Written by Michael Thervil
Photo by The Times of India
There you have it, the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) is out, and the BJP (Indian People's Party) is in. This was the results of New Delhi’s elections which were held this month on February 5th. It was a political clash that involved the fight for the Middle Class of New Delhi that entailed a slew of tax cuts and other social kickbacks meant to woo Indian voters towards one party or the other. You can view the tax cuts and social kickbacks by clicking here. The BJP won 48 of the 70-seat member party while the AAP won 22 seats. The APP has been in power for a decade in New Delhi. Other challengers in the race such as INC (Indian National Congress) landed hardly any votes.
In a press release the AAP stated: “We accept people’s mandate with humility. I congratulate the BJP for its victory and also hope that it will fulfil the expectations of the people of Delhi.” As if they had a choice to do otherwise. In our previous article entitled: “POLITICAL WAR FOR NEW DELHI’S MIDDLE CLASS” we highlighted that Prime Minister Modi was not a fan of the AAP and felt that the AAP did not serve in the best interest of the people of New Delhi because of their multitude of failed promises, fiduciary blunders, and political scandals.
What's interesting is that in the same press statement, the APP stated that: “We are not in politics for power, instead we consider it as a medium to serve people”. This is an interesting statement because politics itself is about power and influence and to state otherwise it is to tell a lie to the public. So much for humility here. The BJP hasn’t been in power since 1998 and while the political landscape and the world has greatly changed since then it could be said that this come back could be the chance of a political lifetime to not only talk about and demonstrate social reform; but the timing is ripe for the BJP to show the people of New Delhi that the can deliver on all the tax breaks and social kickbacks that they promised during their campaign.
This win by the BJP is not the end of the road when it comes to political campaigning in New Delhi because the BJP is also gearing itself up to win the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) mayoral elections. This mayoral election is set to take place in April. If the BJP can win the mayoral election this April, that would mean that the BJP would have established what they call a “Triple Engine Government”. This would mean that the BJP would have control over the municipal, state, and capitol city levels.
What does this mean for the residents of New Delhi and even more specifically for the Middle Class in New Delhi? It means that the people of New Delhi will get the opportunity to not only become upwardly mobile in the labor market and education sector, but the women of New Delhi stand to gain a better quality of life as well. That is, if the BJP stays true to their campaign promises. We previously highlighted the following list of concerns that the people of New Delhi had, and their concerns centered around things such as: Doing away with senior AAP Netas, tackling pollution, bad road conditions and illegal burning, and Auditing and stopping the Chief Minister from exploiting consumer taxes for his own benefit.
Can the BJP successfully address these social issues and more while maintaining their campaign promises? Well, like with most things in life only time will tell.
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