Arvind Kejriwal stormed into India’s political discourse in 2009 amid a well-crafted and well-spun narrative of being the outsider and the reformer. Some 10 years in government later, he departs as yet another discredited politician – who mistook the mandate he received from the people of Delhi as a license to break promises. He embarked on a political route very similar to the one that he claimed to overthrow and clean-up – the Congress way.

Voters of Delhi snatched away both the government and his MLA seat from him. They have swept away all the corruption-accused in the AAP government including top two leaders Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Congress under its intellectual powerhouse, Rahul Gandhi, has been whitewashed from the national capital.
The u-turns and contradictions between the original Kejriwal and the current one are legion – the list is endless. From claiming to wanting to throw Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Yadav and the corrupt politicians in jail to becoming its B team. From claiming he will give corruption-free governance to running a government that had half its ministers jailed for corruption and scams. From claiming he will live the life of an austere politician, shunning the perks of government, to building and living in the infamous Sheesh Mahal. From talking about development to becoming a poster boy for freebies sans development politics. It’s what his alter ego Rahul Gandhi has embraced with fervour and passion, even Kejriwal like a beginner. From talking about nationalism to cosying up to the dangerous terror-appeasing Khalistani elements. He rose on his promises and he fell on his broken promises, and reality.

But through this rise and fall, Kejriwal became a figure of abject disappointment. I knew him well throughout the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement and even attended meetings there as an independent MP. After raising the 2G scam in Parliament, I shared the papers with him and he visited my North Avenue Office with Manish Sisodia. He put on a real act of being a man on a mission, I was even one of the first ones to donate money to his movement as did so many others. But as soon as he morphed into a politician in early 2015, he also morphed into a new version of the Congress party.

Politics of fake promises

The people of Delhi gave Kejriwal two turns to govern the city. He blew both. And so in the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, the comparison between AAP and BJP was a very easy one for the wise voters of the capital. On one hand, they had given (all seven MP seats) for 10 years to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had worked hard and transformed India – taking it from a desperate Fragile 5 economy to Top 5 Economy. The BJP government established a relentless pace for India’s development. PM Modi’s corruption-free maximum governance has clearly transformed the country’s landscape and the lives of people far and near, across the country. His 10 years of work represented a real payback to the mandate and trust given to him by the people of Delhi.

On the other hand, Kejriwal’s 10 years were a shamble. Corruption, scams, no perceptible development, a disastrous government in Punjab—there was simply nothing to show for the last decade except a few schools and clinics, a slew of unkept promises and scams, and, most disturbingly for an anti-corruption crusader turned politician, an alliance with Congress that represents everything wrong in governance in the past and even today. Voters saw through it.

The comparison with the PM and the BJP’s development record failed and his politics represented a betrayal of the values that drew people to him in the first place.

BJP under PM Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda ran a very effective campaign where the comparison was reached to each and every voter. This truth – cut through effectively all the giveaways and rhetoric that Kejriwal and his AAP had become infamous for.

Double-engine sarkar begins

This is also an important election in a very fundamental way – that shows the shifting sands of the minds and expectations of the Indian voter. Opportunistic political leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal keep sowing and attempting to reap the old-style politics of fake promises, caste, region, appeasement, and temporary freebies. It was the message of PM Modi’s politics of performance and social welfare that voters chose. The public’s expectations from their political parties and leaders are changing despite every effort by lazy, dynast, entitled politicians trying to keep the old status quo going.

PM Modi, with his Viksit Bharat vision, has reset people’s aspirations. Election results like Delhi and Maharashtra reinforce the sense that people have signed up to be stakeholders in this Viksit Bharat goal and ambition. One idea that really resonated with voters is that as the capital of the emerging powerhouse, Delhi deserved better. A Viksit Delhi for a Viskit Bharat.

The politics of yesterday is the politics of Kejriwal, Rahul, Akhilesh, and Lalu Yadav. The politics of today is about the future of people and their lives. Voters of Delhi (as have voters of Haryana and Maharashtra) told us what they want. The national capital has chosen a Viskit Delhi as its future. Let the double-engine sarkar start.

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