After a quarter century, the lotus has bloomed in Indraprastha. The BJP is going to come to power by capturing 48 out of 70 seats. The BJP’s path to usurping the capital was not an easy one. It was one that was dogged by many setbacks. The history of RSS/BJP is like that. It is no secret that the RSS, which was banned thrice and declared anti-national by the country, is controlling the BJP. After suffering many setbacks, being defeated time and again, and coming back again and again, today the RSS/BJP is in power in the central government.
The RSS was banned the first time for the sin of having shot the Father of the Nation dead. Those who were declared traitors then are patriots today. Those who doubt or criticize them too are traitors. The BJP (then Jana Sangh), the political face of the RSS, did not dare to openly confess their link with the RSS then. Their role in Gandhi’s assassination kept them from doing so. Later, they were able to reverse the situation. Through patient, methodical work, and tireless repetition of Goebbelsian lies, they won over all that. They very skillfully and patiently eliminated all the untouchability that was generated by the assassination of Gandhi and emerged as spokesmen and symbols of patriotism. BJP leaders who once flattered themselves that they had no link with the RSS, have now proudly announced that they are members of the RSS. Our Prime Minister and Home Minister all claim the same. Thus, slowly, the RSS and the BJP became acceptable in mainstream politics.
Let’s come back to the topic. Examining the paths the Sangh Parivar has taken to return to power in Delhi is not only fascinating but also terrifying. They are the paths of racism, dictatorship and fascism. How to strangulate a popular state government, democratically elected with a massive majority, and turn it against the people, the BJP has been trying all these paths in the capital city of Delhi for more than a decade. It was more than the BJP could endure to see a popular government winning consistently under the nose of the central government, defying and taunting them. Moreover, the Aam Aadmi Party was slowly spreading to states like Punjab, Gujarat and Goa. The entire machinery of the central government was being used very systematically against AAP and Kejriwal in the elections. Union ministers and BJP chief ministers took refuge in Delhi and campaigned. The first objective was to destroy Kejriwal’s clean image. First Sisodia and then Kejriwal himself were booked and arrested in the liquor policy corruption case. Both of them were in the custody of the law for more than a year. Right from the beginning, the BJP worked day and night to destroy the image that Kejriwal had gained as a corruption-free government. A media friend of mine has provided evidence that around 270 paid personnel are working in three shifts on social media.
They were generating hundreds of fake news through reels and videos every day. When these go viral, they are provided special incentives in addition to their wages. The BJP and the RSS have been pursuing a policy of professionalizing not only social media but political work itself for quite some time now. They employ/hire youngsters from all states during elections on very good pay. They are given the training required by way of professional management and then sent out for campaigning. This is being tried very successfully for the first time in Tripura. In a country where there is acute unemployment, youngsters are good catches for such an assignment. They forget all their personal politics and campaign for the party they were hired by, quite mechanically. This is how political work gets professionalized. Even Malayali youths have canvassed in Delhi slums and resettlement colonies this time, a media friend notes.
The BJP/RSS are conducting family meetings with over forty thousand women in 70 Delhi constituencies. Of 56% of Delhi’s constituencies, 75% are Hindus. The soft Hindutva advances (Bajrang Bhakti, Ram Mandir Premam) made to win them over not only failed but backfired. It seems that such opportunist stands served only to alienate the minorities to some extent and confuse the secular side. The failure to come to terms with the secular parties including the Congress is indeed a reason for the defeat. The Congress has been able to make some inroad in its vote share to a limited extent.
AAP swept to power in Delhi like a storm in 2013. That too when it was only six months old. AAP captured power by defeating the Congress and the BJP together, who had been ruling the capital city alternately till then. They won three elections in a row under the nose of the central government. Remember that Delhi is not a state with full power like Kerala or Karnataka. The police there are under the control of the central government. Similarly, land ownership (Delhi Development Authority), civil service services, etc. are all in the hands of the center through the lieutenant governor. It is no mean feat that they could resist all this abuse of power and remain in power for a decade and a half despite being choked.
I can say with confidence that the AAP government has implemented many of the most welfare schemes that Delhi has seen in its four decades of life. Though it cannot be said that corruption has been wiped out entirely, the AAP government can claim that it has reduced it comparatively. Some of them are cutting down the electricity bill by half, making water bills free up to 500 liters, bringing about positive changes in the education system, and free bus travel for women. Delhi is also the only state in India that has presented a surplus budget while granting all these concessions to the people. The people of Delhi have rejected such a government.
Before we conclude this post, it does not seem fitting not to mention the Left in Delhi. Left parties (CPIM, CPI) have struggled since the Delhi elections started. Not only have they lost a single seat so far, but they have not even gotten the promised money. How did the AAP party win the seat of power within six months of its establishment, outsmarting the country’s big national parties, the BJP, and the Congress? How effortlessly did the AAP, without any ideological support or political tradition like the communist parties, get into the hearts of the people of Delhi? A hundred years ago, in 1925, the RSS was established and Hindutva politics started in India. Around the same time, communist parties were established in India as well. After a hundred years, in retrospect, Hindutva communal politics has spread like cancer in the country. In the process, why are communist parties losing day by day? It seems that this is a subject that left-wing political students and intellectuals should make an issue of serious study.
Grace Mubashir is a PhD student at Jamia Millia Islamia where he looks into communal debates and identity formation in the run-up to partition. He could be reached 9567503249 and gracemubashir@instagram
