Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, Manoj Tiwari, Tuesday conceded his party’s defeat in the Delhi assembly elections and congratulated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Arvind Kejriwal, on his party’s victory. He said his party will “analyse” the results and “review” why it failed.
Accepting the party’s defeat, Tiwari said, “We respect the mandate and congratulate Arvind Kejriwal. We hope the government will work for the people and not indulge in a blame game. We will continue to work for the people of Delhi. There is a new trend evolving of a bipolar contest and we have to prepare accordingly.”
The BJP leader added that a positive thing to take away from the result is the BJP’s increase in vote share compared to the 2015 assembly polls.
“Delhi must have given its mandate after careful thinking. Our vote percentage has increased from 32% to around 38% and if we include our allies, such as JD(U) and LJP, then it stands close to 40%, which is 6%-7% [percentage points] higher than that in 2015. Delhi did not reject us and the increase in vote share is a good sign for us,” Tiwari told reporters.
When asked if the Shaheen Bagh issue backfired on the party, Tiwari said the party has to review its performance. Shaheen Bagh is a site where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill has been going on since December 16 last year and the BJP made it a campaign issue, even alleging the protest was backed by the AAP and the Congress. The BJP sought to present the protesters, objecting to a law that excludes Muslims from a bill that fast-tracks Indian citizenship for refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who have been in India before 31 December 2014, as anti-nationals.
{{/usCountry}}When asked if the Shaheen Bagh issue backfired on the party, Tiwari said the party has to review its performance. Shaheen Bagh is a site where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill has been going on since December 16 last year and the BJP made it a campaign issue, even alleging the protest was backed by the AAP and the Congress. The BJP sought to present the protesters, objecting to a law that excludes Muslims from a bill that fast-tracks Indian citizenship for refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who have been in India before 31 December 2014, as anti-nationals.
{{/usCountry}}“We never do politics of hate but we are still against the blockage of roads for 60 days as it leads to inconvenience of people. We will review the results and the reasons behind our defeat. I’m the Delhi BJP president, so I take the responsibility,” he said.
Biswajit Mohanty, an associate professor at Delhi University’s Deshbandhu College and state coordinator for CSDS-Lokniti, said, “Today’s result reflects that people didn’t buy BJP’s hyper-nationalism pitch. They are looking for a strong leadership in the state which can deliver. They have accepted AAP’s alternative politics of transformation and development. The results shows that national issues such as the abrogation of Article 370 didn’t find a place as people voted on livelihood issues.”