A new breeze is blowing in Indian politics

THE sweeping victory of the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against the two national parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the just concluded elections to the Delhi assembly marks almost as significant a shift in the Indian political scene as the victory of the BJP led by Narendra Modi in the parliamentary elections last May.

The AAP victory has not only punctured the hubris, or extreme confidence, of the ruling BJP, but has also opened the possibility of a new kind of politics in the country. By winning an unprecedented 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi state assembly, reducing the BJP count to just three and the Congress to nil, AAP showed it read the mind of the Delhi voter correctly.

AAP concentrated its energies on improving the lot of the poor and dispossessed. Its programme of a clean government, effective security for women, reducing power and water rates, and better government-run schools and hospitals, were more credible than similar promises made by the other two contenders.