Why we should be wary of the recent verdict given in Delhi Assembly Elections ?

Delhiites, despite being busy in valentine's week, have given a resounding and overwhelming verdict to Mr. Kejriwal and his political party AAP, by giving them 67 seats out of 70 in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly election. Amassing 54% of the vote share is something unheard of in this highly diverse and segregated democracy where religious sentiments still continue to play a greater role in deciding the fate of elections.  

The judgement seems to be loud and clear that Delhiites want a govt. who won't just rule but would act as their representatives, where the voice of the common man is heard, where their problems are being addressed, where inequality would remain dead and buried, where there will be no space and time for communal differences and violence. These seem to be some of the core issues based on which Delhi has given its verdict.

But, are these the only reasons for this kind of massive verdict in favour of AAP. I guess no. Looking at the complete picture, we can easily deduce the important role that freebies have played in this election. The outrageous, irrational, and over the board promises made by Mr. Kejriwal have played a greater role in this election than estimated by the so called pundits. Promises of constructing a school every 3.67 days and a college every 5.45 days over the period of next 5 years look beyond the scope of reality in the current context. Promises of drastically reducing the electricity and water prices have definitely gone down well with the electorates but the question still stands whether Mr. Kejriwal would be able to achieve this considering that Delhi as a UT is always dependent on other neighboring states for both resources. 

The problems just don’t end here. AAP, as a party in power, needs to understand that even the governments are required to maintain balance sheets. What we have heard till now is the expenditure part only. They will be requiring huge sums of money to uphold their claims and promises. I am still not sure where these revenues will come from. We still haven’t seen a plan in AAP’s political rulebook which can be effectively used for generating some revenues and I am not sure whether Mr. Kejriwal would ever be concerned about it or he will just try to happily pass on the burden for his freebies on central govt. When 60% of our villages are deprived of electricity connections even, forget about getting electricity, we surely can’t afford to give cheap electricity to the well-off section of the society. 

I hope Mr. Kejriwal is smart enough to understand that India at this stage really can't survive on freebies. Prudence and austerity have to be the sisters of governance in this time of ruckus and uncertainty. If he really wants to make an image for himself and his party at the national level, he needs to come out of that freebie zone to understand the realities of ground. At least, we are getting a picture of the structure that central govt. wants to implement in this country. Whether “Make in India” or not, at least we have a plan on paper from Mr. Modi. I guess letting economics run over politics is something which will decide whether Mr. Kejriwal would ever become an important player at the centre or not.