It is said that any election is decided by the ones who show up, and by the very nature of democracy, any political system works as a revolving door. The corridors of power see many footprints where ecosystems rise and fall at the will of the people, where rulers bite the dust and from the ashes, other rulers, for better or worse, emerge. The will of the people reigns supreme – again – for the better or worse – but the will of the people reigns supreme nonetheless.
In India, especially, democracy has a 24/7 job. Every election cycle ends with the beginning of the preparation for the next election cycle. After the 2019 General elections, we have had elections in several states, with many more to go before 2024 General elections. After the results are declared for every election, in a society which has now been divided on the basis of ideology, whether one agrees or not, there is one section of the population for whom democracy ‘lives’ and another, for whom democracy ‘dies’.
However, to the credit of the non-Left, they have been far more gracious in accepting the people’s mandate compared to the Left. The Left often blames people, calls the majority population ‘Hindu extremists’ assuming that only Hindus voted for the BJP and that every Hindu who did, is an “extremist”. They cry, whine, abuse, blame the system, blame democracy, curse the mandate, curse the people, curse the leader, evoke Nehru and Gandhi and the Holy Pope even to express their angst. Their angst mainly revolves around the fact that the people who voted BJP refused to agree with them or fall for their propaganda.
The non-Left, thankfully, simply dust themselves off and prepare for the next battle. At least traditionally, they did. Any party focussed on the Hindu cause and one that does not either control or bow to the Left ecosystem has tasted long bouts of electoral loss. Only recently, have the political bells starting tolling in favour of the BJP, that has traditionally, been aligned with the Hindu cause. With political power and streaks of unprecedented victory, the non-Left has started mirroring the Left in their response to defeat, thankfully, not completely.
The Delhi elections have just about concluded and the Exit Polls are out, which give a sweeping majority to Aam Admi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal. Axis poll, in fact, revealed that according to their survey, 91% Muslims voted against BJP. According to the pollster, 68% voted for AAP, 15% for Congress and only 9% for BJP. The reason Muslims rallied behind AAP was to categorically defeat BJP.
Post the Exit polls, there were several from the non-Left who proceeded to dissect why Delhi voted the way it did. While many were measured, several others spoke about how Delhi voters were selfish, short-sighted and merely cared about freebies that Kejriwal was distributing and not the larger civilisational issues that stand to lose if AAP comes to power.
One particular video on the same lines stood out. It was Zee News editor Sudhir Choudhury talking on his show on the channel.
Ouch!!
Can’t believe he openly said this. Such a shameful reporting @sudhirchaudhary
You can continue debating about national issues such as mandir-maazid and hindu-mushlim, and don’t cry when market falls down and zee news shares goes down. pic.twitter.com/12rwcOg0Rx
— Aditya Roshan (@roshanindia) February 8, 2020
In the video, Sudhir Chaudhary was heard saying that the Delhi junta did not care about civilisational issues like the Ram Mandir, Article 370 or even the Balakot strikes but only spoke big.
While the Left does not have the right to outrage as their meltdown is essentially far worse, toxic and mindless, there are several problems with this line of argument that many on the non-Left seem to have taken.
Firstly, the results are not out yet. There is speculation that the Exit Polls accounted for votes cast only till about 3 PM or 4 PM and since there was a massive surge in the voting post that, the results could be different from what the Exit Polls show.
However, if the Exit polls do hold and indeed, it is AAP that sweeps Delhi, there is no denying that it would indeed be tragic, considering the brand of politics played by the party and its MLAs.
Read: Shaheen Bagh: Children campaigning for AAP candidate Amanatullah Khan amidst Biryani feast
In the run-up to the Delhi Assembly polls, Muslim-dominated areas of Seelampur saw unprecedented violence led by Muslim mobs to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Delhi was the epicentre of the anti-CAA riots, which later spread to different parts of the country. The Muslim mob in Delhi’s Seelampur had unleashed the violence against public infrastructure and pelted stones at the police injuring many of them. The violent protestors had even attacked school buses in Delhi’s Seelampur area.
There have been serious allegations against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP for instigating riots in Delhi by inciting Muslim mobs against the Modi government ahead of the Delhi assembly elections under the guise of protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which has nothing to do with Indian Muslims.
Shockingly, Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal has given tickets to people who are associated with instigating riots in Delhi during the anti-CAA riots. AAP has fielded Abdul Rehman to contest from New Delhi’s Seelampur constituency in upcoming elections. Rehman along with ex-Congress MLA Mateen Ahmed has been named in an FIR by Delhi Police for ‘provoking the crowd’ to join the protests.
Amanatullah Khan has been booked for instigating the riots as well. In fact, when one rioter was arrested, it was Khan who created a ruckus in order to get him released.
There is absolutely no denying that if the Exit polls do hold true, Delhi voters got swayed by local issues like free rides, electricity etc and elected a party that has indulged in extremely dangerous politics with media doing its bidding.
However, if there were any cardinal rules when it comes to politics, there would be two – Don’t slam the voters into the crapper and develop a stomach of steel.
If the supporters of BJP or opposers of AAP believe that the Delhi Janta made a whoopsie, the mature way forward is to introspect and come up with a strategy to communicate that to them. The question to be asked is from the party and the support base as to where they went wrong and what their strategy lacked they could not convince the voter of Delhi that AAP is dangerous for their asperations and security.
Calling the voters names is the last resort of a defeated, spent force like the Left, not a rising behemoth like the non-Left.
It is true that that ancient civilisation of Bharat is under attack from all quarters. With the Sharjeel Imams and Amanatullah Khans talking about breaking the country, turning India into an Islamic state and even causing riots by the very thought of a few thousand persecuted Hindus being given citizenship. But the Great Civilisation of Bharat, the destiny of Hindus, is not, and cannot be dependant on one party winning every election.
While Civilisational issues cannot be dependant on one party winning every election, it is equally true that the assertion of civilisation issues and their important made AAP change their strategy. One has to realise that it is because of Hindus asserting themselves that Arvind Kejriwal had to recite the Hanuman Chalisa and visit the temple, much to the dismay of the Islamists. He even had to disown Sharjeel Imam, who was squarely used by and close to Amanatullah Khan.
Read: India: A land with Hindu consciousness, which will forever be a natural home for Hindus
The desperation of AAP was such, that they even allegedly sent their party leader, Kapil Gujjar, to seemingly stage a mock shooting in front of Jamia. The desperation was such that now, there are links between PFI and AAP leader Sanjay Singh have emerged.
While all of this when seen in isolation, makes AAP a dangerous party. But when seen in confluence, one realises that the break-India support that AAP received was covert while their change in strategy to pander to Hindus was overt. 6 years ago, to imagine that the collective voice of Hindus could wield the electoral power to even affect this strategy change was unfathomable. It is now, however, a reality.
The fight for a Bhavya Ram Mandir lasted 500 years. It took 70 years to get a thumping political majority for Hindus. It took exactly that much time for Hindus in politically independent India to reach a stage where their collective might can make an assertion of Hindu identity overt and blatant Islamist covert. For far too long, it was the other way around.
To measure this fight by the defeat in one electoral cycle is not just unfair, but politically immature. While the non-Left needs to imitate the Left as far as how they raise their collective voice and the shamelessness with which they wear their ideology on their sleeve, being tear-jerkers and angry losers like them are not something that needs replication. One set of crazies are more than what this country deserves.
The Left hates voters when it doesn’t agree with them, hates India and wants to rip it apart and hates democracy because it is a fickle, unruly mistress. The non-Left is made of sterner stuff, with a foundation of love for the civilisation. The bitterness that the Left thrives on is something that the non-Left must not fall for and avoid like the black plague it is.
Electoral politics is like a scurrying ras – fast, directionless, short-lived. The Civilisation of Bharata, that has survived for thousands of years, like an imposing Elephant – slow, measured, calculated and dangerous when angry. The anger the non-Left displays today should be better reserved to fight the forces that are consolidating to challenge the very foundation of our existence.
