India | Upstart party wins big in Delhi, in blow for Modi

Leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, Arvind Kejriwal waves to the crowd as his party looks set for a landslide party in New Delhi

An upstart anti-corruption party has won a smashing victory in elections to install a state government in India’s capital, officials said yesterday, dealing a huge blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.
While the results from this past weekend’s elections will not have any bearing on the structure of the federal government, they send a clear message to Modi that he is not invincible despite his party’s strong showing in state elections since it swept to power last year. They also are an indication of how fed up Indians are with endemic corruption.
Thousands of jubilant supporters of former tax collector Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Admi Party, or Common Man’s Party, beat drums and danced in celebration after India’s Election Commission announced results showing an overwhelming win for the AAP.
“Such a big mandate is very scary, and we should live up to people’s expectations,” Kejriwal told his cheering supporters, who yelled “Five years, Kejriwal!” and showered rose petals on him outside the party’s headquarters in New Delhi.
Analysts said the scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat was a wake-up call for the government.
“Modi came to power in May making promises to people. But he has nothing to show on the ground even though eight months have passed,” said Zoya Hasan, a political analyst with New Delhi’s Jawarhalal Nehru University.
Kejriwal, who will become New Delhi’s chief minister, said the arrogance of leaders in Modi’s party led to the BJP’s poor showing. The party had been on a winning streak since demolishing the competition in national elections in May, with many attributing its success to Modi’s charisma, his promises of economic growth and voters’ fury over endemic corruption.
During a brief stint as New Delhi’s leader last year, Kejriwal impressed people with tough action against police officers and officials caught accepting bribes. He encouraged people to carry out sting operations and film officials accepting bribes.
Modi said he spoke with Kejriwal yesterday, congratulating him and assuring the federal government’s support in developing the capital.
“The AAP is going to write a chapter in history, in the history of politics,” party supporter Nandidi, a homemaker who goes by one name, said while celebrating outside party headquarters.
With most votes counted, India’s Election Commission said the AAP already had won 58 out of 61 seats, with the BJP winning just three. The AAP was racing ahead in the nine remaining constituencies in the 70-seat assembly.
“Something dramatic has happened,” a dejected BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli said.
The Congress party, which governed the capital for 15 years until its defeat in 2013, was nowhere on the radar.
One Congress party leader, Rita Bahuguna, said the vote amounted to “a referendum on Modi’s arrogant style of functioning, communalizing politics in the country.” She suggested the BJP’s profile as a Hindu nationalist party had exacerbated communal tensions, leading to Hindu-Muslim clashes earlier this year in northern India, as well as encouraging a series of attacks on New Delhi churches.
Kejriwal, a graduate from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and a former income tax official, became hugely popular during his 2013 election campaign, which honed in on corruption as the country’s greatest menace. While no party in 2013 won an outright majority of at least 36 assembly seats, Kejriwal led a minority government for 49 days before resigning, leaving New Delhi under temporary federal government control.
But he has drawn support from the working class with promises of subsidized electricity, and offered a measure of hope to those who have suffered from corruption by opening a New Delhi complaint hotline. The focus on cleaning up government galvanized India’s middle and working classes against a culture of endemic corruption throughout the nation of 1.2 billion.
“Democracy is winning today … because an honest man is standing for us,” 22-year-old student Pradeep Kumar said yesterday. Ashok Sharma, New Delhi, AP