What swung the vote in Delhi polls: Corruption

Five years ago, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) walked a deft line between the Left wing and the Right wing, careful not to be drawn into any discussion involving ideology and ducking any query about the party’s core beliefs. Rally after rally began with party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s chant, “Bharat Mata ki Jai, Inquilab Zindabad, Vande Mataram”, that attempted to showcase the AAP as an ideology neutral party focussed on governance.

There are many parties in India that practise transactional politics over ideological. But none, before the AAP, elevated it to a badge of identity. The party used it as a weapon to repel attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when accused of backing the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA.

Kejriwal also played up his own religious identity as a “devout Hindu”, visiting temples, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, and lambasting Pakistan. The approach paid off handsomely as the AAP fell back on its then-impressive record of welfare delivery and swatted away any ideological inquiry.