How to keep your politics relevant
Thackeray played a new card in Ayodhya by welcoming non-maharashtrians to Maharashtra. The Sena realises the number of nonmaharashtrians in the state has increased to such an extent that they’ve become a vote bank. It will be interesting to see how much the Sena’s new-found tactics pay off in elections.
Why just the Shiv Sena, the BJP has made every other party insecure. Today the Narendra Modi-amit Shah combine has painted the nation’s polity in a new hue. After preparing the ground in western India, since the time they arrived in New Delhi, the party has won elections 17 times. The BJP is ruling in 20 states at present. Not only has it gained in stature at the national level, it has also begun to smash regional fortresses one by one. This political juggernaut is making both its opponents as well as regional partners who are part of the ruling coalition, nervous. All of them are busy evolving a strategy to stop Modi.
On the other hand, the Congress, too, is working hard to regain its lost base. The party has enormously improved its position since the Gujarat elections. Rahul Gandhi has improved his brand image like never before. Rahul realises that the party needs a coalition to defeat the BJP but isn’t prepared to surrender. That is why the Congress rejected the BSP’S overtures in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanandchhattisgarh.inthenewcircumstances, it has become essential for regional parties to present a new image before their voters in the states and increase the number of their seats as much as possible in the assembly and in the Parliament. It’s an old political saying: The greater a party’s share of seats, the greater the stake it can claim over power.
This is why, whether it is Omar Abdullah or Uddhav Thackeray, every leader is travelling away from home turf looking for opportunities to send out this message to voters. You may get to witness many such antics in the next few days.
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan