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CoverStory

Cool response of local

leaders casts shadows on

BJP prospects

Any prediction of the poll outcome is difficult on the basis of the electorates’ behavior, which appears
to be more intriguing this time, writes gopal misra
he political pundits across replaced by the BJP leadership before ernance accompanied by ram-
India are busy in analys- the state polls. pant corruption in the state like
ing the outcome of the first The 2014 Lok Sabha polls was fought Uttar Pradesh, where a novice has been
phase of the massive elec- during a visible decline of the Congress installed to rule the state having hardly
T tions, which sealed the fate Party-led United Progressive Alliance any administrative experience. The
of 91 prospective law makers across 20 (UPA) and the emergence of a rein- attempt to compensate for this inad-
states and Union Territories. The vot- vigorated BJP under Narendra Modi, equacy through rhetoric could not cut
ing for Assembly polls also took place who then had already established much ice in the constituencies adja-
in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal himself as the undisputed leader of cent to the national capital New Delhi,
Pradesh and some seats in Odisha the country’s most prosperous state NOIDA and Ghaziabad.
simultaneously. Any prediction of the Gujarat. Modi’s frequent interactions The apathy of the voters was also
poll outcome is difficult on the basis with the non-resident Indians across visible in the BJP-ruled Uttara Khand,
of the electorates’ behavior, which USA and Europe had enabled him where the voters’ turnout was only
appears to be more intriguing this time. to raise huge funds for his election 57.85 per cent for the state’s five Lok
Its reasons could be attributed to the campaigns. This time, however, BJP Sabha seats. The low polling in Bihar
style of campaigning, which have failed has raised huge funds through election with 50 per cent voting for four seats
to trigger off intensive political cam- bonds, now under the Supreme Court indicate that the grand alliance or
paigning at the grass-root level amidst scanner. The political challenge for mahagathbandhan could not assert
noisy, if not irrelevant election debates the ruling party has become for- against the NDA. In UP, the result are
on various media channels. However, midable due to the poor gov- difficult to be predicted, because for
it is obvious that the ruling Bhartiya eight seats 63.69 per cent voting where
Janata Party (BJP) dominated Nation- two central ministers General (retired)
al Democratic Alliance (NDA) is not V.K. Singh and Mahesh Sharma, are
facing the challenge from its political The electorate sees fighting for their political survival. The
rivals, but the apathy of its party work- an assertive fourth 81 per cent voting on the two seats of
ers mostly from the Rashtriya Swayam West Bengal may be indicative of polar-
Sewak Sangh (RSS). generation scion ization in the state on communal lines.
Many believe that the cool response The electorate is witnessing an as-
of these party workers enabled the of the Nehru-Indira sertive fourth generation scion of the
Congress Party, which lacks party in- Gandhi clan, Rahul, Nehru-Indira Gandhi clan, Rahul, who
frastructure at local levels, form gov- despite many derogatory campaigns in
ernments in the erstwhile BJP-ruled who despite many the social media, has emerged as a con-
states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhat- derogatory campaigns, verging point for the Prime Minister
tisgarh. In Rajasthan, the victory of the Narendra Modi. Modi was immensely
Congress Party was already predicted has emerged as a benefitted by the speech of the then
due to the poor image of the erstwhile converging point for Congress Party president Sonia Gan-
chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who dhi describing Naendra Modi as maut-
despite some efforts could not be Prime Minister Modi ka- saudagar –the man who is respon-

Tehelka / 30 april 2019 22 www.Tehelka.com