The gloves are off and even if the Bharatiya Janata Party described its Ramlila Ground rally on Saturday as a function to felicitate the party’s new Chief Ministers, the giveaway that it was an election rally was Prime Minister Narendra Modi prominently displaying the party symbol on his jacket, as he did during the run-up to the Lok Sabha election.
What was surprising was the force of the BJP’s direct attack on the Aam Aadmi Party, especially the personal attack on its leader Arvind Kejriwal, dubbing him a liar and an anarchist. In that vein, even Mr. Modi said anarchists should join naxalites in the jungles and those who were experts at street protests could not be experts at administration.
Mr. Kejriwal has admitted time and again that he has made mistakes. There are charges of lack of inner party democracy, with decision-making being in the hands of a few. But with all its misgivings, the AAP has bounced back in the electoral race, and the manner in which the BJP, led by Mr. Modi and party chief Amit Shah, launched a frontal attack on the AAP shows that the BJP acknowledges as much.
Rather than being proactive, Mr. Modi only responded to the issues that the AAP have been raising. His assurance to regularise unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters by a faraway 2022 was clearly meant to chip away the AAP’s core support base — slum-dwellers. His repeated reference to inclusive banking for rickshaw-pullers, small shopkeepers and vegetable sellers was to lure AAP backers among the poor.
He referred to the AAP’s pet themes of corruption and the high cost of power and water tariff, but remained mum on retail inflation. He promised portability in electricity services and availability of water without any talk of lowering tariffs.
On his part, Mr. Kejriwal chose not to respond to personal attacks by BJP leaders, but hit back saying the BJP had nothing to show in its seven months of rule at the Centre compared to his 49-day rule when the Delhi government reduced water and power rates by half and brought down corruption. “We know how to protest as well as to govern, the BJP knows neither,” he said in his counter.
Here's what AAP had to say to the Prime Minister's comment:
Published - January 10, 2015 11:51 pm IST
