From Revolutionary to Relic

For the first time in 27 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stormed back to power in Delhi, routing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in an election that was less about a shift in governance than a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal himself. The verdict is unambiguous: the city that once embraced Kejriwal as its unlikely saviour has now cast him aside. The man who once vowed to uproot the political establishment finds himself a casualty of the very system he sought to change.

Kejriwal’s own loss in the New Delhi constituency to BJP’s Parvesh Verma is a moment of rare political irony. In 2013, when Kejriwal first contested from this seat, he stunned the nation by defeating three-time Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, symbolizing the birth of an insurgent force in Indian politics. Today, as he bites the electoral dust (trounced by the BJP’s Parvesh Verma), it marks the collapse of that very force.

In 2011, Kejriwal was an anonymous bureaucrat-turned-activist, riding on the anti-corruption wave ignited by Anna Hazare’s movement. His decision to break away and form the AAP in 2012 was met with scepticism. Few believed that a party forged in protest could translate its idealism into political success. Yet, by 2013, AAP had stunned the establishment, winning 28 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly and briefly forming a government.

What followed was a political rollercoaster. Kejriwal’s dramatic resignation after 49 days in office seemed to spell the end of his experiment, but he returned in 2015 with a staggering mandate: 67 out of 70 seats. His promise of clean governance, free electricity, water and a revolution in healthcare and education captivated voters. In 2020, despite Narendra Modi’s towering presence, Kejriwal secured another landslide, winning 62 seats. The AAP model of governance seemed invincible.

But invincibility breeds complacency, and over the years, the cracks widened. Corruption allegations - once AAP’s primary weapon against others - began to stick to its own leadership. The liquor policy scandal engulfed the party, with key leaders like Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh facing jail time. Kejriwal himself was mired in allegations, tarnishing AAP’s carefully cultivated image of honesty.

Meanwhile, governance issues compounded despite the AAP’s welfare schemes remaining popular. Kejriwal’s sensational claim that the BJP was poisoning the Yamuna river backfired, reinforcing his critics’ argument that he was more adept at theatrics than at governance. The Delhi electorate, once enchanted by his disruptive politics, had grown weary of the unending controversies.

If AAP’s missteps weakened it, BJP’s strategic offensive sealed its fate. Long an outsider in Delhi, the saffron party ran a disciplined campaign, leveraging AAP’s failures. By pledging to sustain existing welfare schemes while introducing schemes like the ‘Mahila Samridhi Yojana’, the BJP successfully swayed a crucial segment of AAP’s voter base.

Perhaps most telling was the Congress’s muted presence. Once Delhi’s dominant party, the Congress has now suffered three consecutive electoral wipeouts. Ironically, it found more satisfaction in Kejriwal’s defeat than in its own resurgence, a reflection of the deep distrust between the INDIA bloc allies.

This election was not just a political loss for Kejriwal but the collapse of an idea. His rise had inspired a new generation of politicians, from Pawan Kalyan in Andhra Pradesh to Manoj Parab in Goa and even political strategist-turned-aspirant Prashant Kishor. The belief that a common man could enter politics and clean it from within was Kejriwal’s greatest legacy. Now, with his defeat, that belief lies shattered.

Poet and former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, once one of Kejriwal’s closest allies, summed up the moment with a stinging rebuke: “Delhi is now free from him… He used the dreams of party workers for his own ambition. Today, justice has been delivered.”

But the larger question remains: Is this truly the end of Arvind Kejriwal?

Kejriwal has defied political death before. He returned from the brink in 2015, resurrected himself in 2020, and expanded AAP’s footprint beyond Delhi, forming governments in Punjab and contesting in Gujarat and Goa. If history is any guide, he may not be finished yet.

But this defeat is different. For over a decade, Kejriwal thrived as an outsider battling the system. Now, stripped of power and credibility, he faces his toughest test: survival in a political landscape that has moved on without him.