Verdict 2016: BJP's gains were wrested by humbly learning lessons from previous defeats

Pushed on the backfoot after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s battering in the Delhi and Bihar assembly polls, the results of the assembly elections declared on Thursday proved to be a personal triumph for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

The BJP’s emphatic win in Assam and its expanded footprint in states like West Bengal and Kerala where the saffron outfit did not have a presence earlier, have re-established and strengthened the Modi-Shah duo’s credibility and authority in the party.

More importantly, the results will embolden the two leaders to go into next year’s high-stakes assembly election in the electorally-crucial state of Uttar Pradesh with renewed vigour. The BJP can now be expected to run a highly-polarised and aggressive campaign in the Hindi heartland state.

Although there was no threat to their leadership after the BJP’s rout in Delhi and Bihar, questions were raised within the party about the campaign strategy crafted by Shah in these states. The BJP president was privately criticised by party members for his authoritarian style of functioning and, at one stage, Shah’s re-election as party president appeared to be uncertain. In addition, there were murmurs about Modi’s waning charisma and his ability to deliver a victory.

However, Modi and Shah’s detractors in the party will be suitably silenced after the Thursday verdict.

Dissecting defeats

Unlike the Congress, which never learns from its past mistakes, the BJP’s poll strategists went back to the drawing board after their humiliating defeat in the earlier two assembly elections and drew up a fresh strategy for these elections. They realised that the party could no longer depend on Modi to win them elections and that it was essential to involve state leaders in this effort.

The party quickly changed tack and declared Sarbananda Sonowal as its chief ministerial candidate in Assam well before the polls were announced. The BJP did not stop at projecting a chief minister but it also involved the party’s state leaders in the campaign which was focussed primarily on local issues. In sharp contrast to its Bihar campaign, the Central leadership kept a low profile in Assam and there was no overt interference in the planning and execution of the campaign.

Similarly, the BJP stitched up strategic alliances with the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bodo People’s Front, which went a long way in building the momentum in its favour. Although it was helped by the fact that Assam was ready for a change after Tarun Gogoi’s uninterrupted 15-year-run in the state, the BJP staged a coup of sorts when it persuaded Gogoi’s bete noire Himanta Biswas Sarma to join their party.

Key role

Driven by his one-point agenda to settle scores with the Congress, Sarma emerged as the BJP’s star campaigner and chief strategist. His personal popularity and charisma drew in the crowds in hordes. In addition, it was Sarma who was instrumental in bringing the Bodo People’s Front and the Asom Gana Parishad to the negotiating table. Sarma, along with Modi and Shah, were also able to tap into the people’s growing angst on the sensitive issue of infiltration from across the border.

The strategy worked as the BJP now has its first state government in a major state like Assam, which is known to be a gateway to the North East. It will become easier for the BJP to foray into the other North Eastern states which have, so far, been a Congress stronghold.

Besides winning Assam, the BJP has reasons to be pleased with itself as it has opened its account in Kerala and has improved its tally and vote share in West Bengal, the two states where it has never been a strong presence.

The saffron party and its allies have notched up a 15% vote share in Kerala, which will now have its first BJP legislator, O Rajagopal, in the state assembly. Similarly, the BJP’s tally in West Bengal has gone up from one to five seats while its vote share is touching 20%.

As BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi pointed out, “The BJP has made gains in all the states...these election are a reflection of the party’s geographical and political expansion.” Another senior BJP leader remarked, “Now we cannot be called a Hindi heartland party or cowbelt party...the BJP is a pan-Indian party and the central force in the country’s polity.”

Additional leverage

While these results will help the BJP in the coming assembly polls, it will also make it easier for the Modi government to push through its legislative agenda in Parliament. The ruling alliance was constantly blocked by the numerically stronger Congress in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP was in a minority. While the Congress is still the single largest party in the Upper House, the latest electoral setbacks will make it difficult for the grand old party to put up a strong and credible fight against the Modi government.

It will also become easier for the government to do business with the regional parties. The AIADMK and Biju Janata Dal have always been well disposed towards the BJP. Emerging stronger after her stupendous victory, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress will be able to do business with the BJP with great confidence. According to a senior Congress leader, “The BJP always prefers to deal with regional parties... that’s the reason its main aim is to weaken our party.”

The assembly results will also prove to be a setback for Bihar chief minister’s proposed anti-BJP front. The Congress, which was expected to anchor this front, is in steady decline, making it difficult for other parties to align with it. There is also little possibility of non-BJP, non-Congress parties coming together on a common platform in the future, given the egos of their leaders and their state-level compulsions.

This New is Originally Posted on scroll.in

Defending our civilisation

THERE are three dimensions to the issue regarding the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. One, the technical aspect of revamp. Two, the allegation that the Modi government is trying to undermine Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders. Three, the charge that we are trying to alter history.

Regarding the first point, our government reconstituted the committee after its term ended. In fact, after that, we continued with two members appointed by the UPA government—Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Nitin Desai. Mahesh Rangarajan remained as director, despite the fact that he was appointed on May 19, 2014, three days after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced. The UPA government made the appointment after they lost the polls. Was it appropriate to make the appointment—and that, too, for a term of almost ten years, till Rangarajan retired?

Still, we did not remove him. Rangarajan resigned. The reason he gave was personal, not political. So, it is ridiculous to say that we are indulging in political vendetta.

We have been questioned about the need for revamp. The proposal for a revamp of the Nehru museum was made by the previous government. We are just taking it forward. We want to make it more modern. Nehru was not just a Congress leader—he was the first PM of independent India. We want the museum to reflect his political vision and how India started emerging post independence. We may have strong differences with Nehru, but still, the good work he and his government did should be portrayed properly and judiciously.

Regarding the second point, allegations of undermining Nehru-Gandhi icons are in contrast with facts. We celebrated 125 years of Nehru with due respect. Our government issued commemorative stamps in honour of Jayaprakash Narayan and even Ram Manohar Lohia, with whom we had clear political differences. In contrast, a senior minister in the UPA government had the inscription of Vir Savarkar removed from the Cellular Jail. We cannot indulge in that kind of political vendetta. Howsoever strong our majority is, and howsoever different our political thinking may be, those who fought for the country will get all the respect they deserve.

Regarding the third point, India was not born on August 15, 1947. It is the oldest living civilisation in the world. Freedom fighters should get their due for the roles they played. Nehru played a role, and got more than his due. Revolutionaries like Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Khudiram Bose, who sacrificed their lives for the country, are yet to get their due.

Do we have the appropriate version of Indian history? Textbooks say Maharana Pratap was a “fanatic” patriot, that Chhatrapati Shivaji “looted” Surat, that Guru Tegh Bahadur created a “law and order problem”, that Raja Suraj Mal was a “plunderer”, and that the First War of Indian Independence in 1857 was a “sepoy mutiny”. And history books teach that Vedic hymns were the songs of shepherds.

On the contrary, it was the ancient Indian civilisation that gave zero, quadratic equations and theorems of geometry to mathematics. It also developed the most ancient medical system in the form of ayurveda, and the structured principles of statecraft in the form of Rajdharma and Chanakya Niti. German scholar Arthur Schopenhauer called the Upanishads “the product of the highest human wisdom”.

V.S. Naipaul correctly said that Indian history, as it is taught, demeans nationalism and national pride. India is the only country that accepts its history as written by foreigners and adversaries. We have to come out of the colonial mindset, as it was designed to subjugate and undermine the virtues of India. Then only can the true potential of India be realised.

Sudhanshu Trivedi is the BJP’s national spokesperson.

This New is Originally Posted on THE WEEK

BJP praises one-year Narendra Modi rule for taking India's growth rate ahead of China

BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi today congratulated the Modi government after India overtook China to become the world's fastest growing economy by clocking 7.5 per cent GDP for the March quarter.

"The latest economic growth rate that puts India ahead of China is an indicator of Modi's good governance," he said at a press conference here.

Defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign tours, Trivedi said, "While India has risen in stature during Modi's 51 foreign trips after assuming office, former PM Manmohan Singh had in 2009 undertaken 47 trips abroad but nobody took India seriously."

The leader also blamed the previous UPA regime for denying minimum support price to farmers by signing the WTO Treaty in Bali during its rule, adding that the NDA government, on the other habd, decided to stand with the farmers.

India and the United States last year reached an agreement under which the subsidy given by the Indian government to farmers through minimum support prices will not be challenged even if they breach set limits.

Trivedi mentioned that under the Modi government's controversial Land Acquisition Bill, land won't be acquired for the corporate sector, rather it would be obtained for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and government schemes.

News Originally Posted on:

http://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/bjp-praises-one-year-modi-rule-for-taking-india-growth-rate-high-29794.html