Delhi Polls: BJP Needs to Decide

The AAP sweep of Delhi is actually about the contradictions and conflicts within the BJP. Can Modi stay his course now? It will have tremendous effects on the future of India.

The Aam Aadmi Party has swept the Delhi elections, and the principal reason for that lies within the BJP, not in any AAP promises or hopes it generated.

In the Delhi assembly elections, the two sides of the BJP met head-on, and the better side lost. Ever since the BJP has come to power at the Centre, we have seen—or should have noticed—a clear fault line. There is a part of the BJP which is led by Narendra Modi, which is a 21st / 22nd century BJP—of bullet trains and smart cities and using social media to push through public awareness and development programmes, to touch the average citizen and provide him/ her relief. And there is the other part, still in the medieval ages, still complaining about the Jizia Tax, still aggravating about centuries-past humiliations of Hindus and bothered about everything that has nothing to do with civilizational progress.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Modi’s worst enemies are inside his party. The Opposition counts for nothing. But from Day 1, this government has been totally unnecessarily drawn into controversies by members of its own party or the extended parivar. Wackos completely unknown till now have been crawling out of the woodwork and making outrageous statements—about imagined past glories, about historical rancour, about they-did-it-to-us and now we will do it to them. The stench has been of a rancour that can only come from a deep-seated inferiority complex masquerading as swinging dicks. This is something this government can certainly do without, and definitely something that Hindusim or Sanatana Dharma, whichever way you term it, does not need, nor has any place for in its fundamental tenets.

The car crash happened on one of Delhi’s broad avenues, when Kiran Bedi was selected as the Chief Minister designate. 2015 clashed with  1001, when Mahmud of Ghazni made his first successful foray into Hindustan. Did Kiran Bedi represent the 22nd century? Not really. If she represented anything, it would be efficiency, competence, a no-nonsense approach to administration. Which has been pretty much Narendra Modi’s theme as Prime Minister.

But where was the Hindutva? Where was the baniya interest?

The BJP—even in its earlier avatar, Jan Sangh—has always been a force in Delhi. Its earlier—and long-lasting—reputation as a “baniya party” came from the very large number of small and large traders of Delhi who supported it through thick and thin. These are people with narrow interests and a conflicted ethical construct—they do not want to be harassed by the corrupt Inspector Raj and an arcane labyrinthine legal system where power finally—always—belongs to the Competent Authority; and they do not want to pay any taxes on their earnings.

They are all also devout Hindus, keeping utterly blameless people awake all night with their Vishal Bhagwati Jagrans (all-night musical devotional gatherings equipped with very powerful amplifiers; no one—and I mean no one—can sleep that night in that neighbourhood, unless you are stone deaf). Their weddings are a huge urban traffic issue (I suffered through it night before last, travelling through Ghaziabad, a city right next to Delhi, and part of the National Capital Region), because the groom, on a horse or in a horse carriage, is accompanied by a band, and scores of relatives, friends, well-wishers and unconnected drunks, who dance the last mile, taking up half the road—even if it is part of the Golden Quadrilateral of highways—and then they are met by the bride’s party who dance with them, taking up the other half of the road, thus bringing the GDP to a halt (trucks carrying stuff have to wait for hours), seriously subverting citizen rights (I want to get home to my family, but I can’t because Mahesh is marrying Pinky), and possibly causing many deaths (why should ambulances have a privileged status?).

The BJP lost the baniya vote in Delhi to AAP. The last time AAP won the Delhi elections, it rode the wave of the aggrieved (everyone in India is aggrieved, from Mukesh Ambani to me, but Arvind Kejriwal focused on a particular demographic of aggrievedness)—free water, half-price electricity, regularisation of slums, and general rant about the running dogs of capitalism. This time around, he came back smarter. AAP’s election manifesto devoted several paragraphs to the woes of the small trader, and in speech after speech, Kejriwal assured them that they would not have to pay any bribes to any government official if they bring AAP to power.

Of course, he hasn’t talked about the traders paying taxes, or about VAT. That would have scared the owners of Harbanslal Bangali Sweets, or Assured Male Child: Meet Dr Agarwal.

Kejriwal is a bright guy, he’s spent almost a year studying the way Delhi lives and has managed to game the system.

The baniyas don’t want a Kiran Bedi. She would crack down tight on Inspector Raj corruption, but she would also be in hot pursuit of sales tax. They don’t trust a sardarni who went to the extent of giving a parking ticket to India’s Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) and lathi charging lawyers. In Delhi, lawyers are also traders, they just dress differently.

In Delhi, the baniyas are a very significant voter community. Another one is the huge number of central government staffers. The one sight Lonely Planet doesn’t tell you about Delhi is thousands of government employees lolling around in parks and traffic islands in the capital enjoying the post-lunch winter sun. This perk has been severely curtailed since Modi came to power. In the two decades in this city I reside in, I have spoken to many of these lollers. They consider themselves totally honest. This is, what I have understood, honesty means for them:

– They are the underclass (though they live in government quarters in parts of Delhi where Bill Gates would think twice before paying the price for the plot), so they seek satisfaction and victory in harassing anyone who comes to them for anything.

– They know that their job is an elaborate masquerade; what matters is what Guptaji is thinking and what he has written on the notesheet (which never says clearly what he is thinking, because Guptaji is thinking of how Srivastavji will react). The Big Picture—Rs 32,000 crore allotted to some essential power project—is some dope smoker’s momentary whim. Their job is to keep the papers moving endlessly, and keep Guptaji happy, while gossiping about his (entirely unproductive) cat-and-mouse game with Srivastavji.

– When they have to go to a different government department to seek some help/ service/ rightful adjustment, they are given short shrift. So they pass the grief around, in an equalitarian spirit.

– They actively take bribes because they think they are the underclass (though they live in the poshest parts of Delhi and can never be sacked, by law, unless they have raped their boss’ daughter and their boss has recorded it on his cellphone), and everyone else in the whole country, including landless farmers, are better off and should be harassed as a general principle. Their taking bribes is a mark of honesty and a bow to the cycle of karma.

I could go on. But these guys have all voted for AAP. This may sound harsh and even unreasonable perhaps, but they deeply resent the taking away of their lolling on grass in winter sunshine. This madman Modi has deprived them of this birthright.

As for what we call the middle class and upper-middle class, those who support AAP went and voted, and those who would have wanted to go and vote BJP, thought this was a too trivial a matter to disrupt weekend plans.

Yes, the Delhi election is trivial. It is not a state but has a Legislative Assembly. Which has very little powers. The police reports to the Home Ministry. The real estate is under the Urban Development Ministry. The Delhi metro rail is run and expanded by a PSU. The Chief Minister of Delhi (the only one such anointed in a territory that is not a state; Delhi does not have a Governor, it has a Lieutenant-Governor, like all Union Territories) has hardly any powers.

The media is making a huge shindig out of BJP’s rout in Delhi. They are all missing the point.

This was a clash between BJP2.0 and BJP (Do you want to upgrade now? Remind me in: 1 day, 1 week, 1 month).

Modi’s BJP has been all about running the country and taking it forward. But there is a massive number of traditional BJP supporters in Delhi who believe in a free market with no responsibilities or duties or dues attached. And who think there’s a Shivalinga underneath the Kaaba in Mecca. Kejriwal played the game very well. Of course, he will not deliver. He has very few powers and rights through which he can deliver. He will rave and rant and make a fool of himself (nothing new there). But it is a time for introspection for BJP.

Serious introspection. And something that will determine the course of our nation at least for five years.

The truth is: Kejriwal has won because all his holier-then-thou promises assure a certain low-level daily venality (which we take as granted, because we are what we are)—auto rickshaw wallahs cheating us, small traders cheating us, loser lawyers and chartered accountants cheating us, and, for all his mufflered coughing sound and fury, he will never be able to get to the big guys. He will have to stand in queue and show his PAN card to get on a flight. To check into a hotel, he will have to show his Passport or Aadhar card or voter card (I am sure he has at least two of them)

Delhi is a clear unambiguous feedback to Modi. Do you push forward on your vision, or do you step back? What sort of compromises are you ready for? 2015 and 1001. Do you want to move backward or go forth to the multiplier effect?