Since the last week of January, AAP appears to have gained ground in Delhi. (Source: Express Photo by Ravi Kanojia)Among the many theatre groups hired by BJP to perform “nukkad nataks” targeting the AAP ahead of the Delhi elections, Hastakshar was assigned the most significant of all the 70 constituencies —- Arvind Kejriwal’s New Delhi.
But after staging 50 street plays there from January 30-February 4, members of this troupe admit that they were surprised by the level of support for Kejriwal.
“Wherever we went, people would ask, ‘Why are you against Kejriwal’? Common people, women running households, they all came out and, at times, did not let us perform,” said Shivam Tiwari, an artiste with Hastakshar.
“The wave for Narendra Modi that we saw during the Lok Sabha elections is now for Kejriwal. BJP offices mein bahut bura haal hai (The situation in the offices of BJP is bad),” said Tiwari.
Other voices across the national capital are now echoing Tiwari’s lines — from a worker manning a Modi “selfie booth” in Saket to a professor and a prosecutor who contributed to that Modi wave last year. Since the last week of January, AAP appears to have gained ground in Delhi.
In Saket, the BJP has installed a “selfie with Modi” booth inside one of the area’s poshest malls. These booths were launched by BJP chief Amit Shah on January 25 and were initially a big hit.
But for over three hours on Thursday evening, no one turned up to have that selfie clicked in the Saket mall. A worker manning the booth said the crowd has “dwindled” over the last few days.
Prabhat Ranjan, an assistant professor at Zakir Husain College, is also the secretary of AICC’s Vichar Vibhag. His Facebook post on Thursday read: “Amit Shah claimed 2/3 majority, but take any public transport, talk to people to know that the BJP won’t get more than 1/3 seats.”
A few days ago, he had written in another post: “AAP’s Delhi campaign was the most positive (among all parties). It has made a home in the hearts of people…”
“There is a huge discontentment against the political system created by BJP and Congress. They distributed alcohol for getting votes. AAP has emerged as the only hope,” Ranjan said.
On Friday morning, a public prosecutor at Tis Hazari courts, claimed to be a strong Hindutva supporter but said he had almost decided to vote for AAP this time in the “national interest”.
“If AAP loses now, the idea of a clean society and clean politics will be buried forever. We need to sustain this idea, otherwise politics will never be reformed,” he said, adding that his wife has been imploring him to vote for AAP as also others in his apartment block.
Kiran Bedi’s candidature, he said, was the turning point for BJP as it “demoralised supporters”. “It showed continued…
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