Kejriwal Apes Modi and comes out winner

Before the election in 2019, PM Modi came up with KISAN Yojana which was about giving away Rs 6000 per farmer. The target was to give away Rs 4000 per farmer (120 million farmers were to gain) just before the Lok Sabha election.

Some States were more impacted than others

• Bihar
• Jharkhand
• Maharashtra
• Chhattisgarh
• Uttar Pradesh

In these States NDA won 85% of the seats at offer. It did not do poorly in the other seats winning 55% of the seats

But this was just the tip of the iceberg. Free Homes, Free Toilets, Free (and Subsidised) LPG, FSA Obligations all meant that such freebies/ subsidies amounted to about Rs 3.5 Lakh crores in the 2019-20 budget.

It is also no coincidence that the one party that resisted the BJP was BJD. Odisha was one of the worst implementers of Central Government programmes and it had its own set of freebies to counter the centre's freebies.

The culture of freebies is not unique to the BJP. The difference between BJP and other parties is the ability to Market these as making a huge difference to society. Whether these freebies make a difference to the lives of the individuals is unquestionable but whether they are good for the larger the interest of society is very debatable.

Arvind Kejriwal has learnt these lessons well after having had a rough start. Apart from the raft of freebies and subsidies announced during the last campaign, two sets of freebies were focussed on this election and were announced soon after the AAP debacle in the 2019 election.

The free power was targeted at the poor and free rides were targeted at women. Eventually in the election, AAP had a 15% lead amongst men but a massive 27% lead amongst women. AAP led the BJP significantly amongst poor voters as well. These advantages eventually led to a 15% advantage over the BJP leading to the unprecedented second landslide. This in a way mirrors the Modi Landslide last year.

It is not to say the Modi or Kejriwal haven't done good work. Voters are wise enough to recognise if good work has been done. Modi has enabled financial inclusion, built massive rural and national transport infrastructure and so on. Arvind Kejriwal has focussed on education and taken critical steps to improve the quality of education in Delhi. It is also not that the Congress (In MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh), Jagan in Andhra, Naveen in Odisha or Mamata now in Bengal are doing any different when it comes to freebies and loan waivers. It is just that Political parties have found a way to convince supporters that such freebies are a great idea. It is certainly a good idea when it comes to winning elections. Whether it is good for the economy is a critical question to ask.