In the political history of Bharat, it is evident that whenever the clouds of ambiguity mounted over an incumbent party, the people, according to their will, had either punished or endorsed them instantly through ballot. Whatever the accusations and justifications are, the people have their say which is solely based on their unbiased perception that is ultimate in a democracy. The results of recent civic polls held in the three states can be cited as the best exemplar for this. In Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bengaluru, in spite of all ‘alleged adverse circumstances’ prevailed there, the BJP emerged as triumphant in the recent civic polls. Despite all the baseless allegations leveled against Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Lalit-gate and Vyapam Scam, the people have granted a clean chit to the leaders and chosen to stand by the development agenda of the BJP. It was also a dent in the Congress Party’s anti-corruption pitch against BJP.
Certainly, for BJP, the recent elections were conducted under adverse circumstances twisted by the groundless charges of the Congress Party backed by media propaganda. Eroding the political ground to fight yet another election, they might have considered it as a political tool to blemish the BJP. Nevertheless, the BJP has literally swept the civic polls. Amidst the heating campaigning against the party over Vyapam scam, in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP won 8 out of 10 civic bodies. In Rajasthan, the BJP won 1442 municipal wards and 71 of the 129 civic bodies. In contrast to the 2010 elections, BJP has sustained its political base amid of all chaos. The BJP has already given sufficient explanation over the allegations against its leaders. The election results substantiate that the party could effectively communicate it to the grass root level. It is first time BJP holds 16 municipal corporations in Madhya Pradesh. Bengaluru also witnessed the resurgence of the BJP in the elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) civic body. The party has got simple majority by securing 100 out of 198 wards. In spite of the crush of the Congress, this BBMP election marked by the complete wipe out of the AAP from the Karnataka politics.
Analysing the triumph of BJP, the media attributed the success to the party’s high-tech election campaigns and poll management skills. But beyond the strategies and campaigns, the huge influence of the party among the general public was the decisive factor which cannot be dismayed by any sensible person. It is premature to analyse the victory only in the pretext of high-tech campaign by ignoring the ground level support which the party enjoys now. This is nothing but trivialising the triumph made by BJP. In this regard, the influence of advertisements and social media is limited because the civic polls are rather decentralised where the election manifestoes and the nuances of politics are being more debated than in the wider platform of the Parliament or Assembly elections. The Congress has caused an unprecedented mayhem in the monsoon session of the Parliament in the name of aforesaid allegations. The election results are a stark reminder and a befitting reply to the perpetrators of Parliament logjam. Rahul Gandhi’s jibes like ‘Suit-boot ki Sarkar’ also went in vain. There was an orchestrated attempt to depict the BJP as a pro-capitalist party and its policies are anti-farmer. But the upcoming trend, from the people’s side, shows green signal to the Government to proceed with its already declared policies and programmes.
It is generally perceived that by-elections and civic polls bring defeat to the party which is currently in the power. So it is also noteworthy that there is scant evidence for the anti-incumbency in the BJP ruling Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It has been proved once again that mere allegations are not enough to thwart the advent of the BJP. The developmental agenda put forth by the party has been taken over by the people that reflected in the polls. Beyond the questions, the recent trend is paving the way of the BJP to success in the forthcoming Bihar election. Apparently, the political maneuver of Congress has caused no inflictions to the BJP’s strong grip on grass root level. Underrating the spectacular victory of the BJP, the Congress claimed a moral victory over the BJP. No doubt, people will let the Congress be satisfied with the ‘moral victory’ in the coming elections also! Because the Congress leadership explicitly knows that hoping for a simple majority is unfeasible in ‘Modi’fied Bharat. Ganesh Krishnan R
