Hindustan Ka Dil Dilli resolutely rejects BJP’s poisonous and divisive political discourse. Alternative model needed for longer fight.

Dilli Hai Dil Hindustan Ka.

Delhi, the heart of India, has dealt a crushing blow to the most venomous and divisive electoral discourse ever unleashed by the Hindutva forces that the BJP represents.

Hanuman Bhakt Arvind Kejriwal, armed with people-centric good governance coupled with soft Hindu discourse conclusively proved that the march of the most vicious ever politics under the command of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can effectively be countered.

Aam Aadmi Party has managed to retain power  and that too by almost the same strength in the 70-member Assembly of the semi-state that is Delhi. AAP had scored 67 seats in 2015 with three going to BJP. The BJP can claim that it has succeeded in a little more than doubling its score.

The victory of the AAP is outstanding but Arvind Kejriwal has not confronted Narendra Modi with any alternative model of politics and has used almost the same imagery with improvisation. He did not confront Modi head on but stuck to his own turf.

Arvind Kejriwal did not oppose revocation of Article 370 and downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. His party supported CAA in the Parliament.

Kejriwal distanced himself from Jamia Milia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh that have become symbols of the fight against CAA-NPR-NRC. These struggles are not just the campaigns by the Muslims but are now part of the fight to protect the very idea that India represents. India can’t be pushed back to 1947 by the Hindutva brigade.

The BJP brigade led by Amit Shah, on the other hand, contested on the divisive ever agenda symbolised by its slogan ‘Desh Ke Gaddaron Ko, Goli Maro Saalon Ko’ raised by Minister of State in the union government Anurag Thakur. Shah gave a call to the people to push the button on the voting machine so hard that the current was felt by the Shaheen Bagh protesters. The indefinite dharna initially by Muslim women is now part of the national discourse and has transformed into a broader fight against discriminatory politics that is anti-constitution.

Kejriwal thus did not alienate the middle and lower middle class Hindu voters. However, it was the BJP’s venomous campaign that gave out negative signals.  The climax was his TV interaction in which he recited Hanuman Chalisa.

In the process, Hanuman Bhakt managed to give a debilitating blow to the Ram Bhakts.

Kejriwal summed up his strategy at his victory speech with the slogans ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Inquilab Zindabad, Vande Matram’. Add to it the good governance and his recipe is complete.

It is a different issue that the ideology in which the Inquilab Zindabad slogan is rooted is different from that of Vande Mataram.

It may be recalled that Modi too had come up with his model of good governance till he prioritised the implementation of the controversial agenda of the Sangh Parivar that is part of the Hindutva discourse like Article 370.

Kejriwal deftly appropriated part of Modi agenda and used the same with the main weapon of good governance. It is the functioning of the government institutions at the grassroots with which people are concerned. The two sectors that were hit hard after the unleashing of market forces were education and health. He focussed on these two areas during the last three years.

However, India needs alternative politics to counter the march of the Hindutva juggernaut to save the idea of India.

The Congress too had for years used the soft Hindu imagery before it was taken over by the Hindutva. It is for this reason that India needs alternate model that should be based upon the slogan of Inquilab Zindabad popularised by Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the revolutionary thinker and freedom fighter.

Delhi polls has finally established that the Hindutva brigade is not invincible and this is the most positive signal emanating from the Capital. It can only be confronted with alternative political discourse.