New Delhi:
A day after the BJP scored a thumping victory in the Delhi Assembly election and ended the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) 10-year-rule, newly elected BJP MLA Parvesh Verma launched a shayari attack on AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.
A video he shared on X shows Mr Kejriwal’s speech before the election in which he challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I want to challenge Modi ji, you cannot defeat AAP in Delhi in this birth. You would have to be reborn,” the AAP leader is heard saying.
The video then shows Prime Minister Modi delivering a speech and targeting AAP with his “AAPda” jab. “There is only one chorus in Delhi. We will not tolerate AAPda, we will bring change,” he says. The video then shows the seat tally after the counting, showing BJP with 48 seats and AAP with 22.
“इक शख्स जो यहां तख्त नशीं था,
उसको अपने खुदा होने पे बहुत यकीं था।” pic.twitter.com/pOIKsuxrlZ— Parvesh Sahib Singh (@p_sahibsingh) February 9, 2025
Mr Verma captioned the 33-second video with the lines, “Ik shaksh jo yahan takht-nasheen tha, usko apne khuda hone pe bohut yakeen tha.” This roughly translates as “the one who sat on the throne earlier believed he was God”. The lines are a slightly altered version of Habib Jalib’s immortal shayari reminding despots that power is temporary. The shayari is frequently used to criticise autocratic regimes.
Born in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur in 1928, Jalib moved to Pakistan during Partition. His writings opposed martial law and state oppression and had also spoken out against Ayub Khan when he engineered a coup and wrested power in Pakistan. He died in 1993.
Mr Verma, a former two-time Lok Sabha MP from West Delhi, emerged as a giant slayer yesterday when he defeated Mr Kejriwal in New Delhi, a seat the AAP leader won thrice in a row. The 47-year-old is now a frontrunner for the Delhi Chief Minister’s post. The BJP. however, is yet to announce its Chief Minister choice. Party chief JP Nadda met Union Home Minister Amit Shah today to discuss government formation and the swearing-in ceremony. According to party sources, the oath ceremony may be held after the Prime Minister returns from the US.
