Jubilee Post News & Views
Vivek Avasthi
Gone are the days when elections of Mini India or Delhi were contested on issues like development and at times, rising prices of onion, which also made ruling parties ‘cry’ at times. The 2020 Delhi Elections are already on a very high decibel and issues touching the heart of Delhites including price rise and development, are left on the back burner. This time, the ruling party in the centre, the Bhartiya Janata Party has changed the narrative from other important things, to Shaheen Bagh, Sharzeel Imam, Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid.
The BJP Strategy
Dozens of senior party leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President J.P. Nadda and numerous others have launched a major offensive towards Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
They are on the offensive, raising questions on these two leaders from all and any given public platform, accusing Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi of supporting the “Tukde-Tukde” gang. Vocal BJP leader Giriraj Singh is holding fort from Bihar in taking up the same offensive against Aam Aadmi Party and Congress.
And with just ten days countdown to voting for the throne of Delhi, the BJP does not intend to drop the momentum in this tirade of this changed narrative against the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. It hopes to create a huge divide within the voters and tell the Hindu community that these two parties are working against the national interest of the country.’
AAP Sticking to its own Agenda
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party are just now reacting to these allegations and are skirting the issue in totality. Kejriwal is sticking to his own agenda like free Bijli-Paani, better education and medical facilities in MCD Schools and Mohall Clinics respectively.
He today morning took to Twitter to allege that 200 Members of Parliament from the BJP, 70 ministers and 11 Chief Ministers of the party are coming to Delhi to campaign against his party. The tweet further says “Atithi Devo Bhavah, Aapke Liye Dilli Darshan Ka Aayojan Kiya Hai, Akshardham, Lotus Temple Aadi Ka Anand Lijiye.”
His party is working in close coordination with Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) of master strategist Prashant Kishor. The Aam Aadmi Party is tweaking its election slogans, perhaps on the advice of I-PAC. The earlier publicised slogan of “Acche Beetey Paanch Saal – Lage Raho Kejriwal” has been changed to “Acche Honge Paanch Saal – Dilli Mein to Kejriwal”.
Earlier Kejriwal has issued his Report Card for the electorate of Delhi and later he came out with a Guarantee Card for the voters of the Capital. It is apparently on the advice of Prashant Kishor and his I-PAC that Kejriwal and his core team, not known taking any allegation lying down and hitting back immediately, this time around, are maintaining a low profile despite the repeated barbs and attacks.
Will This Narrative Give Success to BJP – Take of Senior Journalists
Senior Journalist Alok Verma, Former Editor of Zee News and Editor-in- Chief of NYOOOZ, says that he does not think that BJP is going to gain out of this strategy as far as Delhi Elections are concerned. He is of the opinion that Shaheen bagh is a limited area in a sprawling Delhi and Delhi now expanded to far reaches of Dwarka and Rohini as well. He says that fundamental problems of road, electricity, water and public health are of utmost importance to the voter of the city and the BJP is silent on these basis issues. He adds that had the BJP laid emphasis on better governance of Delhi in its campaign, it would have been better for the party.
Senior Journalist Rajesh Badal, former Editor of Rajya Sabha TV, is almost of the same opinion. He says that perhaps, BJP leadership has not been able to understand the political character of Delhi. He says that had the BJP understood the pulse of the voter of Delhi, it would not have lost Delhi to Kejriwal and AAP in February 2015, which was within one year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi recorded a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. He adds that at present, BJP lacks reliable faces in Delhi like Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, who are no more.
To sum up, the Bhartiya Janata Party has let the cat loose in the name of nationalism in the campaign for Delhi. This is a serious gamble that the saffron party has taken and if this does not work out this time around, the party will have to do a serious rethink for forthcoming elections in the states of Bihar in 2020 and Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala in 2021.
(The Writer is a Senior Journalist)
