The David vs Goliath show...
Failed to watch all the channels and the chat on the Arvind Kejriwal comeback?
NUPUR BASU provides a blow by blow account of the analysis, the barbs, and the comedy. Pix: Shekhar Gupta and Shazia Ilmi on NDTV on February 10.
On counting day, the channels started their TV debates from 7 am, an hour before the actual counting in Delhi’s 2015 assembly election started. As counting proceeded, it became clear that this election would go down in poll history.
On NDTV, Prannoy Roy began by saying: “The index of opposition is very critical in elections and AAP is doing well because Congress votes went to the AAP... the vote consolidated in one party.” Shekhar Gupta added: “Aam Admi Party is the new Congress in Delhi... Delhi is originally a Congress city.”
On Times Now, Hartosh Bal was commenting: “The Congress votes are shifting – the BJP is not getting them... that is a real problem for BJP.”
A reporter who told Raghav Chadha of AAP that he was ‘looking very shiny and bright today’ had the reply: “We are hoping that our 49 days in power will turn into 49 seats!”
At 9 am Arnab Goswami on Times Now declared that the AAP was heading for a massive win and the BJP was heading for a serious drubbing. He mocked ‘psephological paparazzis at work who had given others 2 and now it was zero”.
On Headlines Today, the results were already beaming: AAP 18 and BJP 9. Ajay Maken was reported to be trailing which prompted Rajdeep to say “this tells a story”. Krishna Tirath, a Congress leader who had joined the BJP recently was trailing and Jarnail Singh, who famously threw a shoe at P. Chidambaram, was leading. All this again prompted the anchor to say “the world is changing”.
Nothing succeeds like success. Author Chetan Bhagat was endorsing Kejriwal: “He enjoys extensive credibility and the 2 crore allegations did not wash.” According to sociologist Dipankar Gupta, Kejriwal won because of his policies. “No other leader apologises, Kejriwal apologised and people were willing to give a second chance. If you apologise, people forgive.”
At 10.30 on Headlines Today AAP leader Kumar Vishwas was ready with his soundbite: ‘Dilli ne button dabake pura Hindustan ko badal dala’ (Delhi voters pressed the button and changed all of India). Chetan Bhagat was busy warning AAP that they should not show any “righteous arrogance” post-victory.
By 11 am the result screens were showing some amazing figures: AAP 62, BJP 7, Congress 0. Ecstatic celebrations had begun outside the AAP office and songs with the words paanch saal Kejriwal (five years of Kejriwal) were being belted out along with dilli jeet gaye hain hum (we have won Delhi).
The otherwise combative spokesperson of the BJP, Sambit Patra, looked shell-shocked: “Today is not a day when I should be sermonising, I should be listening to others sermonising to me”.
Back at Headlines Today, Rajdeep Sardesai was faulting sections of the media for having ignored the AAP. “There were news channels that were wiping out the AAP and despite that they won in this amazing way. There has been a tectonic change in politics. Many journalists have joined the party. It was really David versus Goliath in this election.”
Journalist Manini Chatterjee offered an interesting observation: “In Modi’s victory, it was a top down manufactured wave, here it was a bottom up victory. The AAP people worked quietly with the people.”
Dipankar Gupta said: “This is an urban movement, India is becoming more urban, they need to put their roots down the ground.” Questions were coming thick and fast. Sardesai asked: “Is the AAP for Delhi what the Shiv Sena was to Maharashtra?”
Yogendra Yadav: “Aaj hamnein sach dekh liya, us aam aadmi ki jeet hain, jo jeene ke liye taqleef jhelta hain, kya asha leke ate hain.” (Today we have seen the truth, it is the victory of the common man, the common man who has a tough time fighting for survival and come to this city with many dreams).
At 11 am on Times Now, there was a war of words between C. R. Kesavan of the Congress and Arnab Goswami about the Congress leadership. The news had just come in that Ajay Maken had resigned. “Why doesn’t Rahul Gandhi learn from Maken? What did leaders like Ajay Maken do to deserve a leader like Rahul Gandhi?” asked Goswami.
At 11am on CNN-IBN, Manish Sisodia , the AAP leader who won from Patparganj ,was saying: ‘imandaari ki jeet hain’ (it was the victory of ethical values).
Swapan Dasgupta observed: “It’s always good have a slightly anti-establishment flavour. Mr Modi has become the new establishment.”
AAP leader and former journalist Ashutosh told Prannoy Roy: “I had thought we would get 45-46 seats, 63 was beyond my imagination. Lots of responsibility has come. Delhi has to become the alternative politics.”
By 11.15am the AAP has already scaled 66, BJP 3, Congress 0.
At this stage, AAP leaders like Ashish Khaitan had begun to issue warnings: “The first taste of victory is humility. Don’t do anything that will dent the image of the party.”
“The arithmetic has gone totally against us” BJP member Seshadri Chari admitted on Headlines Today. Mani Shankar Aiyar of the Congress said: “The major lesson to be learnt is that if the BJP continues to centralise, then they are headed towards doom. If Modi-Shah won the last election, Modi –Shah lost this election”.
Around 11.30 on Times Now, AAP leader Yogendra Yadav observed: “Normally it should not be seen as a referendum on the central government, but the Prime Minister unleashed his whole machinery. I have a 10 year old son. When Amit Shah said this election will not be a referendum, my son pointed to an ad in the paper that day which said chalo chale Modi ke saath, and he said look at this ad, it is not saying chalo chale Bedi ke saath.”
Arnab Goswami tells the BJP’s Nalin Kohli: “Accept it Mr Nalin Kohli”. An angry Kohli retorted: “What is the vote percentage - 33 per cent? Every other vote share has added to AAP and they have won. Mr Goswami you are missing the point!” Yogendra Yadav replied: “I would like to remind Mr Kohli – he would pounce on AAP spokespersons - there is always a link between Lok Sabha and Assembly except 1984 in Karnataka”.
Arnab Goswami: “Mr Kohli ,Yogendra Yadav is trying to say that you became very arrogant.” Kohli continues: “I can’t say anything as I haven’t seen the result yet.” A shocked Goswami asks: “You haven’t seen the results yet?”
“In an earlier election, they saw Modi as the chaiwalla and they voted for him. This time they saw Kejriwal as the ordinary person. Modi became master and he lost. People go with the underdog,” observed Times Now political editor Navika Kumar.
Congress leader Rita Bahugana was saying: “It is a referendum against Mr Modi, his arrogance, his closeness with corporate. We never made it an election between Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal’. Goswami took her on: “It is a Congress mukt Delhi. Just because he is a Gandhi, you will not question him. Why shouldn’t Sonia Gandhi also resign...how long will you run this dynastic politics?”
At 11.45 ,the man of the moment, Kejriwal, addressed the AAP workers and volunteers at the party office and appealed to them not to show any arrogance.
“Kejriwal’s tone is very modest!” Goswami remarked, adding, “They are a much younger party. They are ordinary folk, their earlier arrogance has gone.” Neeraja Chaudhury had this to offer: “Indian politics is changing, traditional politics is being given a go by. A new kind of aspirational party is coming in.” By noon Times Now is willing to give AAP a medal. “This party has changed and learnt a lot and it is really an attractive national alternative.”
Zaka Jacob on CNN-IBN, a channel which is reported to have kept out AAP voices in the beginning, was saying: “All this ghar wapsi has to end. The minorities have voted emphatically. People have reacted against such communal politics. Modi was wearing a 10 lakh suit and Kejriwal was wearing a muffler. The muffler man is now being called a superman.”
There were lots of jibes against Modi. Chetan Bhagat was saying: “Modi must remember that he is not contesting elections in Madison square.” Shekhar Gupta was saying: “Obama called Modi a fashion icon....an Indian PM does not need to be called a fashion icon.”
Around 12.50 there was a PTI flash that channels beamed, announcing that Kiran Bedi had lost from Krishna Nagar, prompting Shekhar Gupta to compare the defeat with Indira Gandhi’s defeat at the hands of Raj Narain.
At 1 pm the channels showed Kiran Bedi emerging from her house and addressing the waiting media but what she said left the media puzzled. “I haven’t lost, the BJP has lost. Let them introspect. Full marks to Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP for their victory. He reached the poor by working for the last four and a half years.”
Times Now promptly started running a Kiran Bedi blooper contest at 1.45pm. Blooper no 1: The BJP did not take one paisa from me. Blooper no 2: I haven’t lost..the BJP has lost. Blooper no 3: Krishna Nagar is so dirty I would have taken months to clean it up (Krishna Nagar is Harsh Vardhan’s constituency and this was seen as a dig against him.)
Siddharth Vardarajan asked Sambit Patra: “Does your party take money?” An embarrassed Patra replied: “No, maybe she is referring to the party membership fee”, a remark that drew much laughter in the studio. Vardarajan went on to say that there were three M’s that brought the BJP down: “Modi, money power, mudslinging.”
On CNN-IBN, Sudhanshu Mittal was saying: “Kabhi haan Kabhi naa hurt us, delay in conducting the election cost us, change of leadership at the last minute.”On NDTV at 2.30 pm Nidhi Razdan was asking BJP leader Narasimha Rao whether the party’s drubbing reflected on Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Rao was in denial: “It was a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal.”
Razdan persisted: “But it was Modi’s slogan that ‘jo desh ka mood hain, woh dilli ka mood hain”. PR veteran Dilip Cherian endorsed this: “Delhi is a microcosm of the country and the BJP should understand this otherwise they will see this as a municipal aberration.”
Tavleen Singh: “The Prime Minister has been concentrating too much on international affairs instead of domestic issues and seeing what his ministers are doing. It was a positive vote for change.”
Meera Sanyal of AAP analysed the victory calmly: “We need to keep our feet on the ground, we have to focus on delivery. This has been a very positive vote, not only for Arvind Kejriwal but also our candidates. They have gone with Mplad sheets and said we have done mohalla sabhas and that really worked and impressed voters. We delivered a lot in those 49 days, corruption was lower, we delivered on many counts...and then Arvind folding his hands and saying I am sorry, I will never resign again, worked”.
An AAP spokesperson said that Mr Modi was promising a sone ki chidia (a golden bird) but the egg failed to hatch. Chandan Mitra retorted: “You have made such promises we will see how you deliver.”
On Headlines Today, Nalini Singh seemed totally out of sync: “We must not forget to talk about financial probity and where they got that 2 crores from.” She must have been the only one, other than Nalin Kohli of the BJP, who raised this now failed allegation. When reminded by Rahul Kanwal about the BJP’s unaccounted election funding, she replied: “Oh don’t compare..don’t talk about the BJP!”
Back at NDTV, Meera Sanyal was saying: “You needed an alternative to tsunamo (Modi), and people everywhere were looking for it. It strengthens our democracy that AAP has come up through this victory ”.
Sambit Patra was asking naively: “Why does anyone want to stop the Modi juggernaut?” Tavleen Singh was quick to remind Patra that it was the BJP that had put Modi at the head of the campaign and the election in Delhi was therefore a referendum on him by their own making, adding: “The BJP has been emulating the Congress model of centralised power – the high command – and it will suffer for this.”
The ultimate wisdom came from an aam voter: “Yeh janata janardhan hain... yeh upar bhi le ja sakti hain or neeche bhi laa sakti hai.” (This is the public..they can pull you up.. and pull you down.)
At 4 pm the headline of the early edition of the Hindustan Times said it all. Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today held it up for the cameras: ‘Apocalypse!’
Shankarsan Thakur said emphatically on Times Now: “This is going to come as a shot in the arm for the parties which have been feeling depressed with the Modi juggernaut going on and on.”
“Will the index of opposition against the BJP go up?”asked Arnab Goswami and the answer from the studio was a resounding ‘yes’. Arathi Jerath said although there are no elections in the forthcoming months, there will be rumblings in Parliament even from among the NDA’s own allies.
On Headlines Today Pawan Verma said: “The Modi mythology has begun to fade and the mirror has begun to crack. The whole thrust on shining India which does not have inclusive growth has been rejected by the people in Delhi.” Verma said he was hopeful of alignments among parties opposed to the BJP in the coming months.
Rajdeep Sardesai had the last word: “The comparisons have been between a prime minister who wears a 10 lakh suit and the muffler man...The muffler man has shown that you cannot walk on water.”
Such articles are only possible because of your support. Help the Hoot. The Hoot is an independent initiative of the Media Foundation and requires funds for independent media monitoring. Please support us. Every rupee helps.
Subscribe To The Newsletter