(Dr Pentapati Pullarao)
Kejriwal came on the Indian political scene suddenly in December 2013 and became chief Minister of Delhi. Kejriwal was never in politics before 2013. He formed his own party, and everyone laughed at his audacity and stupidity to think that he will even win 1 MLA out of 70. Kejriwal defeated the 15-year chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit in 2013.
People underestimated Kejriwal because he did not enter politics traditionally. Kejriwal did not come from a political dynasty or rich or led a caste group or a big cinema star. Most politicians in India who successfully formed regional parties like Mamata Banerjee, Sharada Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav or even Naveen Patnaik of Odisha were splinter parties from big national parties.
Yet Kejriwal won 3 Delhi state assembly Delhi elections from 2013 to 2020. Kejriwal also expanded across India and won “national party “status from the Election Commission, which very few parties have.
But Kejriwal just lost the 2025 Delhi assembly election. The questions which people ask are what his contributions were, his failures and his future.
Kejriwal contributions to Indian politics
Kejriwal showed that you can be an ordinary person and enter politics and form a government. The people will support you if they are fed up with the other politicians and you present yourself as the “change “. When Kejriwal won his first Delhi election in 2013, he made the most ordinary people MLAs and Ministers and Delhi loved them. They were teachers, small businessmen, retired professionals and even un-employed educated youth.
Kejriwal continued this trend till he lost in 2025. Kejriwal also showed people that basics like power and water can be given to the people free of cost.
Kejriwal also brought casteless politics to India. The BJP and Congress are the dominant political parties of Delhi. Yet, Kejriwal showed India that both these giants can be ousted totally. These national parties tried every trick and strategy and propaganda to defeat Kejriwal. But they could not defeat Kejriwal till 2025.
Kejriwal also gave tickets to poor people, who were qualified. Such people defeated rich giants. Kejriwal also made proud and arrogant politician’s shudder. Across the country, Kejriwal gave courage to ordinary people to contest elections and whether they won or not, it did not matter.
Kejriwal was the first regional party leader, who captured 2 state governments, namely Delhi and Punjab. No other regional leader won 2 states. Kejriwal was a national figure.
Kejriwal’s failures
Unfortunately, in all political lives, the usual last chapter is “failure “. Let me repeat my frequent quotation of British politician Enoch Powell, who said 60 years ago: All politics end in failure “. Remember that Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Morarji Desai were all prime ministers. But they left office in defeat. The list of chief Ministers who ended in failures is endless.
Karunanidhi had a brilliant career of 60 years. Yet when he died, Karunanidhi was a defeated politician.
Kejriwal became proud like all other politicians and faced charges of corruption, lost interest in good governance. From 2013 to 2020, Kejriwal concentered on good governance. But after 2020, Kejriwal did not deliver good governance and had to face massive charges of corruption. Kejriwal also went to jail for five months. These actions reduced his charisma and were responsible for his defeat. One can say that while Kejriwal was un-usual in his rise and contributions to politics, his defeat was just like that of all other politicians.
In short, Kejriwal got defeated because he behaved just like other politicians.
Kejriwal’s future
The first challenge for Kejriwal would be to maintain his party and ensure that his leaders did not defect. This will be a very difficult task. The other immediate challenge would be efforts to split his Punjab party and bring down the Punjab government.
There will also be the challenge of facing cases and legal proceedings for his actions as chief Minister. This will require immense patience and courage.
Can Kejriwal make a comeback? That is always possible with course correction. Kejriwal will have to admit his mistakes and change his direction. But unless Kejriwal recognizes his mistakes, a political comeback will be difficult. Kejriwal is still only 56 years. Most Indian political leaders are active till they are 80 years.
Kejriwal’s future will also depend on whether his opponents make mistakes. The future is difficult to predict. But Kejriwal’s past is clear. Kejriwal achieved astounding success and un-matched success, at an early age in politics.
Aside from these reasons for Kejriwal’s failures, perhaps the biggest sin was that he disappointed the Middle classes. The Indian middle classes want little from politicians. But they expect politicians to have some decency, some honesty and patriotism. Here, Kejriwal failed totally. He forgot the middle classes who brought him to power. Most politicians fail because they anger the middle classes and Kejriwal did that.
Narendra Modi also got a shock from the Middle classes in June 2024 parliament elections. Now, Kejriwal got his “middle class “shock! No political party defeated Kejriwal. Kejriwal defeated Kejriwal!
(Author is a Political and Economic analyst based in New Delhi)
