An upstart anti-corruption party has won a smashing victory in elections to install a state government in India’s capital, officials said Tuesday, dealing a huge blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.
While the results from this past weekend’s elections will not have any bearing on the structure of the federal government, they send a clear message to Modi that he is not invincible despite his party’s strong showing in state elections since it swept to power last year. They also are an indication of how fed up Indians are with endemic corruption.
Thousands of jubilant supporters of former tax collector Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Admi Party, or Common Man’s Party, beat drums and danced in celebration after India’s Election Commission announced results showing an overwhelming win for the AAP.
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Kejriwal, a graduate from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and a former income tax official, became hugely popular during his 2013 election campaign, which honed in on corruption as the country’s greatest menace. While no party in 2013 won an outright majority of at least 36 assembly seats, Kejriwal led a minority government for 49 days before resigning, leaving New Delhi under temporary federal government control.
But he has drawn support from the working class with promises of subsidized electricity, and offered a measure of hope to those who have suffered from corruption by opening a New Delhi complaint hotline. The focus on cleaning up government galvanized India’s middle and working classes against a culture of endemic corruption throughout the nation of 1.2 billion.
“Democracy is winning today … because an honest man is standing for us,” 22-year-old student Pradeep Kumar said Tuesday.
