After victory of AAP in the Delhi assembly elections, I was talking to a taxi driver today and here is a brief summary of the conversation in Q&A format.
Q: Did you expect such a big victory for AAP?
Taxi Driver: No one expected this. AAP will not blame EVMs now.
Q: What is the reason that AAP wins assembly elections?
Taxi Driver: It is simple. People realized that all parties are corrupt and all parties are the same. Hence if one of the parties gives them “free” things like free electricity, free bus rides etc, it makes sense to vote for them.
Q: As per last election’s data, people of higher income groups and higher education voted for BJP and people of lower income groups voted for AAP.
Taxi Driver: It is true; everyone knows that. This is the reason “free” things fetch votes.
Q: But this time even BJP and Congress had promised free things. Then why did not people vote for them?
Taxi Driver: Earlier we were told that government will get bankrupt if it gives free things to people. But once BJP and Congress also promised free things, we realized that the bankruptcy reason was not true and govt had enough money to give us free things. So our faith in AAP increased.
Q: But this politics of “freebies” cannot be replicated in other states. Parties in other states cannot afford to give free things for votes.
Taxi Driver: It is true. Delhi is completely urban, people are more homogeneous and educated. Kejriwal is a highly educated person; we see that he has made his plans and strategy of giving free things for votes after giving much thoughts.
Q: So people of Delhi do not believe in any ideology and they will vote for any party which gives them free things?
Taxi Driver: Of course. In the end of the day, the larger issues of the world do not matter to us that much but small things in real life matter to us much. And hence people would vote for parties which gives them money or free things.
Q: But the people of Delhi voted for BJP during Loksabha elections. Same people voted for BJP in LS elections and for AAP during assembly elections. Why?
Taxi Driver: For Loksabha election, who else was an option: Rahul Gandhi? He is a fool! How could people vote for him? And hence people voted for Modi/BJP.
Q: Last Congress government led by Sheila Dixit had done good development work. All these AC buses, modern bus stops, metro project, and other development projects happened during her tenure. But it seems AAP and Kejriwal “defamed” her and hence she lost the election. And much defamation also happened due to “Nirbhaya case”.
Taxi Driver: It is true that Sheila Dixit govt had done much more development. And Kejriwal had given sewing machine to one of the rapists and had set him free.
Q: It appears that Manish Sisodia is the person holding real power in AAP and he takes all decisions while Kejriwal is just the “face” who makes big speeches. Is it true?
Taxi Driver: Yes, it is true. Manish Sisodia is the power center.
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New Delhi | 11-Feb-2020
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