How Kejriwal outfoxed BJP, each time, every time

The politics of Arvind Kejriwal isn’t about what is done, but what can be done. It isn’t about convention but about doing the unthinkable. That is how Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been outfoxing the big and resourceful Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Like with his announcement to resign from the Delhi Chief Minister’s post, Kejriwal has time and again turned the tables on the BJP, sending asunder its best-laid out plans.
Kejriwal first did what was unprecedented in India’s history. He got arrested and went to jail as the Chief Minister of Delhi. Then, for the six months he was in jail, he resisted the BJP’s pressure to resign.
Now, after being granted bail by the Supreme Court, he is giving up the CM’s post in what is a political sixer. This blunts most of the poll arrows the BJP had been collecting for the Delhi Assembly polls that are slated for February 2025.
From anti-incumbency to corruption taint to the risk of central rule, the single announcement by Kejriwal has taken away whatever advantage the BJP had gained.
And this isn’t the first time that the IRS officer-turned-politician has stunned the BJP. There’s a pattern to his political peekaboo.
The first time the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came in the way of the BJP was in 2013.
The BJP was all set to form the government in Delhi riding on the 15 years of anti-incumbency of the Congress government of Sheila Dikshit, when Arvind Kejriwal played the party pooper.
The fledgling AAP had gone to the polls and Kejriwal swore an oath on his children’s heads that he wouldn’t tie up with the BJP or the Congress.
Delhi saw a hung Assembly with the BJP winning 31 seats and the AAP 28 in the 70-seat Assembly.
While the BJP turned down the Lieutenant Governor’s offer to initiate steps for government formation, the AAP released a charter of 30 demands.
The Congress, with seven MLAs, backed most of the AAP demands, and Kejriwal, stunned the BJP by becoming the Chief Minister in December 2013 with support from the Congress. Kejriwal proved promises are to politics, what oars are to a pilot.
The first AAP government, however, lasted for just 49 days.
In his resignation speech, Kejriwal accused the BJP and the Congress of going against his government because of its anti-corruption stance.
After Kejriwal resigned in February 2014, Delhi was under Central rule.
Under the Lieutenant Governor, unauthorised colonies were regularised and the way paved for the return of battery rickshaws. These activities were seen as groundwork for the polls.
Many believe that the BJP, which was still the formidable player in Delhi, would have done well had polls been held early in 2014.
“The BJP is running away from elections because they are dead scared of losing in Delhi,” Kejriwal tweeted in October 2014.
This was amplified by AAP spokespersons, and helped project the AAP as the main party and the BJP as the challenger.
As the BJP targeted Kejriwal as a “bhagoda” (deserter) for quitting in 49 days, he reached out to every voter apologising profusely for having resigned as the CM, and begged for another chance.
Delhi gave him a second chance. That too, with an overwhelming mandate. In the election held in February 2015, AAP won 67 of the 70 seats.
Kejriwal returned to form the government for a third time in February 2020, winning 62 of the 70 seats.
The AAP faced turmoil in this term with the Delhi excise policy case in which its top leaders, including CM Kejriwal, were alleged to have taken money from liquor companies to frame policies favouring them.
After Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was put in jail, Kejriwal too was arrested by the ED in March and sent to Tihar Jail. He made history as the first CM to go to jail. Weeks before that, Hemant Soren, when told he would be taken into custody, resigned as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand before being arrested.
The BJP had been expecting that Kejriwal would resign as the Chief Minister. But Kejriwal politics is all about delivering the unexpected.
He stood his ground despite the BJP clamouring for his resignation, saying he would run his government from jail if needed to be.
Then he doubled down, comparing the “persecution” of AAP leaders to that of freedom fighters during the British raj. He projected his standing the ground as a moral fight against an oppressive regime.
Barring the time he was allowed to campaign for the Lok Sabha election, Chief Minister Kejriwal remained in jail for six months before being released by the Supreme Court on September 13 under strict bail conditions.
Just two days later, on September 15, Kejriwal stunned the BJP again, announcing that he would “step down as the Chief Minister in two days”.
Kejriwal said he would take the corruption case against him to the people’s court, claiming that every vote for him would be a certificate of exoneration in the excise policy case.
The move is nothing short of a masterstroke, which is going to deprive the BJP of most of its poll ammunition.
By resigning, Kejriwal doesn’t remain a “chief minister out on bail” but just an MLA fighting a corruption case.
The BJP would have attacked him as a “CM out on bail”, a line it has often used against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the Herald case.
Kejriwal, smartly, has snatched that opportunity from the BJP. It won’t be able to target Kejriwal as a “power-hungry” politician who clangs on to the CM’s post.
Also, Kejriwal is trying to distance the AAP’s Delhi government from the liquorgate taint. A fresh face as the CM will work towards that disassociation.
Having resigned as the chief minister, Kejriwal will also move out of the Delhi CM’s official residence, which had been dubbed “Sheeshmahal” for the money spent on its facilities and decor. He has been staying in the bungalow since 2015.
The splurging of money on the renovation of the Civil Lines bungalow was in stark contrast to Kejriwal’s un-tucked shirt and slippers image, which he cultivated to assert the distinction of not being a regular politician.
With a new face in “Sheeshmahal”, Kejriwal will be able to disassociate with the address of opulence and reconnect with voters with the image of an aam aadmi.
Even the choice of Atishi to succeed him as the chief minister was Kejriwal’s masterstroke.
By elevating a woman who is well-educated, has managed key portfolios and has been at the forefront of protests against his jailing, Kejriwal has given a face who the BJP would find difficult to attack.
The CM can highlight the work done by the AAP government while Kejriwal takes on the BJP politically during the poll campaign.
If pragmatism is a synonym for politics, Arvind Kejriwal is a synonym for a political stunner. He never fails to surprise and shock.