MyVoice: Views of our readers 15th February 2020

AAP can grow beyond Delhi

Delhi Chief Minster Aravind Kejriwal knows that it is his work in Delhi which is the gateway to the recognition of the AAP nationally and internationally and this time he is not likely to jeopardise it in the quest to increase his party's footfalls elsewhere.

If he manages big-ticket deliveries in his third term, or even moves in that direction, like reducing pollution in Delhi, which will probably top every Delhiite's wish-list, cleaning the Yamuna, 24-hour power and piped water to every household, as promised, his stock will go up further all over the country.

He is already eyeing the municipal elections due in Delhi in 2022, which he had lost to the BJP last time. Winning these local polls will strengthen his hands, without getting embroiled into spats with the BJP at every step, to ensure last-mile delivery.

The AAP had built a strong organisation in Punjab, where elections are due in 2022 and though it lost the 2017 elections, there is a base to build on. He may also eye Haryana, Goa, and even Bihar. There is space for a third force in many States.

It is not just the impact that the AAP as a party will have beyond Delhi in the coming months — it is early days yet, and after all, Delhi is only a city-State — the national outreach of the AAP also lies in the alternative narrative Kejriwal has put out, which can successfully counter the Modi brand of politics.

It is a combination of a pro-Hindu, but not anti-Muslim, rhetoric, relying on word, symbols and optics that Hindus identify with; delivery — and its effective marketing — on issues such as bijli, paani, health and education; and helmed by a leader clearly in control. Other Opposition parties may well adopt this model in the months to come.

Sruthi Chowdhary, Nellore, AP

Kejriwal, a rising national hero?

When comparing to the AAP's miserable performance in the Lok Sabha election just eight months ago in May 2019, its clean sweep in the Delhi State elections is miraculous.

The AAP had managed only 18.1 per cent vote share and ended up losing in all seven parliamentary seats of Delhi. The BJP, which won all the seven seats, had managed to get 56.6 per cent of the votes. Even the Congress had won 22.5 per cent of the votes in Lok Sabha 2019.

In April 2017, the BJP had swept the MCD elections in Delhi and the AAP had been reduced to a distant second. It is precisely these two major setbacks - in 2017 and 2019 - that made Kejriwal reinvent himself. The Kejriwal of yesteryear is unrecognisable from today's version.

From an angry young man who would launch an agitation at the drop of a hat, attack the Lieutenant Governor and other bureaucrats of Delhi over slow passage of files, abuse the police as "thullas", attack capitalists by name, Kejriwal has transformed into a calm, sober and serious governance hero who lets his work speak for him. The question now is: Can Kejriwal rise to be national hero?

A Shravan Kumar, Hyderabad

The failing Congress

This is with reference to the report 'All's not well with beleaguered Cong' (Feb 14). In the context of national politics, virtually every non-NDA political party is looking for an alternative to Modi.

Parties like the Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, DMK, Left parties, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, TDP and others are totally disappointed with Rahul's ability to take on the Modi regime on the deteriorating situation in Jammu & Kashmir, matters of national security, slowdown of economy, vigilantism and a range of other issues.

The deep-rooted anti-Congressism has existed for decades when the grand old party was in power and the Congress' task of leading from the front has been more wishful than based on ground realities.

Ravi Devarapally, Nuzvid, Krishna dist, AP

An insensitive society and alleged anti-nationalism

It is ironical to note that well educated, financially secure, widely travelled, privileged families have swallowed the poison being dished out by the BJP and amplified by a craven media.

They are willing to believe every lie loaded on WhatsApp and Twitter by the party's IT cell, suspending their disbelief and eager to teach "them" a lesson for all the imagined historical wrongs perpetrated by their ancestors.

The government takes the lead in this catechism by creating dubious legislation and the patriots follow it up by lynching, desecration and riots.

And the BJP periodically hoovers up the votes. Even by the low standards of our politicians, however, the ruling party's campaigning style for the Delhi elections reveals a radicalisation that has plumbed the depths. The protests at Shaheen Bagh and elsewhere have been made the metaphor for anti-nationalism and betrayal.

The Prime Minister fans the fanaticism by alleging that Shaheen Bagh is not a protest but an "experiment", the innuendo leaving no room to doubt what this experiment is about.

And no one bats an eyelid – not the Election Commission, not the Supreme Court, not Hindu neighbours in my housing society, not my colleagues, not even most of my own family.

Sudarshan Reddy A, Kurnool, AP