The Delhi Assembly poll results have been announced today and the Kejriwal-led AAP is now set for a third term in power with BJP at distant second. Although, the vote percentage as well as seat tally of BJP has improved but, this is due to last minute push by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who led a charged campaign in the last few days when it looked like BJP state unit has given up.
From the early campaign of BJP, it looked like the party had already given up on the state. And the one person who is to be blamed for it is- Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari.
Manoj Tiwari was made the Delhi unit chief in November 2016. He replaced Satish Upadhyay, who held the post from 2014 to 2016. The party was eying for Purvanchali votes, which has traditionally voted for Congress and later AAP, and therefore Tiwari, an outsider with zero experience in Delhi politics, was forced on Delhi BJP cadre.
Tiwari is also not a dedicated BJP worker. In fact, he fought on Samajwadi Party ticket against Yogi Adityanath in 2009 from Gorakhpur, which obviously, he lost. At that time, he said, he is not “a political person but was concerned for the development of Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh.” It is clear that he came to BJP only for electoral gains.
Making Tiwari Delhi unit chief did not go well with cadre and the other senior leaders of Delhi BJP like- Vijay Goel, Satish Upadhayay, Vijender Gupta. Manoj Tiwari’s leadership did not go well with the Delhi’s Punjabi and Baniya community, which have traditionally voted for BJP. Although Tiwari won the northeast Delhi Lok Sabha seat riding on Modi wave, but, he has not won Purvanchali votes for BJP in the assembly election.
BJP should look for a new candidate for the role of Delhi BJP chief and chief ministerial face for the next assembly election. As the city is dominated by Jat, Gujjar, Punjabi, Sikh and Vaish except for East Delhi, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, the MP from West Delhi and son of former chief minister of Delhi (27 February 1996 – 12 October 1998), Sahib Singh Verma, could be an ideal candidate.
Verma is well educated, he finished schooling from Delhi Public School, R K Puram, did graduation from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, and post-graduation from Fore School of Management. He is a local unlike Manoj Tiwari. Verma, a Jat, could also end the fight in Delhi BJP between Brahmins, Baniya, and Punjabi community for the party leadership. Punjabi Khatri, Brahmins, Baniya, and Punjabis are a major vote base of BJP in the state and therefore leaders from these communities are always in fight to dominate the executive roles of the party in state.
Verma is very smart and knows his constituency very well. While campaigning in rural areas of West Delhi, he invoked his father’s work and concern for the villagers and while campaigning in urban areas, he invoked the urban issues. “My father (former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma) was fond of this part of the city and you all have given me the same love and respect that you gave him. Even when he was in bed during his final years, he would ask me about the progress of work here,” said Verma in West Delhi while campaigned for the Lok Sabha election.
While Kejriwal questioned the EC on declaration of final voting percentage, Verma questioned the anarchist character of Kejriwal, and said, “Doubt armed forces, doubt Parliament, doubt Prime Minister, doubt judiciary, doubt CBI, doubt Lieutenant Governor and now Election Commission…Is there any institution in India you have faith in?”
अगर शाहीन बाग के लोग लंबी-लंबी क़तारों में चिल्ला चिल्ला कर बोल सकते हैं AAP पार्टी को वोट डालो तो दिल्ली वालों आप भी घरों से निकलो और देशभक्त पार्टी को वोट डालो।@ANI @PTI_News pic.twitter.com/QYkIWj4E1s
— Parvesh Sahib Singh ( Modi Ka Pariwar ) (@p_sahibsingh) February 8, 2020
Verma is media savvy and tweets regularly to reach out to the urban voter base of Delhi. He is an ardent nationalist and pro-Hindu, and when he was questioned over the statement Shaheen Bagh protesters will “enter your house… abduct your sisters and mothers, rape them, kill them the way militants had treated Kashmiri Pandits”, he clearly said that he stands by the statement. In clarification, he said, “I saw slogans like ‘We want Jinnah waali azadi’ and ‘Pakistan zindabad’. I heard protesters saying ‘we want jihad’ at Shaheen Bagh.” BJP should instantly sack Manoj Tiwari and make Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma as chief of BJP’s Delhi unit, if the party wants to make a comeback in 2025 assembly election.
