“The third quality of a good party is that it should be wedded to certain ideals and all its policies should be framed with a view to realising these ideals. It is true that the very practical act of administration cannot be fitted into a set of formulae framed on a theoretical analysis of situation. But expediency and opportunism should not pass for realism. Realism is a virtue of the idealist, the principled man, the missionary; it is not a characteristic of the man with an easy conscience, the opportunist and the apostate. Political parties and leaders by their behaviour determine the values of political life. They set the norms. Naturally their policies should in no case violate these norms of public behaviour. Democracy is not simply elections. It requires a well organised people, well built parties and well established conventions of political behaviour”. —Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, Your Vote-2, Candidate, Party and Ideology All Count, Organiser (Weekly), December 11, 1961
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made a resounding comeback in the Delhi Assembly Elections. Under PM Modi’s leadership, the BJP’s victory stands as a defining moment with profound political and national significance.
Traditionally, a BJP stronghold right from the Jan Sangh days, the Delhi Assembly Elections had virtually become a jinx for the BJP for more than twenty-seven years in six consecutive elections. During the same period, the BJP won the Municipal Corporations and swept the Lok Sabha polls, but success in the Assembly elections remained elusive. After winning the 1998 elections under the leadership of the late Sheila Dikshit, Congress made Delhi its bastion, at least at the Assembly level. The gerrymandering took place after delimitation in 2006 and 14-16 constituencies were carved out so that BJP would find it difficult to find a stronghold. The changed demography of the capital region with rapid urbanisation and migration compelled political parties to reinvent the old strategies.
The rise of the AAP out of the anti-corruption movement captured the entire Congress’s vote share and the substantial chunk that the Bahujan Samaj Party used to have. The BJP is not just back to around 47 per cent of the vote share it had secured in 1993 but has converted that into seats, breaking the chakravyuh of Delhi Assembly segments.
The election management and ability to connect with all sections of society on the governance plank is one of the key reasons why the party ruling the Centre could make this possible. Each section was entrusted to a dedicated team of coordinators and Members of Parliament, ensuring effective communication and execution of the plan. In a concerted outreach effort, party representatives connected with RWAs, senior citizens, Poorvanchalis, women, intellectuals, academicians, and marginalised communities, including SCs, STs, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, to foster inclusivity and representation. Even Muslim and Christian communities were contacted with a positive governance agenda. A separate committee was constituted to counter the fake narratives against the party. The ticket distribution was also based on constructive feedback. The nationalist party could wonderfully interweave the national-level issues with the local ones to address the voters’ concerns. In the Delhi Assembly Polls 2025, the BJP exemplified a perfect blend of idealism and realism in electoral politics, as the party ideologue Deendayal Ji expected.
The most significant aspect of this victory was the defeat of international NGO-inspired anarchist politics, as represented by the AAP. The party emerged from a movement with tall promises of participatory politics, turned out to be a nightmare for the democratic conventions and constitutional norms. Arvind Kejriwal and his NGO conglomerate violated every word that became the foundational philosophy of the movement. The broom – a symbol of cleaning the politics – resulted in spreading more garbage through valueless corrupt politics. Discrediting the democracy of Bharat, the political class and eventually installing a dummy Government that would dance to the tune of the external forces was the game plan behind the AAP experiment. The only saving grace was it never had the organisational structure and committed ideological Karyakartas. The self-promoting, ambitious leadership who worked on the NGO-type branding through public funds indulged only in blame games and gave excuses for doing nothing. Modi-led BJP defeated the ‘alternative model’ of politics that believes in anarchy as the pre-condition for revolution. The main-streamed Urban-Naxalism has got a decisive blow at the hands of nationalist forces. Protests which were being held in the national capital on a regular basis and posed a big hindrance to the common man will not get a systemic support now. This way, PM Modi and the BJP have moved one step further towards achieving their goal of Swachh Bharat Mission, cleaning the dirt endangering national interest.
As the national capital, Delhi needs a synergy between various governance structures. From infrastructure to security, this synergised governance is necessary. After getting rid of the AAP-Da (disaster) for Delhi, it is an opportunity for the BJP to show the impact of collaborative, integrated development. While continuing the battle against the anarchist forces, the BJP should try to enact the Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas slogan.
