The Delhi election will be remembered for the BJP’s divisive campaign and the AAP’s clever attempts to beat the communal trap.
Hate speeches, name calling and double such as pute-impure and traitor-terrorist marked the campaign narrative of the Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) for the February 8 election to the 70 member Assembly. Once the election heat subsides, what people will remember it for will be slogans such as “desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaron saalon ko” and declaration such as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is a terrorist.
The fact that these slogans/declarations did not come from debris but were mouthed by Union Ministers Anurag Thakur and Prakash Javedkar is amazing.
Despite the fact that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) focussed it’s campaigns on issues such as health, education and bijli-sadak-paani, the BJP campaign centred around issues such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA), the National Register of Citizens(NRC), the National Population Register(NPR), Article 370, construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya and Triple talaq.
The BJP’s election manifesto, which talked of sops, freebies and development, got lost on the ground when campaigning began.