As the review process into the BJP’s terrible performance in Uttar Pradesh starts, an internal wrangle within the party has emerged. Six union ministers including 16 state government ministers had their seats relinquished during a humdinger of a competition that saw them fail to maintain their assembly segments because of which they fall from 62 to only 33 seats.
From complacency and confusion induced by “400 paar (more than)“, failure to arrest anti-incumbency against sitting MPs to parachuting in outsiders at the eleventh hour and getting wrong caste calculations as well as such other complaints have been aired giving some credence to conspiracy theories doing rounds during the campaign that suggested that the two ‘engines’ were on a collision course.
Suddenly, meaning is being drawn into its poor performance in Varanasi division (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency) and better strike rate in Gorakhpur (Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth’s area). Sources now tell tales of complacency and indifference explaining why Mr. Modi won with significantly smaller margin. “At least 12 Ministers would land up there; they were more served by local workers than going down onto the ground,” says another.
According to Sanjay Nishad, chairman of Bharatiya Janata Party ally Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) party responsible for influencing boatmen communities’ votes, complacency resulting from “400 paar” slogan spoiled NDA’s chances in Uttar Pradesh while some aspirants like Lallu Singh and Arun Govil resorted to misrepresenting the Indian Constitution. Praveen Nishad lost Sant Kabir Nagar seat with a SP candidate from his community even though Muslim candidate from Bahujan Samaj Party received over one hundred fifty thousand votes.
Jaiveer Singh, Minister in Yogi Adityanath government could not win his assembly segment said that opposition successfully distorted this slogan of “400 paar” thus confusing his “Other Backward Classes (OBC)” and Dalits that in case it comes to power, it would do away with their reservations.
However, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who lost the Fatehpur seat, stated to a news agency that she would still work for Fatehpur but would recognize those who obstructed Mr. Modi’s works of development.
Questions are also being raised about the efficacy of State party president Bhupinder Singh, who failed to show any magic in his home division of Moradabad, where the party lost five out of the six seats. The Jat leader with an organizational background was brought in during farmers’ agitation to helm the party.
However, BJP faced its biggest jolt from Moradabad where a woman SP candidate from Vaishya community defeated BJP’s Thakur nominee in constituency where Muslim votes are decisive.
The aforementioned person is a senior leader in Muzaffarnagar and he said that it was due to these castes of Sanjeev Balyan and Pradeep Chaudhary, who are also said to be close to Mr. Adityanath, involved in Rajput politics that led to the BJP losing badly even in western UP. While speaking on anonymity, the senior leader revealed that “Tickets were given on caste basis without considering merit.” He expressed his opinion as follows: “This ensured an aloofness of RSS karyakartas at many places.”
It has been argued that in bringing the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), they saved Meerut Fatehpur Sikri, gained Bijnor and Amroha but could not find friends in the east.
However, some sections of cadres felt that over time the BJP has only brought leaders from parties without clean images. “We can see them doing all those under-the-table business but we have to walk straight line for desh hith,” a senior party member from Firozabad noted.
Another factor was more down-to-earth. A BJP worker from Rampur disclosed how when Ghanshyam Lodhi was brought in by the party; he hoped he would bring with him Muslim votes since he had grown up under Azam Khan of SP’s tutelage. This makes core worker angry when then goes to embrace a Muslim vote manager whom we would have never allowed near our booth even for a short while. Now Lodhi-ji believes he could win his sympathy; most of us think differently. It gives you a sense like six people looking at you 24X7 but an outsider questions your knowledge about seat if successful will get malai,” observed a seasoned party worker.
