India will know who Delhi really supports when the results of the Delhi election will be declared on 11th February, but Pakistan has made it clear which side it’s on.
Choudhry Fawad Hussain, Pakistan’s Minister of Science and Technology, has urged Delhi’s voters to defeat PM Modi. “People of India must defeat #ModiMadness. Under pressure to lose another State Elections (Delhi on Feb 8th),he resorts to ridiculous claims and threats endangering Region, Mr Modi has lost balance after internal and external reaction to Kashmir,Citizenship laws and failing economy,” he tweeted.
It’s significant that Fawad Hussain specifically mentioned the Delhi election, and even mentioned the voting date of 8th February. His exhortation to defeat PM Modi can be seen to be an endorsement of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who’ll be battling the BJP in an election that’s seen to have grown much closer over the last week.
It’s not surprising that the Pakistani government would side with Aam Aadmi Party’s Kejriwal for the Delhi polls. Pakistan’s leadership has been vociferously speaking against the Citizenship Amendment Act, with PM Imran Khan warning that implementing the CAA would lead to nuclear war, while Arvind Kejriwal has also attacked the act, demanding that the center revoke it because it would “provoke fear”. During the surgical strikes, the Pakistani establishment had asked for proof of any destruction to the militant training camps, and Arvind Kejriwal too had asked the Indian government for proof that the strikes had indeed taken place. And even the language that Pakistan and Arvind Kejriwal use for PM Modi is similar — while Imran Khan has called him racist and compared him to Hitler, Kejriwal has previously called PM Modi a “coward and a psychopath.”
With Aam Aadmi Party and Pakistan having similar aims — the removal of the Modi government — it stands to reason why the Pakistani government would indirectly support Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi elections. With the elections now just a week away, it remains to be seen how Pakistan’s endorsement would help Kejriwal at the ballot box.
