So this happened in India yesterday:
The Hindu (newspaper with a largely South Indian readership) writes: AAP ki sarkar: Kejriwal Rules Delhi
The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday swept to power with 67 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, leaving only three to the Bharatiya Janata Party and nil to the Congress.
The Congress had been in power for three consecutive terms in the State until 2013 and the BJP had won all seven Lok Sabha seats in May 2014.
To put this in US terms, it would be similar to one of Noam Chomsky's acolytes splitting with him (as Kejriwal split with the activist Anna Hazare), forming a political party, and winning 95% of the seats in Washington DC and it's suburbs (Delhi's population is 10 million, about 0.8% of India's.
When they first ran for office in 2013, AAP won 28 of 70 seats in New Delhi's legislative assembly, the BJP won slightly more but the AAP formed the government with support from Congress. Kejriwal resigned when it was clear he could not pass his anti-corruption agenda. At the time, he got a lot of flak for resigning, but the strategy seems to have been sound. It looks like every Delhiite who hesitated to vote for AAP for fear of "wasting" their votes overcame that hesitation in this cycle.
The AAP's platform is decidedly populist, and they've won in large part on the strength of a promise to crack down on petty corruption. To emphasize the "cleaning house" theme, they chose a broom as their symbol (India's political parties have campaigned with recognizable symbols to make life easier for illiterate voters). The AAP also had an interesting candidate selection strategy. Unlike the BJP/Congress who tend to reward party loyalists with nominations, the AAP picked younger candidates, many of them new to politics. They also relied heavily on campaign contributions from small donors. In contrast, most campaigns in India are financed with suitcases full of cash (seriously).
Here's how other media outlets are covering the election:
NYTimes: India’s Aam Aadmi Party Sweeps Elections in Delhi
Mr. Kejriwal’s vow to crack down on small-scale corruption has particular resonance among slum dwellers. The vast majority of Delhi’s cycle rickshaw drivers and street hawkers, for example, do not have permits and are routinely pressured for small bribes by constables who often pay bribes to land their jobs.
Hindustan Times (North Indian readership and is Delhi's local paper):
Delhi election results: BJP trounced by Kejriwal's AAP in blow to Modi, Cong fails to open account
The closely fought election saw a record turnout of 67.10% and 8.9 million of the city's 13.3 million-strong electorate cast their votes.
The 2013 elections had produced a hung assembly, and the AAP (with 28 MLAs) formed a government with the outside support of eight Congress legislators.
The AAP rode to victory on promises of cheaper electricity and water, and probity in government. The party also has a strident position against Delhi's famed culture of privilege; in its last stint, one of its more popular moves was the outlawing of red beacons on official cars.
Its culture of handouts runs counter to the ruling principles of the BJP at the Centre, which espouses a market-friendly approach and wants to cut subsidies. Stock markets, which had fallen sharply on Monday after investors took fright from the exit polls, recovered in early trade as people chose to look ahead to this month's union Budget.
The Guardian:
Anti-corruption party sweeps Delhi elections in blow for Narendra Modi
The AAP held power briefly a year ago but resigned from government after a chaotic 49 days which saw Kejriwal slash the prices of power and water, reject police security details and take part in street protests.
“Some say I am an anarchist, that I am spreading anarchy. I am willing to agree to that,” the then chief minister told reporters as he scuffled with police at one demonstration.
Local voters, particularly the poor in the sprawling metropolis, appear to have been willing to give the party another chance. The party’s symbol is a broom – a reference to its origins as an anti-graft campaign group. Key poll pledges included cheaper utility bills, a major attraction for those hit hard by soaring inflation in recent years.
Surveys show that those at the bottom of India’s tenacious social hierarchy of caste also support the AAP, as well as the capital’s large Muslim community.
The Times of India (national readership with a Bombay base):
Delhi election results 2015: Don’t get such happiness daily, auto drivers say
Transgender issues and village life below the fold...
Meanwhile, in the world of letters, Granta published their Indian fiction issue (130) yesterday and two pieces stood out to me:
First, I urge everyone to read Snigdha Poonam's revealing essay about an enterprising young man in an impoverished state in India (incidentally home to part of my family). It's titled The Fixer, go read it.
Second, Mona's Story by Urvashi Butalia recounts the story of a trans-gendered man (Ahmed) who joined India's large hijra community (eunuchs) and eventually surgically changed their gender to become Mona. The story is compelling and eye-opening, but one paragraph exemplified the chasm between the author and her subject:
What was it with all these men wanting to be women, I wondered. Here I was, a woman who thinks of herself as empathetic and quite open, surrounded by men who were doing their best to switch over to ‘my’ side, and I felt out of place, as if I did not belong. I was reminded of a conversation I’d once had with an Australian friend of mine, a lesbian and a feminist, as she and I stood and watched some hijras dance at a women’s conference. ‘I hate all this,’ she’d said to me. ‘We’ve fought so long and hard to carve out a little space for ourselves in society, to be able to make our voices heard, and here are these men pretending to be women, and they’ve come and taken it over.’ Until she said it in so many words, I hadn’t actually thought of it like that. Instead, I’d been wondering about what the experience of maleness and femaleness meant for the Monas of this world and how someone like me could understand it. Typically, Mona had the answer. ‘Arrey,’ she said, ‘why do you worry so much about this? What is there to think? I’m human, you’re human, I’m a woman but sometimes I can be a man – I don’t like being one, but sometimes it’s useful. And anyway, we have something more in common and that is that both you and I, we’re bachelors.’
Personally, I'm with Mona on this one and was taken aback by the author and the "Australian friend"'s view. In some ways, India's institutions are ahead of it's society, the Supreme Court
recognized transgendered people as a third gender last year.