I Voted Like a Hindu So Delhi Can Have Its Biryani & Eat It Too

Delhi Election 2020: Let the women in Shaheen Bagh eat their biryani in peace, while the BJP can keep clinging to the results of the last two Lok Sabha elections to console themselves.

(Photo Courtesy: Zomato/Pride Kitchen’s Hyderabadi Biriyani)

I can’t decide which one of my acts from my Saturday itinerary can be termed more anti-national. Voting against the BJP, watching a ‘boycott-worthy’ film, or eating biryani for dinner? Last Saturday, I went out to vote. Later in the day, I decided to watch Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Shikara’. And finally, as I sat inside one of my favourite restaurants, waiting for my dinner while contemplating my decision to watch the film, the waiter, very kindly, served some biryani on my plate.

Voting Like a Hindu

My WhatsApp is filled with countless unarchived messages from unknown numbers that asked me to go out and vote as a Hindu. And as a nationalist. I was deeply touched by their responsibility towards our nation, and their friendliness to get into someone’s cell phone without so much as an introduction.

I listened to them and did what they asked me to do.

I went out to vote against the BJP to help ensure they don’t come into power in Delhi. I did it to save our religion and our nation from their dirty brand of politics.

Voters Still Prefer Education Over Hatred

It appears that the Modi government has invested way too much into creating an atmosphere of fear and hatred, that it’s almost impossible for them to take a step back and rethink their strategy. And yet, BJP’s politics of divide has failed to serve them once again. If Delhi’s mandate is proof of anything, it’s that the people people of this country aren’t completely blindfolded by BJP’s agenda. And that they still prefer education and health over hatred and lies. At least, when they do have an option.

The results of state elections where the BJP lost continue to point us towards just one thing — a complete lack of opposition in the centre. Indian citizens are tired of both the Congress, and the BJP, and they are left rooting for the emergence of a new political party. A party that can deliver on politics of progress over politics of corruption, and politics of religion.

Will BJP Rethink Its Strategy At Least Now?

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has served to fill that void in Delhi. And it’s exactly the reason for their huge success. Now with more than a resounding win for the Aam Aadmi Party and a well-deserved defeat for the BJP in yet another state, this time the capital of our country, maybe, we can put to rest the nationalist propaganda, at least for a while. The voters of Delhi have rejected the loud chants of Desh ke Gaddaron ko Goli Maaro Saalon Ko. The voters have also rejected the idea that Hindus are in any kind of danger if they choose development over communal polarisation.

Let the women in Shaheen Bagh, and the countless other protesters, that continue to fill the streets of our country, eat their biryani in peace. While the BJP can keep clinging to the results of the last two Lok Sabha elections to console themselves.

(Sumit Garg is an independent writer from Delhi. He tweets at @sumitinwords. This is a personal blog, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)