By Badri Narayan
For the most part, caste has remained the dominant discourse around electoral politics in India. Therefore, it is interesting that in the upcoming Delhi Assembly election on February 5, caste does not appear to be the principal discourse in the political campaigns. It may be because of two reasons. The first is a metropolitan psyche which prevails in Delhi, and keeps itself engaged with the consciousness of various identities other than caste. Secondly, region, language, localities, etc. may emerge as alternative emotive issues in metropolitan spaces like Delhi.
Having said that, this Assembly election will be one that is centred on the beneficiary’s subjectivity. Various political parties are approaching the voting population of Delhi with their own social welfare programmes. Political analysts perceive these welfare promises as a means of the state distributing democratic benefits to the people. Such a distribution of benefits may be viewed as one of the duties of the state that could empower communities and improve their lives. So, all the political parties in the fray in Delhi are promising new schemes and benefits almost every day. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making an assertion with its much-discussed social support schemes such as free electricity, health care facilities in the form of Mohalla clinics, and its touted school education reforms in the national capital. However, its rival parties, especially the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are targeting AAP over the failures of some of the schemes highlighted in media reports — such as question marks relating to dropouts despite improvement in school infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the Congress have come up with their own package of schemes to mobilise prospective beneficiaries in Delhi. These schemes have been conceptualised and planned to target socio-economic, regional, and gender groups and identities such as middle class, lower middle class, women, slum dwellers, the poor, labourers, Purvanchalis, and migrants. Policies which are linked with the mechanism of direct benefit transfer such as pensions for the elderly and poor, financial support for women, etc. are quite popular in electoral politics, with various kinds of concession and subsidy schemes being offered and promised by the contesting parties. Jhuggi-jhopdis or slums have emerged as an important electoral constituency that directs the nature of mobilisational politics through beneficiary schemes. It is true that beneficiary politics is reshaping Indian electoral democracy and also empowering communities, but it has a close link with the trust capital accumulated over time by the leaders and political parties involved.
Such trust capital, which can also be called the trust value, is closely linked with the credibility of the politics of the leaders and their parties. In this context, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is playing a crucial role in the election campaign, has acquired a huge trust capital in Indian politics. The base of beneficiaries evolved through BJP-led social welfare schemes have shown deep trust in his leadership as PM. On the other hand, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has tried to cultivate his trust value among the public starting with the resource of political ideals that he acquired in the movement against corruption launched by Anna Hazare back in 2011. Secondly, he grew his trust value by implementing social welfare policies during his first tenure as chief minister of Delhi. However, it has been observed that both the foundations of his trust values were shaken in the past few years. His incorruptible image as a politician was shattered by various allegations of corruption and his subsequent arrest in connection with the scrapped liquor policy. Further, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s report on renovation the chief minister’s residence, when Kejriwal was the incumbent, citing irregularities has also weakened his political image.
On the other hand, the BJP is contesting this election riding on the trust capital and credibility of PM Modi, which is constantly growing, and the party’s performance in the central government. So, this election is going to be a contest between two narratives — one concerning the ruling AAP, which is now overshadowed by Kejriwal’s broken image, and the other about the BJP which is dominated by the undisputed credibility of Modi. Secondly, the narrative about AAP is informed with discussions on the successes and failures of Kejriwal and his model of governance. On the other hand, the BJP has acquired a good performance profile having been in power at the Centre for over a decade and for different periods in multiple states. This may help the BJP’s mission to claim power in the Delhi state Assembly.
Meanwhile, the Congress is still struggling to recover its lost credibility in terms of its brand of politics and governance in the state. The party has also announced various social support schemes ahead of the election, but their success in attracting voters may depend on the amount of trust value that the Congress has acquired in the last few years. For the Congress, this election will be another test of the level of public acceptance of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi’s leadership. The party’s politics around safeguarding the Constitution and in favour of reservation will be also tested in Delhi, where the Dalit population is largely educated and has emerged as beneficiaries of welfare initiatives of both the BJP and AAP in recent years. It is a moot question whether the Delhi polls will create a new narrative for the Congress or repeat the kind of results witnessed recently in Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. In many ways, therefore, the Delhi Assembly election will be a test case for all the competing political parties.
The writer is director, GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad.
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