After several weeks of trying to keep the Delhi election campaign focussed on issues like water, roads, power, education and health, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to change its strategy. In the last leg of the campaign, it will adopt a far more confrontational approach towards the BJP.
This is said to have been provoked by the communally charged statements of BJP campaigners like Union Home Minister Amit Shah, West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma, and Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur.
In particular, AAP is latching on to Verma’s comment labelling Kejriwal a “terrorist”.
On 30 January, Kejriwal addressed a press conference and gave a very emotional response.
He said: “Yesterday, some BJP leaders said Kejriwal is a terrorist. Till today, I have sacrificed everything for the country. In the last five years, I’ve considered every child of Delhi as my own child and provided good education, does that make me a terrorist?”
“If anyone fell ill in any household, I arranged for their treatment, which terrorist does that? I arranged for pilgrimage for elderly residents, does that make me a terrorist? We arranged for providing support of families of martyrs. Which terrorist does that?" he added.
Later, Kejriwal said at a rally, “If you consider me your brother or son, press the button on jhadu (broom, AAP’s symbol). But, if you consider me a terrorist, vote for BJP”.
Now, AAP is taking the campaign a step forward. AAP leaders and workers are now walking around with black bands on their arms and mouths, with a printed message urging people of Delhi to make a choice : Is Kejriwal a terrorist or a son of Delhi?
There are a number of other posters being circulated with messages like:
- “We are the Aam Aadmi of Delhi, not terrorists”
- “Kejriwal is our elder son, not a terrorist”
- “Delhi will give an answer, every vote for jhadu”
- “Kejriwal is our brother, not a terrorist”
“The idea behind the campaign is to neutralise BJP communal campaign, not just against Kejriwal but also anti-CAA protesters. Our answer is that we are the Aam Aadmi of Delhi, not terrorists,” an AAP leader told The Quint.
According to CVoter’s tracker, Arvind Kejriwal is the first CM choice by a long margin and AAP is clearly trying to cash in on his popularity, especially given BJP’s sudden rise in the last one week.
The campaign appears to have caught the BJP off guard to some extent. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, who is among the party’s most prominent leaders in Delhi, tweeted: “How can someone, who was born in Hisar and joined Anna Hazare from Ghaziabad, be a son of Delhi?”.
Since a large number of voters in Delhi weren’t born here and migrated from other cities, this gave AAP an opportunity to strike back.
In response to Vardhan, Kejriwal tweeted, “You may hate me. You may abuse me. But how can you discard Delhiites who were born in UP and Haryana? They are part of our Delhi family”.
A large number of Delhi voters are those who voted for BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name in the Lok Sabha elections, but prefer Kejriwal at the state level. It is those voters, which both BJP and AAP are desperately trying to woo.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)