BackBJP shifts political narrative as people’s priorities change
BJP under Modi’s leadership has broken caste and religion narrative, and replaced it with nationalism politicsThe importance of the BJP victory can be understood from the fact that it is for the first time that a non-Congress govt has managed to retain power for a consecutive term by getting a majority on its own
PremiumThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made history on Thursday by returning to power for a consecutive term with a landslide victory. The ruling party not only improved its 2014 numbers by winning 303 Lok Sabha seats but, along with its partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), polled more than half the votes in most Hindi heartland states.
The BJP’s dominance in two back-to-back general elections puts a question mark on the strategy of opposition parties which was based on a combination of caste- and religion-based identities of voters.
In contrast, in line with the BJP’s ideological bent, Modi and other senior leaders reached out to Hindus. In fact, the first stop that the Prime Minister made after the campaign finished was at the holy site of Kedarnath and Badrinath in Uttarakhand.
Describing the BJP’s performance as the victory of “the idea of Bharat", members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s parent group, said that there was a deliberate attempt by national parties like the Congress and some regional parties to divide Hindus during the campaign.
“It is the victory of the idea of Bharat and the Hindutva ideology which is integral to the culture and daily life of the people. Political parties like the Congress and its alliance partners deliberately tried to divide the Hindu community on the basis of caste, religion, region and language. The idea of Bharat which is inclusive has prevailed in the Lok Sabha elections," said a senior RSS leader based in Nagpur.
Even as opposition parties, primarily the Congress, targeted the BJP for not being inclusive toward minorities, the shift in the politics of the Congress was visible as its own leaders such as party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, visited several temples in the course of the campaign to woo Hindu voters and assert that the BJP was not the only political party which enjoyed the support of Hindu voters.
Even as the Congress party tried to retain its strong base among voters from minority communities, it brought about another visible change in national politics by stopping celebrating the festival of religious minorities.
The importance of the BJP victory can be understood from the fact that it is for the first time that a non-Congress government has managed to retain power for a consecutive term by getting a majority on its own.
While the NDA under prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had also come back to power in the 1999 general elections after the 13 month government of 1998, the BJP failed to win a majority on its own.
BJP leaders believe the time for community- and caste-based elections is over since identities based on region, caste and religion no longer matter.
“It has been often said about BJP that the party does not represent everyone but for the last five years the party has maintained that the benefits of development should reach every community in the country. The journey had started even before 2014 polls when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas but the attacks from opposition continued," said a senior BJP leader who was involved in the party strategy.
The RSS has argued that the opposition parties carefully scripted the idea of soft Hindu voters and hardline Hindu voters with the aim of marginalizing the BJP and divide the community.
“The initial attempt was to divide Hindu voters on the basis of soft and hardline Hindutva. By repeatedly talking about hardline Hindutva, Congress was targeting the BJP and RSS to malign their image. But the people united to stop division of votes on the basis of caste and religion," said the RSS leader.
Analysts point out that while Congress leaders sought to woo Hindu voters by going to temples, opposition parties blamed the BJP for doing the same.
“The credibility of Congress leaders is severely under stress among the people. The entire opposition helped BJP by targeting the ruling party for talking about Hindu ethos. While Congress leaders also went to temples but when the PM went to Badrinath and Kedarnath, it helped BJP. The Hindu card played by Congress in the election only helped BJP in the polls," said Dilip Deodhar, a Nagpur-based analyst on RSS.
Members of the BJP pointed out that the election result has managed to trump the old theories of caste based combinations like AJGAR (Ahir, Jat, Gurjar and Rajput) and MAJGAR when Muslims were added to the equation.
“The politics of India has transformed completely and the person who has managed to do it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi because he has not only made performance of the government a major issue but he has also managed to ensure that people rise above caste- and religion-based biases to vote for a government that believes in working for the socially and financially weaker sections," said the BJP leader.
Interestingly, the popularity of Modi not only remained unchallenged but it also helped the ruling alliance to attract more than half the vote share in most of the Hindi heartland states.
Trends from the Election Commission (EC) suggested that in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP was up against the combined strength of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the vote share of the BJP was around 50%, while in Bihar, the vote share of the NDA was also over 50%.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are crucial as the two states send a total of 120 members of Parliament (MPs).
The dominance in vote share continued in Gujarat where the BJP is looking to garner at least 61.9% votes while the vote share in Rajasthan is around 59%.
Similar trends continued in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the BJP is looking to get 58% and 50% votes. The combined vote share of NDA in Maharashtra was also around 50%.
During campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, a section of BJP members had hoped that people would rise above caste and religion to support Modi and the development work of the government. The election results on Thursday showed that Modi has managed to unify the voters in his favour and further strengthened his voter base.
“The results show that people have united for PM Modi and to defeat opposition parties who campaigned only to oust him. There was no narrative of the opposition but to defeat Modi," said the BJP leader quoted above.
Political observers feel the BJP win has altered national politics as there has been a drastic change in people’s mindset. Analysts say that BJP under the leadership of Modi has managed to break the caste and religion narrative and replaced it with nationalism and development politics.
“This election result shows that the national perspective has changed, people have come out of caste combinations and religious biases. The performance of BJP shows that the party has managed to get votes of all communities and castes. The plan of the opposition parties was only based on caste- and religion-based arithmetic but that has clearly not worked," said S. K. Dwivedi, a Lucknow-based political analyst.
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