NEW DELHI: In just a few months, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has bounced back and how! Six months ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP faced a setback in the Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi’s ambitious slogan ‘Ab ki baar, 400 paar’ failed terribly as his party could not achieve a single-party majority and got only 240 seats in the Lok Sabha, down from 303 in 2019.
In the aftermath, however, BJP’s historic victory first in Haryana and now in Maharashtra shows how the party has shifted gears in its poll tactics to align with local voters.
Assembly Election Results
Focus on state leadership
Instead of depending solely on Modi wave, the BJP did a course correction and focused on state leadership and issue. PM Modi, who till now single-handedly spearheaded election campaigns for BJP even in assembly elections, in Haryana and Maharashtra stayed away from too much of “Modi ki guarantee”.
Like Haryana, where PM Modi conducted four rallies, in Maharashtra he held 10 rallies. PM Modi, in fact, went on three-countries trip during the final phase of election.
The BJP campaign, on the other hand was focused on the development work. In Haryana, BJP brought Nayab Saini as the CM just months before the elections and rode to victory with his development push. Similarly in Maharashtra, the focus was on Eknath Shinde-led state government’s work and schemes.
The RSS-BJP gameplan
The biggest course correction BJP did which has definitely worked in its favour is to better is to bring RSS to its fold. It closed its gap with the RSS which was quite public during the Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP chief JP Nadda saying the party was now capable and ran its own affairs.
In Maharashtra, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis sought RSS support to help to fight. Sangh affiliates helped Mahayuti at ground level and also started campaigns like ‘Sajag Raho’ (Stay vigilant) to counter Maha Vikas Agadi’s narrative.
According to PTI sources, small ‘tolis’ (teams) of ‘swayamsevaks’, formed under the plan, reached out to people in every nook and cranny of the state.
Each of these teams held small group meetings with five to ten people and also reached out to families through their local network in ‘mohallas’ in their respective localities carrying the message.
“They did their work,” a source said.
These teams shaped public opinion by holding discussions around topics of national interest, Hindutva, good governance, development, public welfare and various local issues concerning the society without explicitly endorsing the BJP, the source added.
During the campaign, BJP also pushed hardline Hindutva by bringing in Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who gave the warcry ‘batenge toh katenge’. PM Modi also tried to consolidate its voterbase with the call ‘ek hi toh safe hai’.
The ‘revdi’ politics
Taking lessons from its Madhya Pradesh win which helped the BJP win the state despite anti-incumbency, the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government launched populist programme ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’, looking to target women voters. The estimated number of eligible beneficiaries was 2.25 crore women or 55 per cent of the total number of women.
The Mahayuti leaders, including CM Shinde and deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, strongly projected that MVA would close down all welfare and development schemes launched by their government.
In Haryana, ML Khattar was removed and BJP contested the election with Nayab Saini who was CM for only 200 days at that time. During his tenure as CM, Saini also introduced numerous programmes to enhance citizens’ welfare. A significant policy change involved raising the spending cap for gram panchayats from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 21 lakh, which allowed these grassroots administrative bodies to execute larger development projects. He also reformed the electricity billing system by removing minimum charges, ensuring consumers paid only for their actual power consumption.
Furthermore, Saini established a state-level subsidy programme under the “Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojna”, which enabled economically disadvantaged families to access rooftop solar installations without any financial costs.