too.
Notably, AAP and Arvind Kejriwal had struggled hard to erase the stigma of corruption vis a vis the Delhi Liquor Scam. The BJP’s aggressive postures against this regional party are well-documented. Both Kejriwal as chief minister and his deputy Manish Sisodia had been arrested, jailed and bundled out of their posts in the aftermath of the liquor scam. They were painted as epitomes of corruption. The main charge against them was that they tweaked the state’s liquor policy and obtained pecuniary benefits from the liquor lobby. Obviously, other parties do the same. Inferences were that the AAP collected and used such funds to fight assembly elections in Goa. Note similar speculations about the BJP itself in some of the states – Chhattisgarh for instance – where the liquor lobby allegedly funded the party’s polls. In fact, the liquor lobby funds every party’s polls in every state. Even the CAG findings about huge fund mis-management or misappropriation by the Modi government in relation to the National Highway contracts had raised eyebrows. The weak opposition failed to pursue such leads. Admittedly, all these cannot be cited as excuses for what Kejriwal and his party did. An enterprise that flourished under the anti-corruption plank could ill afford to land in such unenviable situations.
Consider what the BJP has offered to the electorate in Delhi this time — a dole of Rs 2,500 to poor women and senior citizens; an assistance of Rs 21,000 to pregnant women, subsidized gas cylinders for homes etc – more enticing promises compared to what the AAP offered. It is safe to assume that the poor fell for these. Note also the signals that the BJP sent to the salaried class and their families in the run-up to the voting day – in the form of the raising of income tax ceiling to Rs 14 lakh from Rs 7 lakh. The Modi government scandalously decided to forgo more than `1 lakh crore in revenue to the national exchequer a year by way of tax exemptions; thereby excluding some 95 per cent of the population from the IT bracket. All things considered, what the BJP achieved in Delhi is a pyrrhic victory as far as national interests are concerned.
