Being Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi Elections are revolving around the cult of one man – former Chief Minister and Aam Admi Party leader, Arvind Kejriwal. Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the issue in the Lok Sabha elections, here the issue is Arvind Kejriwal. You are either for him or against him. That is the way Delhi […]

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Being Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi Elections are revolving around the cult of one man – former Chief Minister and Aam Admi Party leader, Arvind Kejriwal. Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the issue in the Lok Sabha elections, here the issue is Arvind Kejriwal. You are either for him or against him. That is the way Delhi is going to vote.

Given that the Aam Admi Party would cease to exist without him, it is his beliefs, promises, ideology and track record that is at the core of its manifesto. If the BJP brings up Hindutva, then Kejriwal recites the Hanuman Chalisa at the drop of a hat, and has also included temple priests in his scheme of welfarism.

He has countered the BJP’s reach out to the women voter with incentives of his own, so much so that the AAP is now driving the narrative, forcing the BJP and the Congress to come up with competitive offers and schemes for the women. And, as a recent C Voter tracker showed that while both the PM and Arvind Kejriwal are neck to neck when it comes to the male voter, it is Kejriwal who has an edge with the female voter.

Rahul Gandhi too has driven the Congress campaign on an anti-Kejriwal note. You hear less about the RSS from the Congress in Delhi and more about the corruption cases against AAP leaders, including Kejriwal. The reason for this is not too hard to fathom for the Aap has come up in Delhi at the cost of the Congress vote. It is this vote that Rahul Gandhi wants to win back.

Moreover, Modi is not the issue in the Delhi elections, though the BJP has not fielded a CM face and is banking on Modi ki Guarantee. But again, it is not the PM’s track record that is on trial here but that of the former Delhi Chief Minister.

The BJP’s campaign is all about how it can deliver better than Kejriwal and all that is wrong with the AAP leader. Others like Atishi, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh etc barely get a mention, the entire focus is on Kejriwal. Just as the Lok Sabha revolved around PRime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul is not wrong when he compares Kejriwal to Modi for there are strong similarities between the two and their governance styles.

Both are lone rangers rather than team players, both are charismatic orators, know how to milk an issue and sway the crowd, -and of late both are picking on similar issues from welfarism to religion. It’s interesting because, while I began the column stating that the Delhi elections is all about Arvind Kejriwal, I am ending it by wondering if the election is more about Modi and Modi-lite!