NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the high octane Delhi assembly polls on Tuesday in a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anti-Muslim politics, winning 62 seats in the 70-member assembly.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a humbling eight seats. The verdict rejected the BJP’s campaign that resonated with calls to shoot and harm Muslim women in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh locality, who have become a rallying point for nationwide campaigns against Mr Modi’s communally-framed citizenship law passed by parliament.

The election result was cheered by all major opposition parties, and signalled the possibility of a united campaign against the BJP’s sectarian politics.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal forbade his AAP supporters from setting off firecrackers to herald the victory, signalling yet again his party’s faith in sober politics.

The AAP campaign focused on schools and mohalla health clinics, free water and cheap electricity, which has riled big corporations and their political supporters.

The BJP targeted Muslims and at one stage even described Mr Kejriwal as a terrorist for his quiet sympathy for secularism. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among the first to congratulate Mr Kejriwal. “Leaders playing on faith through hate speech and divisive politics should take a cue,” she said in a statement.

Through the campaign the BJP had relied on Hindu consolidation with an attempt to paint anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters as ‘traitors’.

There has been considerable bonhomie between the two chief ministers. Mr Kejriwal had openly supported Ms Banerjee during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when an attempt was being made by her to organise parties against the BJP.

She faces a challenging assembly election next year with the BJP having gained significant ground in West Bengal.

The Twitter handle of former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, also congratulated Kejriwal.

Since Ms Mufti has been under detention since August 5 — and recently under the Public Safety Act — without trial and recourse to legal assistance, her daughter Iltija Mufti has been tweeting through her handle. On behalf of Ms Mufti, I’d like to congratulate @ArvindKejriwal for his spectacular victory & especially Dilliwallahs for rejecting vitriolic divisive politics & voting on real issues instead”.

Leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) M.K. Stalin joined in the congratulatory messages and he too criticised the BJP’s ‘communal politics’.

Mr Stalin also brought in the issues of ‘federal rights and regional aspirations’ which are integral to politics in south India and for regional parties with limited national presence.

The leader of opposition in Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav (senior politician Lalu Yadav’s son) said that the verdict is a mandate against the BJP’s ‘negative and blatant hate politics’. He also urged the BJP to drop ‘communalism and bigotry’ in its politics.

“You have defeated negative & blatant hate politics decisively.”

Former BJP ally and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, congratulated Mr Kejriwal and said that the people of Delhi have chosen ‘jan ki baat’ over ‘mann ki bat’ — a pun on Narendra Modi’s radio show.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2020