With reference to your editorial, ‘Uncommon victory’ (February 11), by pursuing the politics of development and governance, the AAP has not only smashed the BJP and the Congress but also the conventional politics of identity, religion, secularism, minority appeasement, and negativity. Arvind Kejriwal focused on the concerns of the aam aadmi and came up with his plan to address them. His astounding electoral success may be a game-changer in Indian politics.

It is time for the BJP to introspect. Unduly delaying the Delhi poll and inability to deliver during governor’s rule, personal attacks on Kejriwal, inducting Kiran Bedi at the eleventh hour and ignoring senior leaders, failure to contain Hindutva zealots and taking the voters for granted resulted in the party’s worst defeat.

MC Joshi

Lucknow

The historic verdict clearly shows that the common man is no longer ready to accept politicians’ slogans and slang.   They expect good governance and delivery of promises. While the AAP focused on issues such as water, power, healthcare, education and women’s safety, the BJP resorted to negative politics and over-dependence on the Modi wave. There is pressure on the AAP to deliver. We are beginning to reap the true fruits of democracy, as the electorate has begun to understand its rights. It is a warning to all political parties that they cannot take the voters for granted.

VK Sridhar

Erode

The uniqueness of the Delhi Assembly election results is that the AAP has decimated both the Congress and the BJP. The mandate is a warning to all political parties that voters will no longer tolerate the tendency to discard election manifestoes once they are voted to power. The AAP has breached many BJP strongholds including Krishna Nagar and its win in RK Puram which has many central government employees as voters should provide solace to the working class and the banking, insurance and government sectors.

Ettirankandath Krishnadas

Palakkad, Kerala

The BJP securing only 3 seats is humiliating to the leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The Delhi election has posed a challenge to the BJP in the next Assembly election due in States such as West Bengal. Though, nine months are not sufficient to judge a party’s performance, people lost patience with Modi’s promise of good days.It is testing time for Kejriwal. Though promises are easy to make it is always difficult to translate them into reality as the Modi government has discovered.. It is time the Modi government concentrated on development rather than making big claims; it must eschew the Hindutva agenda of reconversion. Burning churches incurred the wrath of minority communities. This should be checked immediately to preserve the country’s secular credentials.

Jayant Mukherjee

Kolkata

The Delhi verdict has taught us that there is an aam aadmi in every voter, including the most affluent. It is high time our political parties and politicians realised this. A political party assuming power have a self-imposed model code of conduct, with focus on fairness and transparency in governance, delivery of promises made in the election manifesto, non-victimisation of political opponents, fair and equal treatment to all sections of society and maintenance of cordial relations with the Centre.

N Vijayagopalan

Thiruvananthapuram

Save the lakes

The passage of the Bill to protect lakes in Karnataka has not come a day too early. In the absence of a stringent law to protect and rejuvenate lakes, water bodies are shrinking and are being replaced with concrete structures. The water table is shrinking fast and water bodies are disappearing fast. I hope the Bill curbs the encroachment of lakes.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

Shed activist mentality

The editorial ‘Uncommon victory’ (February 11) dispels the popular notion that the election verdict was a referendum on Narendra Modi’s development agenda based on percentage of vote-share, which is marginal. Therefore the verdict is mainly because of the AAP garnering votes from all sections of society. The advantage of the first past the post system made a difference to the result. The manifesto of the AAP was also a potent factor for its wide acceptance due to its commitment to provide basic amenities to the poor and focus on issues that rank above divisive factors such as caste and religion.

Vikram Sundaramurthy

Chennai

Whatever the BJP and the Congress would have us believe, the voters of Delhi have given their verdict. The stunning comeback victory of the AAP vindicates the faith Delhiites have in Arvind Kejriwal and his democratic form of governance. Both Modi and Sonia Gandhi called Kejriwal names: anarchist, dharnebaaz. Modi talked about the mood of the electorate in the rest of the country hinting at a major win for the BJP.

Learning from past mistakes, the party must put its house in order, set realistic goals for itself and go slow in fulfilling its poll promises. The AAP should be careful in doling out freebies such as free water as it involves taxpayers’ money. The party needs to put systems in place to address people’s issues, not act like an NGO. They are no longer a bunch of activists, they are in charge of the administration of the Union Territory of Delhi.

R Prabhu Raj

Chennai

The resurgence of the AAP is a stark reminder that nobody can afford to take the people for granted. They are shrewd enough to make the right assessment in this information age and expect clean, progressive and positive politics. The AAP will make a perfect ideological rival for the BJP. While the Congress is out of the picture for now, this development will mark a new shift in Indian polity.

Srinivasan Umashankar

Nagpur

Kiran Bedi and the BJP have learnt the hard way that opportunism does not always pay. The humble broom which was frowned upon when it was chosen as the party’s symbol is proving to be a lucky mascot sweeping away everything before it. While the saffron party came a poor second and cut a sorry figure the Congress fared worse. One hopes the AAP makes the most of this opportunity to emerge as a viable alternative to both the BJP and the Congress at the national level.

NJ Ravi Chander

Bengaluru

The Delhi election results should not discourage the ruling dispensation from pursuing bold economic reforms. As the edit analysis shows, the BJP has more or less retained its vote-share. They should take these results in the right spirit and push for more productivity enhancing reform, so that the masses get education and healthcare at affordable prices. When we just talk about development and on the ground people suffer for want of basic needs like water, power, affordable housing, healthcare and education, people tend to revolt. This calls for more reforms and not less. Let us hope the government does not press the panic button.

CR Arun

Email

Congratulations to the AAP.. Now it has to make sure that power does not go to their heads. It is their duty to make Delhi a law abiding city.

They should minimise the local problems of Delhiites by providing a better and convenient transport system, organising parking, controlling the number of vehicles. Also, the common people should not be affected when VIPs travel. Traffic lights need to be maintained and worked well. Garbage must be cleared, toilets need to be cleaned, buses, trucks and tempos should not park where they please, people should not used the roads as public toilets….

M Kumar

New Delhi

Good idea

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu seeking CSR funds for passenger amenities (February 11) merits consideration. If business houses can invest under CSR to improve passenger amenities provided by the Railways, the common man will be its rich beneficiary. Should every corporate house decide to adopt at least one train and improve amenities, the resultant goodwill and publicity will amply justify the investment.

CG Kuriakose

Kothamangalam, Kerala

Erratum

b In the report, ‘The Talent Crunch’ (Flightplan, February 11), Vistara’s S Varadarajan was wrongly described as Chief Recruitment Officer. He is Chief Human Resources Officer. The error is regretted.

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