The BJP’s victory in the recent state assembly elections is an indicator of how much today’s electorate is swayed by the promise of development and growth. The party’s campaigner-in-chief was prime minister Narendra Modi—in both Haryana and Maharashtra, BJP had not announced chief ministerial candidates and let Modi’s forceful verbiage of growth work its hold on voters. From the results, as also the general elections earlier this year, it is quite clear that the average Indian voter will hitch her ride to the bandwagon that understands her aspirations and offer ways to realise them. India’s population is young and is hungering for jobs and realises well that economic growth alone can get it there.
So, it is no surprise that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Arvind Kejriwal, known more for his anti-corruption agenda and ‘politics of protests’ than for any utterances on growth, has changed tack as the Delhi assembly elections near. Knowing well that the anti-corruption anger was a one-time harvest, reaped by the AAP in the 2013
Delhi assembly elections, and that the BJP is so far a crowd favourite with its agenda of economic growth, Kejriwal included jobs, infrastructure (including digital infrastructure, something Modi, too, is keen on), etc, in the AAP’s list of goals at the Express Adda in Mumbai. It is commendable that the AAP finally realises how much economic growth matters electorally and is speaking about it. But Kejriwal and his party should remember it is not just rhetoric that will give them a second chance in Delhi—it will also have to be about an action plan.
