BJP in a winning spree

BJP in a winning spree

(Editorial in Hindu Voice, April 2017)

Ten municipal Corporations of Maharashtra - Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nasik, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane and Mumbai - went to polls on 21st February 2017. BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP all fought the elections separately. The BJP captured eight of the ten corporations. The Sena won in Thane.

In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the BJP got 82 seats whereas the Shiv Sena got 84. And with the help of BJP, Shiv Sena  has captured BMC.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, who was the face of the BJP campaign, emerged as the unequivocal man of the match in this election.

Thus, Maharashtra is now a uniquely saffron state in that the BJP and the Sena have emerged as the two poles of the state politics. The Congress has been made redundant in Maharashtra politics.

Similarly, in Orisha too, the BJP has done very well in the Panchayat polls. Out of 853 seats, the BJP has won in 306 seats (an increase of 8.5 times as compared with its tally of just 36 seats in 2012), as against 460 won by BJD. It has not just made major inroads into the areas of dominance of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's BJD but it has also become the main opposition party, pushing Congress to the third position with just 66 seats.

BJP's performance has been equally impressive in the zila parishads (ZPs) in Odisha. Of the total 30 zila parishads, BJP has won eight. It did not have any zila parishad in its kitty in the 2012 election.

In continuation of its winning spree, the BJP secured an unprecedented victory in the elections to four out of the five state Assemblies - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, Goa - held in February-March 2017.

It has got a massive 312+ seats in UP and 57 in Uttarakhand, more than three fourth of the seats in both the states.

Further, it has captured power in Goa and Manipur (where it did not have single MLA in the last assembly), with the help of other parties and independents.

In other words, except Punjab, the BJP has wretched power from other parties in UP, Uttarakhand and Manipur and has retained its position in Goa.

In UP, the Left front, consisting of six parties, had contested 140 seats out of 403 in UP. But they secured merely 0.2 per cent votes, inspite of binging in the notorious Kanhaiya Kumar of JNU, who addressed in 8 constituencies, campaigning for Communists.

In UP, the Congress has just got 7 seats. (A joke going on in the Social Media is that Lalu Prasad Yadav has more kids than the number of seats won by Congress in UP).

In Goa, the AAP had fielded 39 candidates (out of 40 seats). All the candidates, except one, lost their deposits. In Punjab it has got 20 seats, way behind  the Congress which got 77. It should be remembered  that in both the states - Goa and Punjab - the AAP was day-dreaming to come to power. Thus, their dream of becoming a national party stands shattered.

There was reasons for AAP to fight Goa and Punjab elections and not in other states. In Goa, being a predominantly Christian states, it was expecting support from Missionaries (Vatican?) and Christians. Similarly in Punjab, it was expecting the support of Khalistanis. Kejriwal began pandering to the affluent NRI Punjabis of Canada, US and rest of the world. The NRIs (mostly Sikhs) not only donated large amounts of money but also came in droves to campaign for the party. But in both the states, the patriotic voters decided to dump the specious AAP and vote for nationalist parties.

Ironically, the people of Punjab have voted for the Congress, a party whose leaders massacred thousands of Sikhs in 1984. In a way, it is good for the nation. They have preferred a corrupt Congress to an anarchist and anti-national like Arvind Kejriwal.

In Manipur, Irom Sharmila, who was on a “fast” for 16 years protesting against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), contested from the  Thoubal constituency and secured just 90 votes. Just see the disconnect between the anti-India narrative and the local sentiment.

In UP, which has given a massive mandate to BJP, the 44-year old Sanyasi, Yogi Adityanath, has taken over as the Chief Minister. Yogi is a Hindutva icon. He is the Mahant of Guru Gorakhnath Temple which has millions of followers. He is frank in nature, hard-working, bold and decisive. He is a known protestor against religious conversion, cow slaughter and Love jihad. He is the founder of Hindu Yuva Vahini.

At the age of 26 Yogi entered Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur constituency, which he retained for five consecutive terms, winning with increased margins every time. That shows his popularity. He is a ground level politician. Under his Chief Ministership, UP will surely become Uttam Pradesh, as  Hindutva and development go hand in hand.

It is a matter of great pride for every Hindu that Hindutva, which was considered as some kind of pariah by all other parties, is flourishing. Why should someone who is proud of his Hindu identity, be deprived of a prized post? One has to appreciate the BJP leadership for taking this bold step of appointing Yogi Adityanath as the CM of Uttar Pradesh.

 The divisive template built by the Left and aped by Congress is cracking. Election results will no longer be hostage to caste and religious divide. National security, pride, coupled with inclusive development will be the deciding factors in elections in future.

The BJP, holding all the above factors dearer, is in a winning spree, ‘Hinduising politics’ as desired by Veer Savarkar. May this trend continue, bringing in Ram Rajya.