Feb 20, 2020

Helmed by the incumbent chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) earned a sweeping election victory in India’s capital. BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) that claimed a landslide victory in the national elections in May 2019 stood a distant second in Saturday’s election. The Congress Party, just like in the 2015 election, drew a blank.

BJP’s campaign in the capital city was akin to its last year’s general election drive – bellicose and divisive nationalism. Kejriwal, in contrast, eschewed name-calling and focused his campaign on the achievements of the AAP government in the last five years. To that end, AAP will be leading the Delhi government for a third term in a row. Its richly deserved win implies that if you want a strong and stable mandate, focus on tangible actions that matter to people--not in deceitful stump speeches.

Through the makeover of the public education system in Delhi, Kejriwal walked the talk. The education sector had the highest share of the total state budget: 23.5 percent in 2017-18 and 26 percent in the following two consecutive years. The most recent budget highlighted schemes for teachers’ training, managerial enrichment, digitization, and merit-based scholarships. For instance, government schools are entitled to funds that they can use to strengthen school management committees and/or design initiatives that can enhance in-school learning. To encourage academic excellence, the government also announced annual scholarships worth INR 2500 to students from grades seven to twelve who scored more than 80 percent. These schemes are meant to aid the momentum of progress in education, primarily underscored by 1000 free schools, as Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia claim were built in the last five years and benefit over a million students.

Yet, Kejriwal is not merely making oleaginous promises about building thousands of schools. He is sweating the small stuff. Sisodia, in the 2017-18 budget, proposed the three-tier library system for Delhi public school by allocating INR 117 crores for infrastructures and procurement of books. It envisioned the opening of new libraries in pre-primary and primary levels and modernization of existing libraries in middle schools and high schools. The government also infused more funds to improvise drinking water supply and sanitation, furnish science laboratories, and facilitate SMART learning. To further teaching practices, The State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) provided capacity-building exercises for 36000 teachers that are directly involved in Delhi public schools. The most interesting and perhaps wholesome, at least on the outside, is the “Happiness Curriculum” that incorporates a bunch of holistic learning methods such as sports, meditation, and mental exercises.

After education, emphasis on health lies at the forefront of Kejriwal’s triumph. For the fiscal year 2019-20, the Delhi government proposed an outlay of 13.8 percent of its total budget on health, which is more than double the average allocation in other states (5 percent). INR 588 crores have been proposed for the construction of new hospitals and over INR 3500 crores for wide-ranging projects in the health sector.

Much like in education, by catering to low-income families (or aam aadmi), Kejriwal is picking low hanging fruits in health. The community clinic initiative, more widely known as the Mohala Clinics, was a large part of Kejriwal’s appeal to Delhi voters. The Mohala Clinics are primary healthcare centers that offer a package of essential health services including medicines, diagnostics, and consultation free of cost. Although the government is falling short of its initial plan to build 1000 such clinics, a third of those that are already in place have served more than two million residents. Kejriwal and his government have accused the central government of creating roadblocks in the expansion of this initiative. Notwithstanding domestic politics, the project has been lauded internationally, with praises from Kofi Annan to coverages in the US-based Washington Post and Singapore-based the Strait Times.

Going into this recent election, Kejriwal – unlike his contenders – had results, not just promises, to manifest to his folks. The pass rates for twelfth graders in the state-run schools were higher compared to those of private schools. Such has been the improvement that according to the Neta App survey, 61 percent of respondents said they prefer sending their children to Delhi public schools over private schools. Likewise, 80 percent of correspondents believed that healthcare in Delhi has become more accessible under the AAP government.

Besides health and education, subsidized electricity, free water supply for families consuming less than 20,000 liters, and the extension of free rides in Delhi Transport Corporation have all made Kejriwal and AAP an estimable administrator.

Kejriwal, set to lead AAP into one more successive term, faces challenges in preserving the achievements, fixing the glitches, and advancing new programs, amid the strong right-wing government at the central level. Nonetheless, the track record of his government’s success over the past and with his ability to rebound its crux in the elections has made him a doughty leader. Whether the Kejriwal model of leadership can be championed at the national level is a question for debate, but whether leaders can actually walk the talk if they make an effort is undisputed.

In South Asia and around the world, development debate is largely focused on macroeconomic stability and growth. Yet, more often than not, leaders fail to acknowledge that stability comes from policies that can make definite impacts on peoples’ lives. There is no better silver bullet to stability and development than appropriately oriented actions. Hence, acta non verba.