The much-awaited results for the five assembly
elections are finally out. Results for the state of Madhya Pradesh are formally
declared after almost 24 hours of the counting, turning it into a longest battle
in the EVM era. BJP completely lost election battle in the Hindi heartland,
which is its strongest base. Congress convincingly handed it over 3-0 defeat.
Touted as the semi-finals before the general elections 2019, the outcomes of
the results would indeed offer great insights about the perception of people
towards the Modi regime as well. Undeniably the dark cloud of defeat had
brought to fore the glaringly defects of the BJP machinery. Despite being the
World’s largest political party with over 12 crore primary membership and
well-oiled machinery of ground workers, BJP failed to set a narrative. While
party cadres successfully mobilised people to vote, unlike their peers in
leftist parties, they couldn’t highlight accomplishments of respective state governments.
This electoral drubbing has come as a wakeup call to Modi-Shah duo whose
electoral invincibility rattled the opposition. In the past four and half
years, Prime Minister Modi through meaningful interventions brought about
transformative changes in several sectors infusing fresh energy and driving the
nation towards larger economic development. With his unstinted efforts and
rigorous schedule of seventeen work hours a day, Modi evolved as towering personality
with no political equals. Despite these positive attributes. Some thing seems
to be gravely amiss.
BJP must be commended for its tough fight in
Madhya Pradesh. Notwithstanding the 15 years of incumbency, BJP garnered 0.1%
more votes than Congress but narrowly missed the majority mark. Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan will forever be remembered for his great contributions in
pulling out the state from the BIMARU status. By bringing about new reforms in
agriculture, he catapulted its ailing economy from financial throes. Though
people widely acknowledge his phenomenal work the indifference and callousness
of some legislators frustrated people. As elections neared, based on ground
reports, Chouhan made desperate attempts replace the non-performing legislators
with fresh faces. Though this move has contained some losses, it was rather
insufficient. Even he made frantic moves to woo backward communities, promised to
double the farm prices and announced several sops to win support of people.
In Rajasthan BJP managed to put up a respectable
show despite the voter apathy. The loss in terms of absolute numbers from 165
seats in 2013 to 73 seems glaring, the marginal difference in votes polled
between BJP and Congress is 1% or turns out be 1 lakh votes. Given the
historical record of voting patterns of electorate rewarding BJP and Congress
alternatively this may not be really of grave worry. But the issue of agrarian
crisis is real and central government must come out with some strategy to
alleviate this problem before the general elections. The mobilisation of the
party cadre by the central command months before elections has saved party from
the disgrace of being completely wiped out in the assembly elections. Besides
the complaints of the leaders like Vasundhara Raje being not accessible to
party cadres must be addressed and possibly the burden of responsibility should
be shifted to shoulders of imaginative youth leaders.
In
Chhattisgarh, after three successful terms by the longest serving Chief
Minister, Dr Raman Singh, the party faced a massive defeat. The huge vote share
difference of 10% reflected people’s desperation for change. The state
elections offered many lessons for the party. Though there is no denying that
Singh made a stellar contribution in terms of developing a robust public
distribution system for the newly carved out state of Chhattisgarh, he failed
to reinvent himself. Interestingly even the state turned a blind eye to rapidly
changing demographic composition of the state. The conversion factories had a
free run. But the three successful tenures of BJP regime kept the red terror
under control. Especially the state made significant progress in the last four
and half years, in restricting the purview of red corridor to few pockets. With
the change of guard, the menace extremist left wing violence might intensify.
Reclaiming the support and trust of people of Chhattisgarh should therefore be
among the top priorities of BJP.
The only saving grace for the largest political
party of India in youngest state of India, Telangana has been s respectable win
of strong Hindutva advocate, Raja Singh Lodh from the Goshamahal constituency.
He defeated the nearest TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) candidate by a margin
of 16,000 votes. BJP vote share in the state is mere 7%. Interestingly, MIM with
2.7% vote share managed to win 7 seats. TRS riding on the sentiment of
statehood, swept the state. The party must indeed be thankful to Chandra Babu
Naidu, TDP supremo who joined hands with Congress, its arch-rival, CPI and
other local parties to launch Mahakutami as an alternative to TRS. Counting on
the support of the settlers from Andhra, Naidu dreamt of making big gains in
Telangana. But people outrightly
rejected TDPs politics and voted TRS enmasse. TRS gained immensely from this
negative vote. But in the process, BJP’s poll prospects took a beating for failing
to present its story in a way people can understand and appreciate. Besides,
settlers found TRS as better alternative than Congress or TDP which are
brazenly casteist.
MNF’s (Mizo National Front), an ally of BJP
victory in Mizoram paved way for a Congress-mukt North East. Facing a decade
long anti-incumbency, Congress suffered a humiliating defeat. BJP made its
debut in the Christian majority state by polling 8% votes. The Congress chief
minister of Mizoram lost in both constituencies he contested.
The stunning defeat for BJP in five assembly
elections months before the general elections came as a big jolt. For some time,
people have been drawing similarities between the NDA-I of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
and Modi’s NDA-II to alert the party of plausible oversights and of unwarranted
hubris. As a party which have grown from electoral strength to two
parliamentary must now seriously introspect and possibly charter its game plan.
Firstly, BJP has the worst PR machinery which is
totally incapable of presenting a narrative. While major financial reforms have
hurt the core voter base of the party, the problem is exacerbated by inability
of party foot soldiers who failed to convey the intent of the leadership in an
effective way.
Secondly, the political spectrum of India is
tilted towards leftist ideology. Hence a right-wing party like BJP must work
doubly hard and be very active in setting a narrative. A dedicated team of
intellectuals effectively floating the ideology in a nuanced way should be
pressed into action to highlight the achievement and accomplishments of the
government.
Thirdly, it failed to identify the political
vacuum in some states. After the decimation of the Congress from the twin Telugu
states, its traditional strong holds, BJP showed little or no interest in making
strong inroads into the South bound states.
Fourthly, despite tag of pro-Hindutva party, in
the past four and half years, it has alienated itself from the Hindu causes. It
hardly evinced interest in standing up for the cause of its dedicated voter
base. Donning the mantle of secularism, BJP ambitiously aimed to burnish its
image has the most committed secular apostle. Its trepidation and hesitation in
taking unequivocal stance on issues like Sabarimala and Ayodhya has even
punctured its image. Its strong credentials as supporter of Hindutva causes
while in opposition as opposed to its subtle approach when in government
confused people. People are now increasingly distrustful of BJP’s commitment.
Fifthly, BJP’s overambitious approach to
showcase itself as saviour of minorities amidst orchestrated global tirade
against its regime by vested interests has irked people. India has always been
inclusive and there was absolutely no need for flaunt its attributes. But
government’s indifference to rein in on foreign-funded institutions working in
India with nefarious designs has caused disgruntlement among the majoritarian
community.
Sixthly, one of the major poll planks of Modi
during the 2014 elections has been rooting out corruption. Modi has delivered
on this promise and till now there isn’t even a single charge of corruption
against the government and its cabinet. But people are miffed by Modi’s
inability to arrest, prosecute and jail the corrupt politicians of the
scam-ridden UPA regime.
Seventhly, despite its commitment to respect the
values of the Indic civilisation. Government hasn’t made even a single attempt
to change the academic curriculum replete of twisted, distorted and viciously
convoluted derision of India. Not even a single word has been changed in the
text books that abuse the country, its long history, tradition and its glorious
civilisation wealth.
Eightly, government’s apathy towards gaurakshaks
and frailty in going by the false propaganda peddled by the vested groups and
acceding to their false narratives without even investigation of individual
cases has alienated the dedicated Hindu groups from the party.
While the results of the assembly elections may
not be indicative of the people’s resentment towards Prime Minister Modi. But
with general elections few months away, BJP can’t be complacent. It must
revitalise, revive and recharge the party cadres with new energy. Besides, it
must strongly present its case as why it must be re-elected and why the
government needs yet another term. Quintessentially, perception is the key. BJP
must be able to present its story in an effective way. Else all the hard
efforts of the party which has been working as a strong team infusing best of
their energies, potentials will go down the drain. Also, with Congress on
strong wicket, it is but inevitable that Rahul Gandhi will be projected as the
prime ministerial candidate. Enthused by the resurgence, Congress might be
reluctant to make concessions for other political parties or regional outfits.
Similarly, TRS has been voicing for an anti-Congress, anti-BJP front for the
upcoming elections and after its stupendous victory, it would push for an
alliance with like-minded parties. Likely, the opposition parties, which were
inclined to form a combined front against Modi till December 10th
might now part ways and align themselves into two fronts. BJP must capitalise
on the opposition disunity through meticulous planning, mobilisation of workers
and regrouping with friends. As a last-ditch attempt, BJP can bolster its
chances of forming government in 2019 by passing some crucial legislations like
long pending Satyapal Private Members Bill and possibly an ordinance on Ayodhya
in the winter session of parliament which began yesterday.
People have pinned great hopes on Prime Minister
Modi. The absolute majority conferred upon BJP in 2014 is a proof of people’s
trust in the party led by Narendra Modi. Besides, inclusive economic growth,
the land of Sanatana Dharma is yearning for a leader who can uphold the
vitality of this hand. BJP has shown promise
of change and as it begins its preparation for the mega battle. It would bode
if it can reflect on the famous Uttara Speech of Sri Aurobindo in 1909 where he
says “I say no longer say that
nationalism is a creed, a religion, a faith; I say that it is Sanatana Dharma
which for us is nationalism. The Hindu nation was born with Sanatana Dharma,
with it, it moves, and with it, it declines, and if Sanatana Dharma were
capable of perishing, with the Sanatana Dharma it would perish. The Sanatana
Dharma, that is nationalism”. At the
same time, keeping prejudices, narrow sectarian differences at bay the
majoritarian community must make an unbiased assessment of political parties
before exercising their votes in the interest of the country at large.
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