In 2015, when Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as Chief Minister after a historic win, he sang an old Hindi film song at New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan: “Insaan ka insaan se ho bhaichara, yehi paigham hamara” (Let there be brotherhood between humankind, that is our message). In 2020, when Kerjriwal faced a communal campaign during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), he ducked the Hindu-Muslim trap the BJP had set for him, and won handsomely again. But in 2025 the AAP seems to believe that communalism is a social reality, that the BJP’s Hindutva campaign is so high-pitched and mainstream for some voters that it must hit back in the same way.
Things have changed in New Delhi over the past five years. Just weeks after the 2020 election, in the aftermath of the anti-CAA protests that had begun in Shaheen Bagh, there were riots in the north-eastern parts of the city, which claimed 53 lives; in 2022, there were clashes in the Jahangirpuri area when derogatory slogans were raised before a mosque during a Hanuman Jayanti procession; and in January 2024, during the inauguration of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, there was a scuffle in the Kalindi Kunj area when saffron storm troopers on motorbikes passed a mosque raising slogans.
The undercurrent of the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, therefore, is a campaign designed to keep the pot boiling and simultaneously paint all opponents of the BJP as “appeasers of Muslims”. This effort appears to have succeeded as Rahul Gandhi keeps quoting from Hindu scriptures, presumably to underline his Hindu credentials. On the other hand, Kejriwal has always held that the BJP must not be allowed to position itself as the sole representative of Hindus.
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When 240 imams protested outside Kejriwal’s residence asking the Delhi government to release money to the Waqf Board since they had not been paid their salaries (Rs.18,000 a month) for 17 months, the former Delhi Chief Minister seized the moment to announce that he would also give temple pujaris and gurdwara Granthis Rs.18,000 a month. The fact that some of the imams went on to tell the media there could be political consequences for the AAP actually suited the party because it blunted the BJP’s charge of Muslim appeasement (more so because there are fewer imams than pujaris and Granthis).
Refugees and immigrants
But the big obsession of right-wing formations today the world over is immigrants, and so it is in Delhi. The rhetoric is woven around Rohingya refugees and immigrants from Bangladesh. The BJP began this round with the Lieutenant Governor ordering a drive to throw out alleged “illegals”. Since then, there are daily reports of people being taken to detention centres.
The AAP has responded with an eye-for-an-eye approach: It has accused the BJP of settling Rohingyas in New Delhi and then creating an issue around them. At the same time, Chief Minister Atishi has declared that schools must ensure that they do not admit illegal immigrants as it would mean taking away the rights of the people of New Delhi. Simultaneously, the AAP has accused the BJP of deleting names from voters list. There are thus many calisthenics on the Hindu-Muslim front but the AAP avoids using the word Muslim.
Hindutva is just one element. The bigger battle is being fought over direct cash transfer schemes. From the beginning, the AAP has been a believer in subsidy schemes that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi once dismissed as revdis (freebies) but have now enthusiastically embraced. The bureaucracy and the police are being used to actively thwart the AAP’s attempts to register people under more schemes.
Consider what is happening in the shadow of the Qutb Minar. Mehrauli village, with its many monuments and narrow lanes, is believed to be Delhi’s oldest settlement to have been continuously inhabited. The new year saw a political slugfest begin here. Near a monument known locally as Bhool Bhulaiya (maze), AAP volunteers set up a table with a heart-shaped motif showing Kejriwal’s face to enlist women’s names for a direct cash transfer scheme launched by the party. Half an hour into the exercise, the police stopped it, forcing the crowd to disperse. The AAP volunteers then announced that they would reach out to the women at their doorsteps.
There is literally and metaphorically a maze in place in Delhi, with the ruling party, the AAP, not having control over the police, and the Central government continuing to pass laws (in the face of Supreme Court judgments). The bureaucracy does not answer to the elected government but to the unelected Lieutenant Governor. On principle, this is an assault on democracy and federalism that has been challenged in the Supreme Court, but for the moment it is what it is.
Let us not forget that all top leaders of the AAP have endured jail terms and are currently out on bail. Despite being battered, the AAP is seeking survival and success on a high-wire trapeze act. It had also come out with its list of candidates ahead of the announcement of the polling date by the Election Commission and has hit the ground running unveiling a slew of benefits and cash transfers.
Although the Election Commission announced only on January 7 that voting will take place in a single phase on February 5, the Lieutenant Governor had earlier issued instructions that registration for welfare schemes must not take place, which raises the ethical question as to why the BJP offers pre-election cash transfer schemes in States where it is in power.
The New Delhi contest is intense and significant for several reasons. After a handsome win in Maharashtra, a defeat in New Delhi could again slow the BJP’s momentum.
India’s ruling party seems to harbour particular enmity towards the AAP, clearly intent on succeeding in its project to crush the upstart. After all, the AAP has not only dared to defeat the BJP but has also emerged as the most successful political startup of contemporary times.
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The RSS is again expected to play a big role in the BJP’s campaign, with 2025 being its centenary year. In recent contests in Haryana and Maharashtra, the RSS is credited for course correction and phenomenal outreach work. The BJP’s dependence on the RSS has been emphatically seen in recent elections.
Since the Anna Hazare–led anti-corruption protest of 2011 and the subsequent formation of the AAP in 2012, the national capital has seen dramatic political events, in the course of which the AAP won two huge mandates: 67of 70 seats in 2015 and 62 of 70 seats in 2020. In the last two outings, the AAP’s vote share was over 53 per cent while the BJP’s dropped to 32 per cent in 2015 but rose to 38.5 per cent in 2020 (the Congress’ vote plummeted to 4.3 per cent). The RSS/BJP blueprint involves focussing on some seats where the margin of victory is small.
There are also segments of the population, such as Purvanchalis—Bhojpuri-speaking migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar—whom the BJP will particularly target through Hindutva pop and storm trooper campaigns.
Saba Naqvi is a Delhi-based journalist and author of four books who writes on politics and identity issues.
