Learn from them
Well done to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) (‘Delhi election results: AAP trashes BJP, wins 67 out of 70 seats’, Gulf News, February 11)! It’s a clean sweep in 67 years for a two-year-old party versus the juggernauts, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. This victory is due to the arrogance, negativity and cheap language of the BJP senior officials against the AAP and in not delivering as promised to the citizens of India, who have grown fed up. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by his deafening silence on many issues of intolerance to minorities and vandalism of places of worship, has created further divide to a government in power only for eight months.
Shame, even the US President Barack Obama sent a strong caution to the BJP government twice, as a reminder to respect the rights of all citizens – especially the minorities. AAP’s humility and taking cognizance of the common man’s issues irrespective of faith has won the hearts of Indians. The BJP government needs to learn from the AAP to care for home diplomacy first and not foreign diplomacy to impress the world. The AAP needs to replicate this success in other states. It’s a great start – especially for the new generation of volunteers of the AAP Party. Hats off to them!
From Mr M. Rodrigues
Abu Dhabi
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Lessons learnt
The AAP’s unprecedented victory in the Delhi elections is undoubtedly a setback to Modi and the BJP. It is not the defeat, but the scale of defeat that should be a serious concern to the ruling party at the centre. Interestingly, the BJP’s vote share has not dropped much compared to the previous assembly election. This is something of a consolation to the BJP that the loss of 1 per cent of the vote share could cost 29 seats was unseen before. The AAP could get 67 seats due to the massive consolidation of anti-BJP votes that would have otherwise gone to Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and other small players. This is proven from the fact that Congress has drawn a blank for the first time in the history of Delhi elections. It is a clear end for Congress, which should worry most.
As expected, the spectacular performance of the AAP has sparked off a debate in the media as to what the national impact would be. There are also media reports that read the Delhi election results as a rejection of Modi’s policies. How can it be so? How would they explain all the BJP victories in the other states in recent times?
The AAP is a party confined to Delhi and they have grabbed the space left vacant by Congress as it is on the decline. The real test for the AAP has just begun. All tall promises they have made in their manifesto must be fulfilled if they wish to retain the trust and mandate they have won. There are lessons for both Congress and the BJP, which is to never underestimate the people’s power, who ultimately can make or break irrespective of how strong the roots are.
From Mr Ganeshan Srinivasan
UAE
Youth involvement
All the best to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. But, we need to see a similar effect from other states also. This is a positive result for the educated youth because this is the motivation they need to be involved in the political system. If we had more youth involving in politics, then India would become a rich country soon. Particularly, we need to see some changes from Tamil Nadu.
From Mr Ramjath
Dubai
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People seeking change
The poll results indicate that the people of Delhi still have a lot of faith in AAP, even though Kejriwal had resigned from the Chief Ministerial position during his last term in office in 2014. This victory must be dedicated to the people of Delhi who might be living in promises for many years with no real governing body by any party in the capital. The AAP’s hard work has earned success and the people are definitely expecting a change from the routine. The key lesson here is that the victory of the AAP is not the victory of a political party, as it is the victory of the people who sincerely want a change from the routines of the past.
From Mr Ramachandran Nair
Ruwi, Oman
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Secular India
Thanks to the people of Delhi, it was a great way to show how secular Indian society really is. Being ethical and humanitarian is more important than colour, ethnicity, caste, religion and affluence. Hope the winners will offer good governance and a solution-oriented performance.
From Mr Hassan Modiraparambil
Dubai
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Standing for change
The people of Delhi have rejected the BJP and have given a clean sweep for Kejriwal and the AAP within one year’s time after Modi became Prime Minister with an absolute majority. It shows that Indians believe in secularism. We have seen forceful conversion to Hinduism, the the making of the statue for Nathuram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi and the attack and burning of several Christian churches in Mumbai and Delhi. It has created panic and fear – not only among the minority communities, but also among the majority people. People have rejected the Modi and Amit Shah combination.
Millions of people in India are left without a meal, proper housing or clothing and they still live in slums. People have voted Modi into power to give them relief from the hike in prices of essential commodities, as promised to bring huge deposits of money from foreign countries.
Actually, Indian democracy has the strength to clean the political system. It has always stood for change. Now the people in Delhi have given their hope to AAP to bring drastic changes in their lives and we hope that AAP will fulfil.
From Mr Eappen Elias
Dubai
Fight corruption
I wish all the success and full support to the Kejriwal government. I hope he helps the common people always and rules Delhi honestly with clean hands. This is his second chance: I hope he doesn’t lose it this time. Fight against all kinds of corruption and this is the chance to reach the hearts of every common man. I wish him good luck.
From Mr George
Kerala, India
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Transparency and simplicity
The massive victory of the AAP in the Delhi Assembly poll is a rude shock for both the BJP and the Congress. It shows that the voters have trust in Kejriwal that his government will provide them a corruption-free and welfare-oriented government. Therefore, this landslide victory casts a heavy responsibility on the shoulder of AAP. The abysmally poor performance of the BJP shows that it has failed to deliver the promises that they had showered in front of the voters during the pre-election time. This is a shock treatment for its commissions and omissions during the eight months in power and the decimation of the Congress to its record of corruption and nepotism all these six decades. They have elected Kejriwal for making a good government that has to impress them by its transparency, humility and simplicity. If he fails to deliver a good end product, the voters will throw him out mercilessly next time. It is high time for the Indian political parties to learn that the voice of the people is the voice of God.
From Mr Sunny Joseph
Kerala, India
Proven support
Faith, love and trust have made Kejriwal win the election campaign for the most powerful seat in the centre of India. He has not only proven that he has the faith and trust of the Delhi people, it has proven that no party can be powerful unless and until he has total support of the people from their region. Being that the BJP are in power all over the states, still he has defeated the ruling party by the support of his faithful and loyal followers.
From Mr Lodhi Azmatullah Khan
Dubai
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Delhi’s statehood
Delhiites have been demanding full statehood for the Delhi state and the elected government is duty-bound to work towards achieving that objective. The AAP, immediately within hours after winning back Delhi, have started working for the future of Delhi.
The BJP-ruled Delhi government had passed a resolution in the Delhi assembly seeking full statehood for Delhi in 1993. The Congress government headed by Sheila Dikshit had also placed a resolution in the Delhi assembly twice for a grant of full statehood, which was passed. In its manifesto, AAP had promised to push for full statehood for Delhi if it came to power.
The BJP in its manifesto for 2013 assembly polls had promised full statehood for Delhi. The party had come out with a vision document for the February 7 assembly polls, which did not mention the statehood issue.
One major problem is linked to the police department, which is not under the Delhi government, but directly controlled by Indian Union government and so once Delhi obtains full statehood that will address this matter as well.
Both the AAP and the BJP had promised it in their election manifestos. As there is a BJP government at the centre with a full majority and an AAP government in Delhi, there should not be any problem in fulfilling the promise. Kejriwal sought full cooperation from Rajnath Singh in addressing various issues requiring intervention of the Centre. The Home Ministry and the Delhi government should act in tandem and there should be constructive cooperation between the two.
From Dr Abdul Ruff
UAE
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