Aaj mangalwar hai (Today is Tuesday),” said Arvind Kejriwal, pausing for effect. The sea of Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, who had eagerly gathered to hear him after the results of the assembly elections in Delhi were announced, pounced on the cue and cheered wildly. “Hanuman ji ka din hai (It is Lord Hanuman’s day),” Kejriwal continued. He thanked the deity for the poll outcome.
The reference to Hanuman was apt. After all, he did help the Delhi chief minister in blunting the attacks of a belligerent BJP that sought to label him as anti-Hindu in the context of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests. A visibly hurt Kejriwal had defended himself saying, on television, that he was a Hanuman bhakt. Asked if he knew Hanuman chalisa, he also recited the hymn.
Aligning himself with Hanuman aided Kejriwal in a fierce election campaign that had the BJP, led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking to project him as a benefactor of the “anti-national, anti-Hindu” elements leading the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh. “It happened purely by chance,” said a close aide of Kejriwal. “The TV anchor asked Kejriwal if he knew Hanuman chalisa, and he did know it by heart. He turned it into an opportunity.”
On the ground, too, Hanuman resonated, with AAP volunteers responding to BJP workers’ cries of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ with ‘Bajrang Bali Ki Jai’. But the other elements of the AAP’s election strategy were not by chance. They were planned meticulously and executed with finesse. The party matched the BJP, move for move, strategy for strategy.
この記事は THE WEEK の February 23, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は THE WEEK の February 23, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
