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| Image Source: Al-Jazeera |
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has registered landslide victories in three key states just months before the general elections in India
India's
right-wing ruling party commonly known as BJP has won sweeping regional elections, taking control of
key states for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is bidding for a third term in
national elections in May. In elections that concluded on Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrested the states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the
opposition Indian National Congress Party and won a record fifth term in
central Madhya Pradesh.
The defeat of
the secular Congress party in three states – which sent 62 members to the national
parliament – is a bellwether for its hopes of returning to power at the
national level. Experts say the grand old party that led India's freedom
struggle against British colonial power needs to realign its strategy as Modi
successfully pushes Hindu nationalism to the center of Indian politics.
The Congress
party, however, managed to win in South Telangana state, the IT hub of
Hyderabad, highlighting the North-South divide. The party also rules the state
of Karnataka - home to the city of Bengaluru, known as India's Silicon Valley.
The BJP still has a limited electoral presence in the relatively more
prosperous southern states of the country.
Here are four
reasons for BJP's victory in recent state level elections:
1. Welfare Schemes and their Promotion
The BJP, which
in its early years was seen as a pro-business and pro-citizen party, has
successfully expanded its base. He has launched several welfare schemes to
burnish his pro-poor credentials.
Many schemes
such as cash transfers, free rations and cheap gas cylinders launched by the
Modi-led central government have been popular with voters amid unemployment, an
ailing agricultural sector and rising inequality.
During his
campaign, Modi boasted of his government's efforts to help the poor. The
government claims that more than 800 million people receive free rations,
slowing economic growth in the world's most populous country.
The BJP surged
onto the national political scene in the early 1990s on the back of a movement
to build a temple to Lord Ram on the site of the medieval Babri Masjid, which
was demolished in 1992 by Hindu groups allied with the party. was given In
2019, the Supreme Court allowed the construction of a temple in Ayodhya in the
northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
In the state of
Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP won by a landslide, despite high rates of crime
against women, a cash transfer scheme targeting women has drawn women voters to
the party.
Observers have
also attributed the Congress defeat to its own complacency and failure to
connect with voters despite running similar welfare schemes at the state level.
2. The 'Modi Magic' and Hindu First Politics
Modi's personal
appeal — "Modi magic" in the words of the local media — towers over
the BJP. The 73-year-old leader is hugely popular with 93 million followers on
X, and has used his foreign policy successes to his advantage.
Under Modi, New
Delhi's relations with the US and other Western countries have improved
significantly, amid the West's policy to counter China's rise. At the same
time, India has positioned itself as a leader in the Global South.
The Indian
prime minister is also promoting India as a manufacturing hub amid Western
pressure to find alternative supply chains.
The BJP also
used the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in January 2024 to its
advantage. Modi launched its construction in 2020, stoking Hindu nationalist
sentiment in the country.
"Results
in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan indicate that the people of India
are firmly in favor of good governance and the politics of development," Modi
wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The opposition
has accused Modi of indulging in anti-Muslim dog whistles and granting immunity
to far-right Hindu groups involved in attacks on Muslims and other minorities.
India - an officially secular country - has seen an increase in anti-Muslim
violence since Modi came to power in 2014. Dozens of Muslims have been killed
simply on suspicion of eating beef or carrying cows, which are considered
sacred by a large section of Hindus.
Modi and the
BJP have rejected the allegations, saying they do not discriminate between
Indians on the basis of caste and creed.
3. Election Funding and Campaign Scale
The BJP has
been able to cast a wide net for campaign advertising due to its high electoral
funding.
Pro-democracy
activists, however, have criticized a legal mechanism for political funding,
known as electoral bonds, which allows parties to keep the names of their
donors hidden from the public.
Half of all
political funding between 2017-2022 was obtained through electoral bonds. The
BJP has received more than 57 percent of its funding through electoral bonds –
much of its source obscure.
The Congress
party, which managed to get only 10 percent of the total political funding, has
also questioned the fairness of the electoral bond system, with the BJP
receiving three times more electoral bond funds than all other political
parties. have been.
The Hindu
nationalist party has invested heavily in Sunday's vote to put its leader in
the spotlight. Modi addressed 14 rallies and held two road shows in Rajasthan,
and also addressed five rallies in Chhattisgarh.
BJP is
relatively more tech savvy and early adopter of social media than other
parties. This has helped the party build a significant following online. But
the party has also been accused of using its large war chest to indulge in
negative propaganda, particularly targeting Muslims.
4. Lack of Opposition Unity
The Congress
party's loss is also being attributed to factionalism and failure to forge
alliances with like-minded secular parties. The Congress leadership has also
been accused of being arrogant and out of touch with the ground reality.
Experts say
that if the Congress party wants to reverse its electoral fortunes, it needs to
revamp its leadership, bring in young faces. Over the past 10 years, the party
has been pushed to the margins of Indian politics by the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi,
his sister Priyanka Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are the most
recognizable faces of the party. The current party president, Mallikarjun
Kharge, a Dalit, has worked in the shadow of the Gandhi family – three of whose
members have been prime ministers.
(Source: Al-Jazeera)
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