Delhi’s has been a historic election. It has wiped out the Congress demonstrating that the Dynasty is simply not acceptable. It has massacred the Bharatiya Janata Party making it very apparent that it does not believe the rhetoric without action, and has zero tolerance for the hate campaign being carried out by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s watch. And it has reposed faith in the cash strapped Aam Aadmi Party in what turned out to be an overwhelming mandate, surpassing even its own predictions.

This was a vote for change, for progress, for a future by the poor and the rich alike. Delhi’s voters joined hands to exercise their franchise, and while a ‘wave’ was certainly visibly and had been reported on by The Citizen, 65 seats for AAP was certainly beyond all expectations. AAP’s 49 days in power that were used by both the BJP and the Congress party to beat it with, along of course by a loud media, actually worked in its favour with the urban poor. Delhis poor voter saw ‘action’ in AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal’s ability to turn rhetoric into action by bringing down the power tariff and decided to give him the mandate to allow him to work. Kejriwal had apologised for ‘running away’ from the government but clearly his explanation struck a chord with the voters, in that he did not have the numbers and was compelled to leave because of the opposition from the BJP and the Congress within the Assembly.

This time he has been given 65 seats. And in his victory speech recognised this as “very scary” as now AAP will have no excuse not to deliver on the promises it has made. AAP finished the Congress in the last elections, and ironically the BJP in at least Delhi in these polls. It secured over 50 per cent of the vote, a clear mandate, as against the 31 per cent that the BJP had got in the Lok Sabha elections.

But most importantly the Delhi vote has been an amazing rejection of the communal and divisive politics of the BJP, RSS and its affiliates. It has been rejection of the non-stop communal tensions made to simmer across the country, low and occasionally high intensity, in the form of direct communal clashes as in Muzaffarnagar and Trilokpur, conversions and the ghar wapsi campaign in which at least five churches were gutted and vandalised in and around Delhi, the ‘love jihad’ campaign that led to sheer terror in the villages of western Uttar Pradesh in particular and now the threats being issued for Valentine’s Day.

The poor still looking for a step up on the economic ladder, the middle class trying to consolidate their lives, the rich keen to move ahead---no one has the time now in modern India to waste on communal strife. The old RSS blueprint for a Hindu nation clearly has no buyers, and Delhi always seen as a pro-BJP city has set the trend.

The impact of this amazing rout for both the Congress and the BJP will be felt not just in Delhi, but across the country. Just because it is a vote caste by people from all across the country who happen to live in Delhi as registered voters. The outskirts of Delhi that moved away from the BJP to AAP this time on the Land Acquisition Bill for instance will have an impact on the voting in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. But more of this at a later date.

For now it is certain that the AAP victory will have a snowball impact on opposition politics, that will be on display in the budget session of Parliament beginning on February 23. Several opposition parties, including the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress, openly supported AAP in the Delhi polls and this victory will bolster morale and help in cementing opposition alliances for the crucial state elections ahead.

A lesson to be taken out of AAPs campaign for Delhi is to focus on economic issues and not caste and religion. If the opposition is able to convince the people through action even now, of its commitment to bettering their lives in all possible ways, this will cut through the communal and divisive campaign of the BJP and its parivar of malignant organisations. The regional parties in the north in particular will have to change their focus, from respective castes and communities, to embrace all with an inclusive agenda of development and progress. AAP refused to be caught in this quagmire to the point of rejecting Shahi Imam Ahmad Bokhari’s fatwa asking the Muslims to vote for it. The result is that the people voted as one, and the strength of the new government will lie in this inclusive approach.

However, as we all know this is the beginning and there is a long path ahead. But then a beginning has been made and the BJP stalled in its aggressive and hate filled march forward within just nine months since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.