BJP regional satraps on guard?
The victory will give Mr Modi and Mr Amit Shah more freedom to have a say in state matters
The BJP’s resounding victories in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections has exposed limits of regional parties in the Modi era but within the party too its regional satraps are now also likely to be reined in.
The BJP’s regional satraps, whether those who willingly accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership or those who did so grudgingly only for the sake of public posture, will have to bide their time. They will have to bring their ambitions and tantrums in check.
The victory will give Mr Modi and his loyalist party president Amit Shah more freedom to have a say in state matters. The state leadership’s role will now be limited to consultations. It can give input and feed- back but the final say rests with Mr Modi and Mr Shah.
Mr Modi’s trusted leaders, someone like Om Mathur who belongs to Rajasthan and who has no love lost for Ms Raje, will have more influence in decision making. And, it seems they have finally begun to adjust according to the political reality and order of the day.
A fortnight ago, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje had created a controversy with her statement, which was considered in political circle as a potshot on Mr Modi. At a public function, she had said that if anyone thinks winning the Assembly and parliamentary polls in the state has been possible because of one person, they must think again.
Later, Ms Raje blamed the media for distorting her statement and clarified that she was misunderstood as she spoke for herself and not Mr Modi. Now, after the party has won both states independently where it did not have too much of a base Ms Raje has been forced to praise Mr Modi’s charisma and leadership.
Compare this, a fortnight ago she said, “In the elections you did wonders, I want to thank you for it. You did not leave any stone unturned. Rajasthan got 25/ 25 in the LS polls and 163/ 200 MLAs in Assembly all thanks to you. If anyone thinks this has been possible because of one person they need to think again.”
After results on Sunday, Ms Raje told party workers that this historic mandate in Maharashtra and Haryana was outcome of Mr Modi’s popularity, his charismatic leadership and BJP’s policies.
In fact, there has been an attempt to carve out a reformist and pro- business image putting her in direct comparison with Mr Modi, by effecting changes in labour laws, land acquisition act and curtailing welfare schemes simultaneously the entire government was taken to different regions of the state to get firsthand knowledge of people’s problems and progress of development projects.
While doing this, not for once did Ms Raje bother about opposition from the RSS something like Narendra Modi used to do in Gujarat.