IndoCarib
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The BJP's Big Mistakes in UP
The results of the national election stumped even the BJP. Since not a single Muslim candidate was elected from UP this time, it strengthened the assumption that polarization was working.
So for the by-elections, the BJP worked on leveraging the riots. It chose "love jihad" and forced conversions as its main poll issues. Yogi Adityanath, the fire-breathing, dressed-in-saffron MP from Gorakhpur was pitchforked into the limelight. In a polarized atmosphere, a polarizing agenda was led by a polarizing figure.
There was no Modi imprint on the by-election campaign. That was a mistake. Yes, Prime Ministers don't campaign in 10-11 seats for by-elections. But the BJP, which had avoided such a build-up ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, didn't stick to the elements for which people had voted for it.
The campaign ended up uniting the minority votes against the BJP and not the majority votes for it.
Young voters who fanatically chanted "Modi Modi" during rallies or road shows rejected the pre-Modi era style of campaign. He had created a connect with the youth and castes which traditionally voted for BJP's rivals with promises to resolve their 21st century concerns.
Modi's personal failure, perhaps, is that he allowed his party to return to campaign styles which promised just a divide. After all, didn't he - from the ramparts of the Red Fort during his first Independence Day address - ask for a moratorium on issues of caste and community in politics and social life?
The BJP, having misread the Lok Sabha results, didn't calibrate its campaign. The minority had nowhere to go but the Samajwadi Party. The Muslim vote didn't split.
The absence of the BSP, the low enthusiasm of BJP cadres and no effort like the one employed in the Lok Sabha elections to bring voters to booths led to a drop in polling percentage. If the average turnout in Lok Sabha polls was nearly 60 percent, it was down to 50 in the by-polls.
Rajnath Singh's son didn't get a ticket. Loyalists of the Home Minister have been grumbling over how the "UP Thakur" is being sidelined in the government. Varun Gandhi, the man with a famous surname was dropped recently from Amit Shah's core team.
One senior BJP leader says, "Varun Gandhi's ouster from the core team didn't go down well with a section of cadre which is looking forward to a more firebrand young leader compared to Yogi Adityanath." Murli Manohar Joshi, a Brahmin face, stands sidelined.
On the other hand, the SP had learnt its lessons. Mulayam Singh Yadav took charge of the campaign and planning. Remember, right in the middle of the campaign, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav could go on a foreign trip to Netherlands. Mulayam opted for a "slowdown" on the party's usual minority wooing to ensure that its traditional supporters - Yadavs and other OBCs - didn't feel marginalized.
The results of the national election stumped even the BJP. Since not a single Muslim candidate was elected from UP this time, it strengthened the assumption that polarization was working.
So for the by-elections, the BJP worked on leveraging the riots. It chose "love jihad" and forced conversions as its main poll issues. Yogi Adityanath, the fire-breathing, dressed-in-saffron MP from Gorakhpur was pitchforked into the limelight. In a polarized atmosphere, a polarizing agenda was led by a polarizing figure.
There was no Modi imprint on the by-election campaign. That was a mistake. Yes, Prime Ministers don't campaign in 10-11 seats for by-elections. But the BJP, which had avoided such a build-up ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, didn't stick to the elements for which people had voted for it.
The campaign ended up uniting the minority votes against the BJP and not the majority votes for it.
Young voters who fanatically chanted "Modi Modi" during rallies or road shows rejected the pre-Modi era style of campaign. He had created a connect with the youth and castes which traditionally voted for BJP's rivals with promises to resolve their 21st century concerns.
Modi's personal failure, perhaps, is that he allowed his party to return to campaign styles which promised just a divide. After all, didn't he - from the ramparts of the Red Fort during his first Independence Day address - ask for a moratorium on issues of caste and community in politics and social life?
The BJP, having misread the Lok Sabha results, didn't calibrate its campaign. The minority had nowhere to go but the Samajwadi Party. The Muslim vote didn't split.
The absence of the BSP, the low enthusiasm of BJP cadres and no effort like the one employed in the Lok Sabha elections to bring voters to booths led to a drop in polling percentage. If the average turnout in Lok Sabha polls was nearly 60 percent, it was down to 50 in the by-polls.
Rajnath Singh's son didn't get a ticket. Loyalists of the Home Minister have been grumbling over how the "UP Thakur" is being sidelined in the government. Varun Gandhi, the man with a famous surname was dropped recently from Amit Shah's core team.
One senior BJP leader says, "Varun Gandhi's ouster from the core team didn't go down well with a section of cadre which is looking forward to a more firebrand young leader compared to Yogi Adityanath." Murli Manohar Joshi, a Brahmin face, stands sidelined.
On the other hand, the SP had learnt its lessons. Mulayam Singh Yadav took charge of the campaign and planning. Remember, right in the middle of the campaign, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav could go on a foreign trip to Netherlands. Mulayam opted for a "slowdown" on the party's usual minority wooing to ensure that its traditional supporters - Yadavs and other OBCs - didn't feel marginalized.
. I'm glad with the results in U.P. (even if by-elections are irrelevant mostly) for the simple reason that the BJP ran an absolutely idiotic campaign with Yogi Adityanath as its face. Love Jihad? Seriously? That's all the BJP had to offer. Many (including me) voted for the BJP because we hoped for better governance & were delighted that the government got a complete majority on its own. We can hardly be expected to cheer a campaign like the one run by the BJP in UP. Hopefully, they will learn from this & look at development. Reasonably sure that you will have a different & probably opposite take on what they should do - go even more nutty, I assume. Modi was a correct person at the right time, with the correct message. To assume that his victory means open season for all the nutters to do their thing is, in my view, plain stupid. Going "sikular, sikular" won't change anything.
