The two state leaders have done the unthinkable in 2022. While Yogi Adityanath has become the first chief minister in Uttar Pradesh to be re-elected, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP has become the first regional party to win a second state
A combination image of Yogi Adityanath and Arvind Kejriwal. Image Courtesy: @myogiadityanath, @AAP/Twitter
The Assembly election results are in and the exit polls had it right.
The BJP has done the unthinkable in Uttar Pradesh, turning anti-incumbency into pro-incumbency, and won with a thumping majority under the helm of Yogi Adityanath.
Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has become the first regional party to win an election in a second state, Punjab.
Many experts and journalists are of the opinion that the two leaders, Yogi Adityanath and Arvind Kejriwal, could be ones to watch out for in the 2024 general elections.
Why Yogi is hero in UP?
Yogi Adityanath, the one-time Gorakhpur MP and current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has done what political parties haven’t been able to achieve in decades.
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The 47-year-old leader has become the first chief minister in UP to get a consecutive second term. And the margins of victory aren’t any small feat; the BJP is, according to Election Commission data, leading in 247 seats.
This comes in the backdrop of the state facing a crisis in the second coronavirus wave. Many had reported then that the Yogi government had failed during the COVID-19 pandemic and there were even rumours that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be replaced.
With this victory, Yogi Adityanath has silenced his critics, on his pandemic handling to the law and order situation. Additionally this win propels him on to the national stage. After all, who can forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s famous dictum about the road to Delhi passing through Lucknow.
In fact, Amit Shah before the results had said that it is “natural” for people to mention Yogi Adityanath as a future prime ministerial candidate, citing his developmental work.
In an interview to the Indian Express, Amit Shah had said: “Naturally. So much work has been done under him, after so many years. UP got 30 medical colleges… The state has two AIIMS while a research centre for Japanese encephalitis has also been constructed. The BJP government has built 10 new universities, opened 77 new colleges. Our government has also reconstructed and redeveloped 1.40 lakh colleges across Uttar Pradesh.”
What Kejriwal’s win means?
The AAP win for Arvind Kejriwal is momentous and also changes the political landscape of the country.
As per EC data, the AAP is leading in 93 seats in a 117-member Assembly. Arvind Kejriwal reacting to his party’s win, asserted that AAP has changed the entire system. “Bhagat Singh once said, if we don’t change the system after the British leave, nothing will happen. Sadly in the last 75 yrs, these parties and leaders had the same British system, they were looting the country, no schools/hospitals were made. AAP has changed the system.”
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The AAP’s victory in Punjab goes to show that Arvind Kejriwal’s welfare politics has worked and he was able to earn the trust of the voters as a credible alternative to the established national parties, including the BJP.
The clean sweep prompted Raghav Chadha to say that the party would now emerge as the national and natural replacement of the Congress in the coming days.
“In the coming days AAP will become a national force… the party will emerge as the national and natural replacement of Congress,” Chadha said while addressing party workers at a rented accommodation of the party’s chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann in Sangrur.
He followed that up with, “Arvind Kejriwal is the hope of crores of people. If God is willing and people give an opportunity, he will definitely be seen in a bigger role – that of the prime minister – soon. AAP will emerge as a major national political force.”
Political analysts believe that following the Punjab triumph, Kejriwal will turn his focus to Gujarat, which is going for polls later this year. It is important to note here that AAP has already made considerable gains in the civic elections in Gandhinagar and Surat last year.
Noted journalist Sagarika Ghosh has written for NDTV, will the two new political disruptors Arvind Kejriwal and Yogi Adityanath be potential national rivals, if not in 2024 then perhaps in 2029?
We will have to wait and see.
With inputs from agencies
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