After stunning victory, AAP chief says honest politics won

NEW DLHI - “Who are we? We are the aam admi of this country. We are very ordinary people. But when ordinary people stand up to injustice, they shake up the establishment,” announced Arvind Kejri-wal in a voice choked with emotion to a thunderous applause and loud cheering on Sunday evening. His first public address after winning the elections, and the first in several weeks in fact, showed the newfound confidence and self-assurance that can be expected from a man who managed to not just disturb but maybe even end the political careers and aspirations of several members of the major established parties. “This is the first time that an election has been fought on the basis of truth and honesty,” he told a throng of reporters.

“Till now, we associated politics with crime and corruption. For the first time, people have looked at honest politics and the results show that the masses are fed up with the corrupt politics of BJP, Congress and their likes. If these parties do not change, people will uproot them,” he said. And as if to stress how simple the job was, Kejriwal reeled off the names of some of the ‘underdogs’ who managed to cause probably the worst upsets of this election. “Look who has defeated the bigwigs. Rakhi Birla, a young girl, has defeated Raj Kumar Chauhan. Akhile-shpati Tripathi, an ordinary boy who came to Delhi to appear for civil services exams, won in his constituency with an impressive margin. Commando Surinder from NSG defeated the BJP bigwig from his constituency.

Ashok Chauhan, who defeated Chaudhary Prem Sin-gh from Ambedkar Nagar, and Dharmendra Koli, who won Seemapuri, are all ordinary people,” he said. Describing it as a victory of the country, Kejriwal said his party had managed to make a start of sorts towards clean politics by disclosing not just details of its funds but also refusing donations when they reached their tar get. Kejriwal congraluated BJP and Harsh Vardhan for their win, adding that he did not have any enmity with Sheila Dikshit. “This was a fight on issues and against corruption and inflation,” he said. The party office, which was surrounded by scores of volunteers, looked like a wedding venue. Jhadus and rose petals hardly go together, but at AAP’s Connaught Place office, supporters were ready with roses, laddoos and jhadus since early morning. By 10.30am, they had started chanting “jeet gaya bhai jeet gaya, aam admi jeet gaya” despite indications that AAP may not be able to form the government. “The verdict is not unexpected. In the slums where AAP campaigned extensively, people had already told us that they would take booze, food and freebies from BJP and Congress but vote for jhadu.

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