(Dr Pentapati Pullarao)
The 2025 Delhi elections will decide whether the Kejriwal brand of politics will survive in India. Kejriwal exploded on Indian political scene in December 2013, when he surprisingly became Chief Minister of Delhi. Kejriwal sent into retirement 3-term chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and at least 100 BJP and Congress MLAs and MPs.
Kejriwal became world-famous. In the 2013, 2015 and 2020 assembly elections, thousands of NRIs from foreign countries came and canvassed for Kejriwal. Kejriwal’s party is the only regional party in India to ever win two state governments, namely Delhi and Punjab. Kejriwal has now got National party status for AAP party.
Kejriwal did what wonders in Indian politics. But if he loses Delhi elections now, it means the end of a great chapter in Indian politics. When Kejriwal started off, he presented a most un-usual picture of a politician. Not only the middle clauses, but the entire spectrum of voters loved him. Kejriwal was the opposite picture of a corrupt, dynastic Indian politician.
Kejriwal is the opposite of typical Telugu politicians, who are usually wealthy or from a dynasty.
Kejriwal’s strong points:
- Kejriwal energized the middle and lower middle classes. These classes were cut off from Indian politics, as they were not rich. Kejriwal made the most un-likely people MLAs, Mayors and MPs.
- Kejriwal exhibited simplicity and lived like a middle-class person. This endeared him to the masses and attracted people across the country. Kejriwal kept a distance from all political parties. He attacked both Congress and BJP. This gave him a pure image.
- Kejriwal fulfilled some promises and he and his government were accessible to people. People saw that his MLAs and elected officials were approachable, unlike Congress and BJP politicians.
- Kejriwal won a stunning victory in Punjab in 2022. He defeated Congress, Akali Dal and BJP. In fact, Rahul Gandhi canvassed extensively in Punjab. That defeat harmed Congress and Rahul Gandhi critically.
If Kejriwal loses the Delhi election, then it will be difficult for him to survive. The Congress and BJP have been continuously attacking Kejriwal viciously, since he exposed both the parties as corrupt. Kejriwal gave them a great opportunity to taint him as corrupt due to the Delhi Liquor Scam. This opportunity was used by BJP government to arrest Kejriwal in March 2024 for 6 months.
Sadly, Telugus from Telugu states allegedly involved Kejriwal in the Delhi Liquor Scam and he was thus arrested. This scam might end Kejriwal-style politics.
Problems for Kejriwal
- There is great anti-incumbency against Kejriwal since he has been continuously ruling Delhi for 12 years. The constant attacks by BJP had also harmed his reputation.
- Right from 2013, the BJP central government harassed Kejriwal un-fairly. They withheld funds and ensured there was no cooperation. Of course, Kejriwal is also partly to blame since he also launched vicious personal attacks against Prime Minister Modi.
- Kejriwal also has another bad habit of ensuring that educated people do not get admitted into his party. Kejriwal fears that educated people will rebel against him. But this caused a total intelligence-deficit in his party. Kejriwal is surrounded by mediocre, who don’t dare to even submit ideas to him.
- The Delhi liquor Scam left Kejriwal badly damaged. The idea of Kejriwal continuing for 6 months as chief minister in jail tainted him. Kejriwal hopes that like the Jharkhand chief minister Soren, who was also in jail, he will get sympathy. But there is no doubt that Kejriwal is not considered honest now.
- Kejriwal’s Palace: It is difficult to understand how a smart shrewd Kejriwal built a palace for 60 crores as the chief minister’s house. This became a big scandal and further dented Kejriwal’s image.
- When Kejriwal resigned in October,2024, he did not nominate a senior politician as chief Minister to replace him. He nominated a political non-entity Atishi as chief Minister. This also showed Kejriwal ina bad light that he wanted only “chamchas”.
Will Kejriwal win?
In the last 3 elections, Kejriwal did very well. There is no alliance between Congress and Kejriwal, as he says the alliance in parliament elections failed. But the Congress wants Kejriwal to be defeated so that it can get Delhi back. Many Congress voters may vote for BJP.
The BJP has grown in strength in Delhi. But the Delhi BJP has no leader of any stature at all. Of course, BJP has a strong organization in Delhi and may put up a better fight than last time.
Kejriwal’s hope is that the public will forgive him and give him another chance. Kejriwal damaged himself by his poor governance, arrogance, corruption, coteries and finally keeping intelligent people far way. In fact, this is exactly what the BJP and Congress do. Kejriwal made a perfect meal for defeat. But the mood of the public is not clear.
The big advantage that Kejriwal still has that neither the Congress nor BJP are offering anything new.
But one thing is true. The Kejriwal of 2025 is totally different from Kejriwal of 2013. Delhi voters will decide whether Kejriwal will continue in politics or not. The big problem for Kejriwal is why should the middle class vote for as they did earlier. The middle classes don’t get any freebees. But at least, they thought Kejriwal is honest. Now when Kejriwal’s honesty is in doubt, why should middle classes vote for him?
The only hope for Kejriwal is the theory of the great Botanist Charles Darwin who formulated the Theory of “Survival of the Fittest “in 1869. It simply means whether Kejriwal is now more cunning, more corrupt and cleverer at winning elections than the BJP and Congress. Let us see.
(Author is a Politico-Economic Analyst based in New Delhi)
