Twitter and Facebook witnessed a troll fest on Feb 10th when the Delhi election results were announced. “Bhakts” had a tough time getting trolled by the “AAPtards”. The “Congis” were conspicuous by their absence in this space. Clichés like “Honesty Wins”, “New Chapter in Indian Politics”, “Common Man Won” “Modi-Shah decimated” etc had a field day. The BJP supporters valiantly retaliated by saying “Kejriwal would not stick for even an year”, “where is the free wifi” etc.
The fact however remains that Arvind Kejriwal has got a decisive mandate with 54% vote share. It’s a historic mandate. BJP and its supporters have to respect this fact and accept that he will rule Delhi for the next 5 years. And you can be sure, he will stay for the next 5 years. His actions and speech indicates he seems to have learnt from his 2014 mistakes.
Arvind Kejriwal must however realize that he is now on the crest of huge expectations. He has promised sky and has a lot of things on his plate to deliver. Of course all these cannot happen overnight. Although AAP vociferously campaigned that Modi had failed to deliver in the last 8 months, neither can AAP deliver in 8 months. In the coming months, they can only take the right steps in fulfilling them just as Modi is doing at the center. The results will take some more time to show. The focus now should be on delivering the promises. If not, he will soon realize that it is easier to be outside the system than be in one.
On the other hand, the fact also is that while this elections has a huge political bearing, this is by no means the end of “Modi-Shah” factor. Modi, for sure is not a worried man. In his 13 year stint as CM, he has seen many ups and downs, he knows how to deliver, he has mastered the art of building up the narrative of his achievements. It is not easy to write off Modi, so soon. If Anti-Modi brigade interprets Delhi result as the start of decline of Modi, it only bares their naivety.
That said, BJP must introspect and learn from the mistakes if they want to grow further. It is one thing to ask Congress to do it. But can can ask themselves why this debacle happened and take corrective actions?
The yardsticks used by Modi in Gujarat may not apply that well in the Centre. For one, he needs to revisit the way he manages media. Media did play a major role in Delhi elections. “Tame Media by Ignoring them” strategy may have worked in Gujarat, but will it work in the center.The truth behind the Religious Conversions, Love Jihad, Ghar Wapsi etc, may not be brought out in a way it should be, but being painted badly against the government by certain sections of main stream media. Negative Perceptions that is being created needs to be managed. Accurate narratives needs to be propagated. Remember the anger against UPA-2 started with CWG, which was as early as in 2010.
At the end of the day, whether it is Modi in Centre or Kejriwal in Delhi, India has made it crystal clear that they are now a transformed force. It is an era of decisive mandate. The generation of people blindly voting for a certain surname is gone. The era of hung assemblies are a thing of past.