Atishi Marlena Singh, the lone woman minister in the Delhi cabinet, has been selected for the Delhi chief minister’s post by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators. The Kalkaji MLA, who holds the maximum portfolios in the AAP government, will take over from party chief Arvind Kejriwal with just months left for the Delhi Assembly election. There were several names amongst the AAP cabinet which were doing the rounds like Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Sunita Kejriwal, Arvind Kejriwal’s wife. However, Atishi, the frontrunner for the top job, was the obvious choice as she had assumed a central role in the party after the arrest of Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case.
A Rhodes Scholar, Atishi is among the most well-educated members of the Aam Aadmi Party, which appeals to the party’s urban, middle class support base. She has a background in education, policy, and governance, having studied at St Stephen’s College under Delhi University, and later at Oxford University.
Before her association with the AAP, Atishi spent seven years in a small village in Madhya Pradesh where she got involved in organic farming and progressive education systems. She worked with several non-profit organisations there, where she met some AAP members for the first time. These qualities of Atishi pose her as a big challenge more for the BJP and less for the Congress. The BJP has already released a poster projecting her as a puppet of Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP is actually at a crossroads now, because by making Atishi the CM, Kejriwal has blunted the BJP from all ends. Atishi being a woman will be tough for LG Vinay Saxena; he will not be able to ride roughshod over her on petty matters. BJP is yet to figure out what it will do if Atishi announces a flurry of schemes for women or announces some new laws. Can the LG oppose every matter as he has been doing in the past, or will the dirty tricks department of the BJP dig out some new muck against Atishi? Atishi then can always quip back saying that being a woman CM she is being harassed and troubled from all sides which could result in a gush of sympathy for her. AAP MP Swati Maliwal has already provided political fodder to the BJP with her post on X (earlier Twitter): “Today is a very sad day for Delhi. Today, a woman is being made the Chief Minister of Delhi whose family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from hanging. Her parents wrote mercy petitions to the Honorable President to save terrorist Afzal Guru. According to them, Afzal Guru was innocent and was framed as part of a political conspiracy.”
Will BJP use Maliwal’s post as a weapon during the campaign, and will it click in the eyes of Delhi voters? The transition of power with Arvind Kejriwal’s departure has placed an immense burden on Atishi, who will be expected to deliver results swiftly within a constrained time frame. The spotlight is now on her, and the pressure is palpable. The Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) and the central government, perceiving her as more pliable in comparison to her predecessor, may subject her to intense scrutiny and possible manipulation. Atishi on the CM chair and Arvind Kejriwal on the streets of Delhi seeking sympathy and also a certificate of honesty could be a lethal cocktail for the BJP, which will have to recalibrate its strategy. Will the BJP now project Bansuri Swaraj (former BJP Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj’s daughter) or will it have to parachute in Smriti Irani who seems to be quite active in the Delhi circuit these days? What will be the next move for the Congress, which is trying to get a footing on the Delhi landscape? Kejriwal has been slapped in the past, ink has been thrown at him; can the BJP subject Atishi to these gimmicks? Certainly not.
Many say that Kejriwal’s move of stepping down from the CM’s post is a masterstroke, but looking at it pragmatically, it is a practical approach adopted by Kejriwal. He has made the forthcoming Delhi elections all about a referendum on his honesty and probity. He is now a free bird to invest all his energy in Haryana, Maharashtra and other states. The Delhi polls are still six months away, for which he has left other parties guessing and hurtling with their strategies, also putting them on tenterhooks, whereas he has carved out his task very clearly.
Undoubtedly Kejriwal comes across as a smart politician and the BJP has all the reasons to be wary of him, but whether he can repeat his past mandate in his home turf of Delhi is a million-dollar question, which is why it’s a do-or-die battle. Atishi is certainly a stopgap arrangement which will make governance smooth, and Kejirwal can focus on his campaign, but this new turning point in the Aam Aadmi Party is the beginning of a new innings being played by Kejriwal on his own terms and conditions. It will fluster and frustrate the BJP which is also trying to get a foothold in Delhi, but can it succeed amidst the most crucial question before the people — Kejriwal vs who?
Neelu Vyas is a senior television anchor and digital content creator. Twitter: @neeluopines
