Why Is Delhi Important For Modi?

LEGEND says the modern city of Delhi is built on seven older ones.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

Though the nuances of ideological substrata are more than seven, Delhi has one face—power. From the Pandavas to the Chauhans to the Mughals to the British, it has always been a seat of power. Delhi is the heart and soul of India. The battle for ballots between the beleaguered Arvind Kejriwal and the pugnacious Narendra Modi is to capture that soul.

The city is once again witnessing the metaphorical drumbeats of war—posters, processions, poll panoply and propaganda—to dominate the 70-member assembly, turning the capital into a warzone. The opposing champions are the aggressively acerbic Modi and the astutely adroit Kejriwal; in between is a headless state Congress happy with taking potshots.

But Delhi is in the ICU. For the past few years, disregard, despair and decrepitude have haunted its roads, sewage systems, hospitals, parks and playgrounds. The Yamuna is now an artery of fatal filth. Women fear leaving home alone after dark because crime is rising. The city's 30-odd million residents breathe in poison for more than three months a year. Though it has a good airport, innumerable flyovers and decent public education, everyone would flee Delhi if they could.

The toxicity has infected the electoral verbiage of national and local leaders, who spew inventive expletives to tar their opponents with the brush of regressive rhetoric. The combat is not between two parties, but between two individuals: the BJP, lacking a local leader to take on Kejriwal, has fallen back on its tallest leader Modi.

Why has BJP made the Delhi election a do-or-die project? After all, it's a tiny state. Kejriwal was just one of 30-odd chief ministers. Delhi's population, with a state GDP of about $130 billion, hardly impacts national politics.