Congress struggles to stay relevant
UPBEAT The good show just ahead of NDA’s 2nd anniversary will lift cadre morale
BJP CHIEF AMIT SHAH MARKETED THE VICTORY AS AN ENDORSEMENT OF PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI’S GOVERNANCE MODEL
NEW DELHI: It’s a saffron surge in this year’s assembly polls. From Kamrup in Assam to Kerala, the BJP has made big gains, defying conservative estimates by pollsters who perhaps failed to tap the undercurrent of support in favour of India’s ruling party.
After back-to-back defeats in Bihar and Delhi last year and a growing perception that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was not delivering on its promises of more jobs and better living standards, the BJP desperately needed a victory to change its image as also the public discourse. And it did so in style on Thursday, just a week before the NDA government’s second anniversary on May 26.
The good show in assembly polls will lift the morale of party cadre ahead of crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand next year. BJP chief Amit Shah termed the victory as an endorsement of Modi’s governance model. It’s a personal victory for Shah as well.
The BJP had an emphatic win in Assam, opened its account in Kerala and increased its tally in Bengal. This would also be projected as an ideological victory for the BJP and the Sangh parivar in these states.
Assam and Bengal battle illegal immigration from Bangladesh, an issue that the BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, have been raising for many years.
Their campaign seems to have caught the imagination of voters in Assam that was under Congress rule for the last 15 years. The antiincumbency faced by Tarun Gogoi in the northeastern state played in the BJP’s favour.
The saffron party was successful in its strategy of keeping non-Congress votes united and pitting them against Gogoi and Badruddin Ajmal of All India United Democratic Front, the self-styled champion of migrant Muslims in Assam.
The BJP not only managed to keep its hold over the Bengali-speaking population, but even gained among indigenous Assamese and tribals who have traditionally voted for the Congress.
“The result shows that people have faith in Modi governance model. BJP got votes in rural areas and among poor,” BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar said.
In Bengal, the BJP and its ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha won 3 seats each. This is BJP’s best-ever performance in the eastern state whose polity has largely remained bipolar.
The Congress and the Left parties had an alliance in Bengal this time, but the BJP increased its vote share from the previous assembly election.
The BJP also won a seat in Kerala, a state where lotus never blossomed before, despite the RSS having strong roots. Kerala also had bipolar polity.
Much like Assam, the BJP forged alliances with BDJS, a regional outfit of Nairs in Kerala, and it worked. The RSS control over BJP’s organization — an RSS pracharak was appointed state president ahead of the poll — also helped contain factionalism in the southern state.