The massive victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand
is more than a shot in the arm for the BJP and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. It is, by and large an endorsement
of his government and a slap in the face
of Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi who had betted
on a coalition. In the end the BJP and its allies got 325 seats
while the SP-Congress combine manages to get a measly 54
with Mayawati’s BSP getting 19. In Uttrakhand, out of the total
of 70 seats, the BJP won 56 while the Congress barely manged
to get into double figures with 11. The only silver lining on the
otherwise dark cloud was the huge victory for the Congress
in Punjab. It defied the ruling despensation and Aam Aadmi
Party, which was touted as a winner. The Congress now has
a presence in the North. It also did well in Manipur to get 27
seats, but like Goa where the BJP is attempting to overturn
the verdict, the party will do all to
deprive the Congress of the opportunity
to form government. While
the BJP has a clear mandate in UP
and Uttarakhand to form government,
it is cleverly using the lack
of a clear vote in Manipur and Goa
to manipulate democracy in its favour,
so that it can boast of sweeping
the polls in four of the five
states. It’s a mix of legitimacy and
chicanery which only the BJP can deliver with a straight face.
Of the five states that went to polls this year, Uttar Pradesh
was the most important. It is the largest state which sends
80 elected representatives to the Lok Sabha. In 2014, it was
UP that propelled the BJP to power at the Centre with 71
seats and this alone tells us how important it is in the national
scheme of things. By winning UP with three-fourths
majority, the BJP has demonstrated two things: 1) It’s victory
in 2014 was not an abberation, 2) Narendra Modi is still
the biggest vote catcher for the party. It is clear that the SP
lost the plot. The spat between Mulayam Singh Yadav and
Akhilesh Yadav was a factor that contributed to the SP’s fall
and it is now clear that the people of UP were not enamoured
by the highways. On the contrary, this could be a vote
against land acquisition for large projects. By attaching itself
to the SP, the Congress also sank. Another big loser is
the BSP which was nearly decimated. With 19 seats it has
been reduced from a major player to a relatively minor one.
Mayawati and the Congress have some hard thinking to do
and they have less than two-and-half years to do it because
that is when general eletions will be held and Modi will be
back to mesmerise UP and Uttarakhand.
