Kejriwal stops Modi juggernaut in Delhi: How AAP chief positioned himself as a 'change agent'

New Delhi, Feb 10: Scripting a new political narrative, Arvind Kejriwal's royal come back leading the AAP to a spectacular victory, reflects his strong positioning as a "change agent" that scuppered BJP's bid to power in the national capital and put a break on the Modi juggernaut.

The magnificent victory is being considered awe-inspiring as the 46-year-old bespectacled IITian, notwithstanding a string of electoral triumphs for BJP since the May Lok Sabha polls, managed to anchor a campaign that wooed all sections in the city.

Quietly spreading his party's wings after the Lok Sabha poll debacle, the activist-turned-politician achieved the extraordinary feat by taking his "participative politics" model to the masses through a strong army of dedicated volunteers and his sheer perseverance.

Kejriwal, who had faced huge criticism for resigning as the Chief Minister after remaining in power for 49-days, expanded the party's base by anchoring an unconventional approach to take AAP beyond his support base of the poor and lower middle class families.

Promising change, the former Delhi Chief Minister in taking AAP's agenda to the people appeared much mellower as he apologised to the people for quitting government on February 14 last year while successfully connecting with all sections.

Emerging as a mascot of an alternative brand of politics, the engineer-turned-civil servant had changed the political discourse when in the last Delhi polls he decimated Congress after 15-year rule by winning 28 seats and also handed out a crushing defeat to then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in her New Delhi seat.

He had courted controversy within weeks of becoming Chief Minister by sitting on a dharna in the heart of Delhi near Parliament House over his demand for suspending three police officers for allegedly not acting against criminals.

He had also come under attack on the governance agenda. Born on August 16, 1968 in Hisar in Haryana to Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi, Kejriwal sent the entire political spectrum into a tizzy, attacking both BJP and Congress on the issues of corruption, exorbitant rise in power and water tariff, safety of women and clearly managed to make a huge dent in the traditional vote banks of both the parties.

PTI