The media has been busy writing off the Aam Aadmi Party after the Punjab and Goa assembly elections. After the MCD elections, the chorus has become louder. The party won just 48 seats in this civic body election and compared to the assembly elections of 2015, its vote share declined heavily. The Congress, while finishing third, gained the most in terms of vote-share, while the BJP, the clear winner, registered only a marginal increase in vote-share over the assembly elections.
However, there have been big comebacks in politics, and AAP’s own comeback after its poor show in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls should not be forgotten.
What was the AAP’s campaign plank this time? Along with welfare schemes such as cheap power and water, and good schools and hospitals, AAP took a position against violent Hindutva mobs — whether it was a buffalo trader being attacked in Kalkaji or, earlier, the Kerala House being under attack for serving beef. In the current climate, post Uttar Pradesh, this may not have worked.
This is not to say that AAP has not erred. Its campaigns in Punjab and Goa were based on emotive issues. Arvind Kejriwal’s style was criticised by AAP’s founders. AAP should democratise its way of functioning. It has allowed itself to be bogged down by conflicts with the Centre, even as the latter has left no stone unturned to create distractions. AAP should re-establish contact with the masses. Migrant workers have swung the BJP’s way, with the latter roping in actor Manoj Tiwari as a star campaigner.
The BJP utilised the ‘spillover effect’ of the Modi wave in UP. As a result, this was a local election quite unlike any other. Normally, civic body polls are fought on water, power, roads, sanitation, cleanliness, health and education. The MCD election was fought on Kashmir, JNU, nationalism, Hindu, Muslim and communalism.
Senior Assistant Editor