Sunday, February 9, 2025
Home india-news Saffron sunrise: A new dawn in New Delhi

Saffron sunrise: A new dawn in New Delhi

by
0 comment

More than 27 years after an onion price crisis left a bitter taste in voters’ mouths and led to the ouster of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 1998, the lotus has bloomed again in the Capital on the back of a strong campaign that focused on honest governance and civic issues rather than ideological polarisation.

Bjp supporters celebrate the party's win in the Delhi Assembly elections at the party office in New Delhi on Saturday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)
Bjp supporters celebrate the party’s win in the Delhi Assembly elections at the party office in New Delhi on Saturday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

After the BJP lost six consecutive assembly elections between 1998 and 2020, it finally outsmarted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the issue of electoral freebies and welfare schemes, made inroads in slum clusters with a sustained seven-month outreach, highlighted the civic morass that had engulfed the Capital, and consolidated the urban middle-class voter base with tax benefits and dreams of world-class infrastructure.

It took a multilayered strategy to breach the AAP’s fortress. For one, the BJP successfully kept the spotlight on a barrage of corruption cases and investigations launched against top AAP leaders — ranging from the liquor policy case to the chief minister’s “Sheesh Mahal” (glass palace) — which dented the ruling party’s image. Former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, once an anti-corruption crusader, was castigated by the BJP as a corrupt leader who broke voters’ trust.

BJP national vice-president and the party’s Delhi election in-charge Baijayant Panda said the strongest reason behind the BJP’s historic victory was “the unwavering trust of Delhi’s people in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee… People noticed how we deliver on the promises we make… People were fed up with the ‘AAP-da’ (catastrophic) government”.

The BJP emphasised that there would be smooth governance if it got elected — one that wouldn’t be consumed by an exchange of letters and barbs between the state government and the lieutenant governor’s office, as seen during the AAP reign.

“People believed that a double-engine government will not fight with the Centre and that instead of politics of vivaad (fights), we’ll deliver on the politics of vikas,” Panda said.

Over the past month, the party held a campaign blitz led by Modi who held five mega rallies, apart from 650 assembly-level rallies featuring six chief ministers, Cabinet ministers, NDA allies and 125,000 drawing-room meetings.

But the larger BJP campaign to chip away at the AAP model started much earlier.

South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the party’s foray began two years ago, zeroing in on issues related to poor roads, water, sewage and corruption.

“People wanted to get rid of AAP and get a more livable, better governed city. The AAP had lost the confidence of the people of Delhi, so it had no chance,” Bidhuri said.

The manifesto committee chief said the BJP clearly sent across its message to voters that it will continue to provide all existing welfare schemes and improve them — a message that was repeated by Modi, home minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda.

BJP’s journey in the Capital

The BJP’s first and only term so far in the inaugural Delhi legislative assembly between 1993 and 1998 saw three popular CM faces — Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj — plus a lot of infighting, corruption cases and, finally, the onion price crisis that swung public opinion against the party.

The 2025 elections were the ninth assembly polls in the city as the legislative assembly was abolished in 1956 and did not get restored till 1993. Getting a head start in 1993, the BJP swept the polls with 49 out of 70 seats and Khurana, a key Punjabi face, was elected as the CM. Khurana resigned in 1995 over a corruption case and was succeeded by Verma, a Jat leader with a hold on outer Delhi.

Verma’s son, Parvesh Verma, has proved to be giant-killer in these elections, defeating Kejriwal in New Delhi with a margin of 4,089 votes and possibly becoming one of the contenders for the CM’s post.

Barely two months before the 1998 assembly polls, the BJP had appointed Sushma Swaraj as Delhi CM, who becomes the first woman chief minister of the state. This change, however, failed to make a dent in the face of the spiralling onion prices crisis and the BJP was routed in the elections as the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress bagged 52 of the 70 seats.

Dikshit reigned over Delhi for the next 15 years, marking a tenure synonymous with infrastructural development, expansion of the Metro network, flyovers and underpasses along with growth of slums. In 2015, the AAP stormed to power in Delhi by winning an unprecedented 67 seats, and though the BJP remained out of power in the assembly, it won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2007 and continued to rule it till 2022 when the AAP wrested control of that too.

No polarisation, matching freebies

The BJP had fought the highly charged 2020 assembly elections on the issue of nationalism, taking a firm position against the anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests in Shaheen Bagh. But this failed to make a dent in the AAP’s welfare plank. Kejriwal’s party won 62 seats for another thumping victory.

A senior BJP leader, who asked not to be named, told HT that some local leaders had pushed to include more welfare pitches during 2020 polls but the party was averse to the idea of promoting freebies at the time.

“The party has had a change of heart over the past three-four years with welfare schemes such as cash hand-outs becoming a key selling point. We not only matched AAP but went a step beyond them… And that helped here,” the leader said.

In 2025, it was ready to change tack.

If the AAP announced 2,100 monthly cash hand-outs for women, the BJP offered 2,500. It countered the AAP’s free health care scheme for the elderly, promised to double the health insurance under Ayushman Bharat to 10 lakh, and announced “free KG to PG education” for needy students as the AAP promoted its own scholarship scheme.

Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of political science at Ramjas College, said the 2025 elections were fought on the turf of welfare schemes and freebies, which had been set up by Kejriwal.

“The BJP has fought elections taking the AAP head on. It did not shy away from what they called freebies unlike previous elections. It has also not engaged in a polarising campaign like 2020, which did not work in a cosmopolitan city like Delhi… perhaps also in the hope of some Muslim voters shifting to the Congress,” said Aeijaz.

This neutralised the AAP’s welfare push and shifted the focus to other issues, which is exactly what the BJP wanted.

Corruption cases: Denting AAP’s core image

The relationship between the lieutenant governor (LG) — who answers to the Union home ministry — and the AAP government has always been fraught with tension but things nosedived in 2022 when VK Saxena took over.

Two months into his tenure as LG, Saxena recommended a probe into the excise policy case which later led to the incarceration of Kejriwal and other top AAP leaders and became a major rallying point for the BJP’s campaign.

The next two years saw probes being ordered against AAP leaders in the classroom construction case, hospital case, panic button case, and the excise policy case — which led to jail time for Kejriwal, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, former health minister Satyendar Jain, and other key party managers.

“The AAP leaders spent the last five years in corruption and covering them up. They did no work for the people even though the people continued to suffer due to overflowing sewers, bad roads, poor sanitation, and pollution. They…were unaware of the ground realities and failed to see the issues of the people,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.

Saxena in September 2023 also ordered a probe in the case of the redevelopment of the CM’s 6 Flagstaff Road bungalow — which the BJP dubbed as “Sheesh Mahal”, and attacked the AAP for shedding its “common man” image. The BJP alleged that the AAP chief had spent 45 crore to redevelop his Civil Lines bungalow and equipped it with luxurious features. The bungalow is at the centre of several investigations and was used extensively by the BJP in the campaign. The BJP even brought out models of this house and took it around in a mini truck across Delhi during the early days of its campaign.

Local issues and countering slum disadvantage

Starting from August 2024, Delhi’s slums were at the heart of a quiet, but steady outreach by the BJP – marked by visits, festival celebrations, welfare camps and overnight stays in the jhuggis — aiming to woo a voter base that had long been a stronghold of the AAP. The BJP made the push to penetrate a key demographic, which impacted the outcome in 20 constituencies.

Estimates suggest that around 3 million people live in Delhi’s 750 slums, with half of them registered voters — a tenth of the city’s total voter base of around 15 million.

The BJP ran what it calls its “jhuggi vistar” (slum outreach expansion) programme. A senior BJP leader said that the party had strong presence among the urban middle-class section, traders, middle- and high-income groups. “The announcement of the eighth pay commission as well as tax benefits helped us further consolidate our middle-class base. They were already feeling abandoned by the AAP, which had taken it for granted,” said the leader cited above.

Sajjan Kumar, a political analyst at the Policy Research and Center for Contemporary India Study (PRACCIS), said that the BJP’s biggest achievement has been its increasing support in the lower-middle class to poor sections, specifically the Purvanchali and Pahadi groups.

“The Purvanchali and Pahadi sub-groups that form a large section of voters in Delhi started gravitating towards BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and it seems like they continued to keep their loyalties with the BJP. In these lower middle-class and poor sections, the fear of losing out on 5,000- 10,000 was also huge but that was easily placated when Modi himself reassured the continuance of freebies and welfare schemes. At the lower level, the candidates only had to continue to say that the PM himself has promised to continue these schemes,” said Kumar.

He said another big factor was the BJP’s reliance on local issues rather than larger national concerns. “Since 2024 again, the BJP has been fighting state polls on a local plank, be it Haryana or Chattisgarh. They fought this election on issues of garbage, sewage, and water, and micromanaged assembly seats. Religious polarisation was a whisper campaign rather than a dominant theme,” said Kumar.

He added that though the vote share of the Congress has only increased marginally from 4% to 6%, it has made a huge dent on 10 seats that the AAP could have won — including those of Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

About Us

Welcome to Janashakti.News, your trusted source for breaking news, insightful analysis, and captivating stories from around the globe. Whether you’re seeking updates on politics, technology, sports, entertainment, or beyond, we deliver timely and reliable coverage to keep you informed and engaged.

@2024 – All Right Reserved – Janashakti.news