The #Delhielection results fail to shock and the people of Delhi have shown the way they vote . The voters have chosen to vote with the following thought process about the three options available:
- Congress lives in the past : The Congress lacks leadership and has no agenda . The leaders including Rahul Gandhi speak reactively on the narrative set by the BJP and AAP . They still live in the shadow of the Gandhis and have lost the faith of the electorate in Delhi . Only somebody like Sheila Dixit , who could take her own decisions or Capt Amarinder Singh of Punjab could revive the Congress fortunes in Delhi . People look at Congress as a party of the past and dwells in the past
- BJP lives in the future : The BJP is touted as a party that is very aggressive and play with emotions which the educated class fails to endorse . Moreover all rantings like “rapes will increase “ in future , or unnecessary use of NRC to polarise , bringing in Yogi and the Ram Mandir of future and the rest have not converted into votes . The same BJP which tainted the Congress on not naming the leader ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections in 2014 and 2019 today does the same in Delhi . So lack of a credible leader and the lack of a local story failed the BJP . Development was never on the agenda and overly anti Kejriwal story has not gone too well .
- AAP is the present : AAP kept it simple . For them development , education , health , electricity and water - the issues of the past election remained same and smartly they showcased the progress made . The little number of seats they lost was because they were trapped into the narrative laid by the BJP with Shaheenbagh which they could have remained silent and continued with their development plank . But by and large , AAP stuck to the present performance and is the favourite to win the elections .
The Delhi Elections has once again shown that henceforth local issues will win elections and any thrust of national issues will not hold good in State elections . The BJP will have to rethink its strategy . Narendra Modi remains a successful leader at the centre with no visible alternative but it will not help in winning state elections . The Congress will have to come out of its past and look for a leadership in Delhi and at all state levels and groom them locally like Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh.
