Is Delhi the beginning of the end of traditional Indian politics?

The BJP did make some political mistakes in Delhi, but these do not explain the landslide win for the Aam Aadmi Party with around 96% of the seats and 54% of vote share. The ruling party at the centre has done exceedingly well in the state assembly elections this year, in continuation to their phenomenal performance in the national elections last year.

Hence the margin of this defeat for the ruling party at the Centre has to be put into perspective.

The people of a nation get the kind of leaders they deserve. Time and again we have elected corrupt and criminal elements as our political leaders, since we have a sizeable percentage of citizens who are corrupt themselves. Many others believe that corruption cannot be done away with.

The approval to this phenomenon gets manifested when we say that it is fine if a politician is corrupt as long as he “works”. The AAP challenged this traditional “political liberty” and claimed that a government can run without corruption. Probably they were able to justify the same during their 49 days stint, so even the skeptical voters in the capital decided to give the party a chance.

Now, if the AAP is able to work and run a government with minimal corruption for the next 5 years, then the same would be expected of the traditional political parties as well.

We have also consistently voted along religious and caste lines and probably this would continue at some level. However a few political parties that projected themselves as the saviours of the minorities and certain castes are down in the dumps. The ones in power need to understand this.

The BJP fought the 2014 general elections on a development agenda and did very well. Fundamentalists within the Hindu community would always vote for the BJP and the ones in the minority communities would probably always vote against the party.

The BJP had stormed into power at the centre, because of sizeable section of voters who have nothing to do with Hindutva, but believed in the idea of development of Narendra Modi and in his ability to deliver.

However this section of voters in Delhi did not like the disproportionate and unbridled personal criticism of Kejriwal. They know that the latter had made political mistakes, but have faith in his intent and honesty.

These voters abhor the utterances of the Hindu hardliners and get frustrated when the Prime Minister keeps quiet. Eventually they rearrange their political affiliations, which are not visible over the social media or news debates, but lead to electoral upsets as seen in Delhi.

Hindu hardliners especially over the social media are doing more damage to the BJP and its image than any of its political rivals. The BJP must take a serious note of this because if the hardliners are not contained, they may dilute the development agenda of Modi and would gradually become the overwhelming face of the party’s reign.

All political parties must realize that the quality of their supporters and their political campaigning has to improve. Some years down the line this may become the basic expectation of the voters and then the parties would not be able to adapt suddenly.

The landslide victory of the AAP is bound to have some national consequences. Regional parties in other states would try to emulate some of the ideas of the young political party. The AAP would eventually go national themselves and we may also have some clones springing up.

Politics is a long term game. India is changing and political parties who realize the changing expectations and mind set of the Indian voter would survive in the long run. If the Congress can go into political insignificance in the capital, then this can happen to any party that takes the voter for granted.

The BJP also needs to do some serious introspections since it is being seen as a better alternative to the Congress, but not necessarily the best when there is a third option. The regional parties that have a stronghold over certain states should be careful and work on their agenda and manifesto.

Traditional Indian politics may be far from over, but in Delhi we saw a beginning towards a cleaner and a more matured political discourse. This needs to continue and a good performance in governance by the AAP is critical, with minimum confrontation with the centre. The BJP should also sincerely work together with the new state government. Voters would keep a hawk eye on both.

The other political parties should also compete with better ideas. Maybe some years down the line we would be able to choose the best in politics and not be forced to choose the least evil.