With the BJP retaining power in Maharashtra and Haryana, the political map of India has remained unchanged after the declaration of the Assembly election results on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah thanked the voters for reposing their trust in the saffron party. But the celebrations and the mood at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi were not as buoyant as in the past, when delirious party workers and leaders would shower praise and rose petals in equal measure on the Modi-Shah duo.
The reasons are not far to seek. The victories have a loud and clear message for the BJP and Shiv Sena:
that marginalisation of local issues while mainstreaming national ones have their limits in state-level electoral politics. In both the states, the BJP’s main campaign plank was robust nationalism, with a strong articulation of Article 370 and even the National Register of Citizens.
This was a far cry from the actual issues that the voters faced. While Maharashtra has reeled under floods and drought, and distress among farmers and Dalits is real, these found little mention in the BJP-Sena campaign. Similarly in Haryana, the economic slowdown and the perceived low prices of agriculture produce were issues that the saffron party did little to address. The election results make it clear that state issues cannot be glossed over completely.
The election results will come as a huge boost to the Congress. While in Maharashtra it did not have a single leader who could take on the BJP’s electoral juggernaut, in Haryana the party was wracked by infighting. Had the party put its house in order well in advance and assuaged Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the results may well have been different.
But the real hero of the elections will have to be the Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, who seemed to lead a lone battle in Maharashtra raising issues such as drought, floods and the crisis in the farm sector. Of all the major parties in the state, the NCP is the only one that made big gains from the previous election.