Lessons from AAP: How BJP can be fought without inviting charges of ‘minority appeasement’

NEW DELHI: The sweeping AAP victory over an aggressive BJP may hold a lesson or two for non-Hindutva parties, ranging from Congress to JD (U). Arvind Kejriwal & team proved on Tuesday that BJP can be fought at its own game without inviting charges of “minority appeasement.

Throughout the campaign, AAP leaders never once uttered the word secularism or raked up the “communal agenda” of the Sangh Parivar – a pet topic for Congress and its ilk. Yet, the party was forced to step into the slippery slope when Jama Masjid Imam Syed Bukhari offered support a day before polls, which the party said was mischievous and unsolicited. The Bukhari support could have polarised the electorate, but AAP’s public and immediate rejection of the controversial cleric’s offer ensured it scored a few points furthe.

JD(U) national general secretary KC Tyagi admits that Kejriwal's politics is a lesson for all Janata parties that consider themselves champions of secularism. “He did not indulge in minority appeasement. Many parties play a lot of minority politics and the majority voter base treats both them and the minorities with suspicion. Kejriwal's movement was a people's movement for clean governance that needs to be respected,” he said.

Tyagi pointed out that after the Trilokpuri riots, AAP members only conducted a 'Shanti march' and refrained from making sensitive comments, a fact that went down well with both communities. “Such actions break the wall between communities,” he added.

Spokesperson of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese Dominic Emanuel said that AAP has brought the people together by providing a promise of noncorrupt, non-communal governance without favouring one community over another.

“People want peace eventually. They don't want themselves or their neighbours being attacked. Recent instances have brought insecurity to the lives of minorities in the city. The silence of BJP leaders on the issue of the attacks on churches was not right and the masses might have acknowledged that,” he said.

Zoya Hasan, political analyst and professor at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the ramifications of the victory of a party such as AAP could go beyond Delhi. “It was an anti-establishment vote, not necessarily a secular vote. AAP filled the vacuum that was left vacant by Congress. That said, the massive verdict shows there is definitely a possibility of more people embracing this kind of alternative politics.”