The BJP have won Delhi elections (though not absolute
majority) and they have Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party to thank for this. As
we all know, until two months ago, Vijay Goel who was another Delhi wheeler and
dealer, was leading the BJP down the familiar path of self defeat. AAP was on a
roll (before the sting got Shazia Ilmi and others). Goel was refusing to budge
from the status quo. After Modi and Rajnath Singh took complete control of the
BJP they saw the writing on the wall. Forced by the AAP’s march they had to
reevaluate. They brought in Dr. Harshvardhan who is somewhat of a visionary when
it comes to social medicine. He is credited with providing the country with the
Polio eradication program for the entire nation. Clearly he is also a performer who knows the
pulse of Delhi politics. Personally the man is as honest as Narendra Modi. He
lives in a house built by his father. In the picture included in this blogpost,
you can see that this man’s life is anything but opulent. I would be proud to
call him my leader.
My point here is that Arvind Kejriwal’s /AAP victory
highlights the need for leaders like Dr. Harshvardhan i.e. men who can work and
perform and whose honesty is beyond reproach.
It also highlights the anger in Indian voter against Delhi brand of
politics. The BJP would be well advised not to become complacent about these
victories and read the tea leaves from Delhi. They need to remember that a
typical BJP voter is a middle class Hindu. These voters are also the kind who
can see the virtue in AAP’s approach to problems. The BJP really need to
project and give Loksabha tickets to leaders who cannot be targeted by AAP or
the pro-Congress leftist sting operators. We also need to target leaders who
are balanced in their approach so we do not alienate the middle of the road
undecided voters. What I am saying is that we need more Harshvardhans and less
Varun Gandhis. You see, we do not need firebrands or rabble-rousers because
they are poor excuses for motivators. We already have the best political
motivational speaker in the country in Bhai Narendra Modi. We know what this
man is capable of. We should let him tell the voters his larger vision. What
the party needs to assure the voters is that Modi will have the best, most
capable support from the party. Manmohan Singh, despite of a clean image was
surrounded by the most crooked band of robbers. The voters know that even with
the best man on top, there needs to be accountability across the board. It is
this thirst for accountability which has propelled the AAP to an unprecedented
success.
BJP is an ideology driven party. The purest form of this
kind of governance is seen in Gujarat and the results are there for all to see.
What we do not want is for the BJP to become Congress lite, corrupted by the
Delhi way of politics. Recently deposed leadership of BJP headed by LK Advani
epitomized all that was wrong with the BJP. That has since been revamping of
the leadership. Modi/Rajnath took care of the anti Goel dissent in Delhi albeit
too late (they could not have done it with LK Advani still throwing tantrums)
and as a result, they fisnished in the first place. Had they resolved this
issue earlier, the four seats that they lost to AAP with less than 500 vote
margin could have go in their kitty and the good doctor would have been the
fourth BJP CM to take oath.
In many ways, I am glad that Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP
forced BJP’s hand. There is no need in the party for people who are not
beholden to the values of the party but join it for power. Gadkari and others
made a severe mistake by going after Babu Singh Kushwaha in desperate hopes of
winning in UP. It did not work in UP. With people now seeing what the AAP can
do in urban areas, it will not work nationally either. AAP has shown the mirror
to the BJP and the message is loud and clear. The Delhi status quo is out. No
more forgive / forget / complacence / “I scratch your back and you scratch
mine”/ seniority driven politics of LK Advani. It is time to practice the MODI
brand of politics with the old Janasangh ideology as a moral compass. We have
outsiders like Narendra Modi and AAP to thank for this.
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