BJP’s big win in Gujarat Assembly Polls: Lessons for rivals

There’s apparently no stopping the juggernaut that started rolling out of Gujarat 21 years back. And the thumping victory of the BJP in the Assembly election in the Western State only validates this fact once again. No doubt, the party lost out marginally to the Congress in Himachal Pradesh. But, given the scale and margin of victory in Gujarat, the loss in the northern Himalayan State might even appear insignificant, or for that matter even the loss in the recent MCD elections.

For, nothing can take away the magnitude of triumph – both in terms of the sheer number of seats won and the vote share – in Gujarat, a much larger State, in comparison to the loss in Himachal Pradesh where the difference in vote share between the BJP and the Congress was less than 1%. Even for the Congress, the victory in Himachal Pradesh will only serve as a small consolation and scarcely conceal its disappointment over the huge setback it faced in Gujarat.

While this is not to sing paeans to the BJP, the winning streak of the party with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its mascot definitely holds lessons for other political parties. And, corroborated by electoral outcomes at regular intervals for the past eight years, the lessons can be ignored by the opposition parties only at their own peril. For, its occasional setbacks notwithstanding, what really helps the BJP largely maintain its winning streak warrants closer scrutiny.

Actually, several factors seem to be currently working to the advantage of the BJP, not least of which is the fact that it’s cadre-based and that too seemingly one of the largest in the world. This helps the party leadership plan strategies right up to the booth level with amazing outcomes and which come in handy during the elections.

To the party, every karyakarta (worker) matters and is assigned the role of an influencer in his or her circle. The leadership also acknowledges the role of these karyakartasas foot soldiers in furthering the party’s agenda and ideology at the grassroots, thereby expanding its base. And what makes these karyakartas stand out particularly is that they are not just committed to the party, but to the ideology. Contrast this with most opposition parties that are top-heavy and lack of ideological commitment among their workers.

Further, one of the biggest paradigm shifts that the country had witnessed in electoral politics since 2008 is that electioneering has been transformed from being a once-in-five-year ritual to a 24x7x365 days exercise where the ruling dispensation is constantly on the job trying to woo the masses and keep them in good humour. Governance and all the policies are aligned with this stratagem. And the BJP, being the pioneer, has clearly made a head start, while other parties are yet to fully adapt to this new normal and are in a catch-up game with the former.

The slew of initiatives announced by the ruling dispensation either in Delhi or Dispur or by the BJP-ruled states at regular intervals can be attributed to this new phenomenon. In fact, the entire top brass of the party and even the Prime Minister himself are always in election mode with the latter leaving no opportunity to engage the masses.

 Contrast this with lack of enthusiasm among the leaders of opposition parties, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in this aspect. Trends in social media or making media headlines is one thing, but slogging it out there under the sun and rain 24x7x365 days is quite another.

Rival parties also seem to be seemingly running out of ideas in creating any credible and smart politico-social narrative that can connect them with the masses and is independent of Modi Inc. But by constantly targeting Modi, who has achieved a cult-like following, these parties are only playing into the hands of the BJP.

They also apparently lack a long-term vision, which is acting as an impediment in endearing themselves to the masses. On the other hand, with innovative concepts/programmes like Atmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India, Start-up India, Digital India, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, etc, the ruling party has clearly been able to take the wind out of the sails of the opposition and capture the imagination of the people, especially the youth, thus placing itself in a pole position.

By doing this, it has also aligned itself perfectly with the growing aspirations of a nation long used to it being branded “third world”. There’s a new found self-belief among the people today and a yearning for “New India”, an idea that the party has been so successfully able to both promote and harness.

Further, the BJP works on a mission mode where winning the popular mandate is just a part of the overall game plan – not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It has set itself targets where winning an election brings it closer to achieving those.

Abrogation of Article 370, the Act banning triple talaq and the latest tabling of a Bill to introduce a Uniform Civil Code in Rajya Sabha are some of the finest examples of it working with a mission. But, for most opposition parties today, winning an election has become an end in itself, hence their failure to innovate and struggle for staying politically relevant.

All these and many other factors have thus combined to give the BJP that decisive edge over its political rivals until now. The bottom line is, unless the opposition parties acknowledge the changed reality, adapt to changing political dynamics and recalibrate their overall approach, there seems to be little hope for them to be able to redeem themselves before the masses so as pose any major challenge to their arch-rival and stop the Modi Inc juggernaut on its tracks. At least, till the next Lok Sabha polls scheduled in 2024. Of course, this is not to predict any final outcome of the General Elections.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of Northeast Now. 

Anirban Choudhury is a senior journalist based in Guwahati. He may be reached at:anirbanchoudhury2000@yahoo.com