‘Rejection of BJP’s Hate Politics’: Opposition Leaders Across Country Congratulate AAP

Among those to tweet in the aftermath of the victory were Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi, M.K. Stalin and Sitaram Yechury.

New Delhi: As it became certain that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was set to form the government in Delhi with a thumping majority of 62 out of 70 seats, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was among the first to congratulate Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

In a not-so-subtle dig at the Bhartiya Janata Party, the Trinamool Congress chief said “leaders playing on faith through hate speech and divisive politics should take a cue”

Through the campaign the BJP had relied on Hindu consolidation with an attempt to paint anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters as ‘traitors’. 


There has been considerable bonhomie between the two chief ministers. Kejriwal had openly supported Banerjee during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when at attempt was being made by her to organise parties against the BJP. Banerjee will now face a challenging assembly election next year with the BJP having gained significant ground in West Bengal. 

The Twitter handle of former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, also congratulated Kejriwal. 


Since Mufti has been under detention since August 5 – and recently under the Public Safety Act – without trial and recourse to legal assistance, her daughter Iltija Mufti has been tweeting through her handle. 

Leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) M.K. Stalin joined in the congratulatory messages and he too criticised the BJP’s ‘communal politics’. Stalin also brought in the issues of ‘federal rights and regional aspirations’ which are integral to politics in south India and for regional parties with limited national presence. 


The leader of opposition in Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav said that the verdict is a mandate against the BJP’s ‘negative and blatant hate politics’. He also urged the BJP to drop ‘communalism and bigotry’ in its politics. 


Chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray congratulated Kejirwal and said that the people of Delhi have chosen ‘jan ki baat’ over ‘mann ki bat’ – a pun on Narendra Modi’s radio show.

“The Delhi voters have also shown nationalism is also a personal matter and only those wearing it on the heart may not necessarily be true nationalist. This myth has been busted with this result today,” he said.

General secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury said that the Delhi results are a thumbs up to the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the CAA and to denotify NPR. 

Among other regional leaders who by evening had congratulated Kejriwal were Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Biju Janata Dal chief and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Rashtra Samity chief K.T. Rama Rao, YSRCP head and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The Congress – which has drawn a blank and could lose its deposit in all seats – also joined in the celebrations. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted his congratulations.


Former finance minister P. Chidambram said that the voters have rejected “the polarising, divisive and dangerous agenda of the BJP.” 


Senior leader of the Congress Abhishek Manu Singhvi conceded, while talking to NDTV, that the Congress was never really in the contest. “We never really got into the fight because we lost a tall leader and we could not in the short time project an alternative. Need to choose and project somebody who can spend the next three years on the ground being completely backed by the Congress party,” he said. 

Most of the BJP brass has congratulated Kejriwal as well, including prime minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.


Its Delhi chief Manoj Tiwary said that he accepts responsibility for the defeat. He has also congratulated Kejriwal on Twitter. As has East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir.

Curiously, Nitin Gadkari’s tweet congratulating Kejriwal, to which the Delhi chief minister seems to have replied, has been deleted.