BJP wins in Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh Chattisgarh – Modi Magic continues unabated
- BJP wins in Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh Chattisgarh – Modi Magic continues unabated
BJP’s anticipated big victory in Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh on Sunday once again proved that it the Saffron Party remained unassailable in the central and northern parts of India.
The stunning electoral outcome of 3-0 in the Hindi heartland placed the BJP miles ahead of the Opposition in the run-up to the 2024 general election. The results again indicated that the “Modi magic” continued unabated.
The counting for Mizoram will be held on Monday.
Although the chants of “Hindi heartland Modified” echoed in the saffron corridors, an eerie silence prevailed in the Congress camp.
Reeling under complete annihilation in the Hindi heartland, the Congress seems to be making an attempt to find solace in its lone electoral triumph in Telangana.
Even in Telangana, the BJP has made inroads by managing to secure considerable leads in at least eight Assembly berths.
Sources reveal that with the BRS facing defeat, BJP
Spin-doctors have commenced work to grab the space left out by the regional party and eventually emerge as the main Opposition to the Congress in Telangana, sources said.
Notedly, the BJP was heading towards a landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh by leading in 164 out of 230 seats.
The Congress was struggling at 66. Of the 199 seats for which voting was held in Rajasthan, the BJP was leading in 116 seats, compared to 69 for the Congress. The BJP left the political pundits in Chhattisgarh
stunned by leading in 54 of 90 seats. With only 33 seats, the Congress was lagging way behind.
Whereas in Chhattisgarh, the BJP’s vote share went up by a huge 13 per cent and it gained 39 berths. Although, the BJP managed only 33 per cent of the vote share in 2018 in Chhattisgarh, it clocked 46 per cent in the recent polls.
It may be recalled that even after losing in the Hindi heartland in 2018, the BJP had managed to bag 303 seats on its own in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
After its stellar performance in these polls, the BJP “will set its eye on at least 400 seats” with a slogan: “Ab ki bar 400 paar”.
As the South remained solidly with the INDIA alliance, the BJP will now be targeting the states in the northern and western parts of the country for the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Till a few months back, almost all the polls had predicted a comfortable victory for the Congress in Chhattisgarh and a huge opportunity to return to power in Madhya Pradesh.
Led by Congress leader Kamal Nath, the party tried to take on the BJP by unleashing a massive Hindutva campaign.
Besides describing himself as a “Hanuman bhakt”, the Congress’ chief ministerial face went on to say that with “82 per cent Hindus, we are already a Hindu Rashtra”. The Congress’ Hindutva card eventually collapsed.
Meanwhile, with a massive electoral victory, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan not only decimated the Opposition and the “änti-incumbency” notion, but also silenced the critics within his own party.
Apart attracting a lion’s share of the women’s vote, tribals and OBCs seemed to have voted en masse for the BJP. Led by Mr Chouhan, the BJP seems to have swept the Chhindwara region, the bastion of Mr Kamal Nath. However, the main target of Mr Chouhan had been women voters in the state. Of 2.72 crore women in MP, 76 per cent came out to vote this time.
After this stupendous win, all the talk of replacing Mr Chouhan have now receded into the background. With this victory, Mr Chouhan could be heading for a fifth term as the chief minister. Stepping out after the party marched way ahead of the Congress during the day, Mr Chouhan told the media: “Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji is in the hearts of the people of Madhya Pradesh. The state is also in the heart of Modi ji.”
In a bid to analyse this dismal performance, some Congress leaders felt that “over-confidence” and “failure to hold on to its tribal and backward vote banks” resulted in its shocking defeat in Chhattisgarh.
Notably, BJP not only swept the tribal-dominated Bastar region, it also grabbed the vote share of the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) and the BSP. The Congress also failed to match the BJP’s formidable electoral machinery and booth management.
In Rajasthan, the skirmishes between the two top Congress leaders, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, eventually proved to be the party’s nemesis. Only during the end of the campaign, the Congress leadership somehow managed to persuade both Gehlot and Pilot to put up a united front. “It was too late by then”. The electoral debacles in the Hindi heartland yet again put a question mark on the Congress leadership, particularly on the Gandhi clan.
While Rahul Gandhi repeatedly raised the issue of a caste census in Madhya Pradesh, the party had no OBC leader to showcase in the state.
Both Kamal Nath and Digvjaya Singh belong to the upper castes.
However, some Congress leaders feel that the electoral defeat in the Hindi heartland may now help the party get rid of the old guard. The electoral defeats in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will now bring the curtain down on 76-year-old Ashok Gehlot, 77-year-old Kamal Nath and 76-year-old Digvijaya Singh. It was argued that Mr Rahul Gandhi had managed to script a spectacular victory in Telangana, where he “did not have the baggage of the old guard”.
For the Congress, an improved performance in the Hindi heartland would have come as a significant electoral gain and positioned it as the natural leader of the INDIA alliance.
News Edit K.V.Raman
