In Delhi Verdict, Governance Gift for BJP

The BJP is politically comfortable and secure, and it has a window for seven months to get its economic governance right before the political cycle heats up all the way to 2029. That is the real national significance of Delhi mandate

- Prashant Jha

Seven months: That is the gift Delhi's outcome has given to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the BJP-led central government.

For the next seven months, till campaign intensifies in the final lap of the Bihar elections, the BJP does not have to worry about winning elections. It does not have to worry about its political reputation and strength that was depleted after the Lok Sabha polls, for it has now shown not once, not twice, but thrice — in Haryana, Maharashtra, and now Delhi — that the 2024 verdict was not necessarily the beginning of the end.

It does not have to worry about a united opposition mounting a concerted attack, for these three electoral setbacks will only intensify the contradictions within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. And it does not have to worry about an expansion in Arvind Kejriwal's national footprint in the foreseeable future, a possibility a decisive Aam Aadmi Party victory in adverse circumstances may well have thrown up.

The BJP does not have to worry about any disequilibrium in its internal equations within the party; there is absolute clarity that Narendra Modi is supreme, Amit Shah runs the machine and everyone else derives their power from the duo. It does not have to worry about clashes with the wider ideological family, for the post-Lok Sabha reset in ties and closer consultation and coordination is working in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's centenary year. And it does not have to worry about the stability of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), for allies will remain careful in pushing too hard and see a continued incentive in sticking to the Modi brand.

The political space, the policy challenge But there is a lot that the BJP has to worry about. And the political gift from Chandigarh, Mumbai and now Delhi gives it the room to navigate those more urgent challenges. And these worries come from the policy world.