By Pervez Bari
New Delhi: The Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), has expressed the view that the results of Maharashtra and Haryana Legislative Assembly elections smashed invincibility of BJP flaunting hyper Nationalism as its main weapon. Also the electorates have opened up space for the Opposition parties which they must use to revive their fortunes in the upcoming elections in some other states.
Voters punish BJP’s arrogance: National President of SDPI
M. K. Faizy, the national president of SDPI, in a statement said that both Haryana and Maharashtra voters have punished BJP’s arrogance, defeating most of the defectors the party had inducted on the eve of the poll. The fact that several Maharashtra, Haryana ministers lost reflects a ground-level disconnect of BJP. Even in the Gujarat by-elections the two former Congress Party youth leaders the party had fielded were rejected by the voters. The margin of victories of some of the NCP-Congress candidates suggests that there was no wave in favour of the ruling combine.
Faizy said that arrogance and complacency as also an over-dependence on ultra-nationalism without actual delivery of economic goods has pricked the BJP balloon. The results of these Assembly polls may not mean an outright victory for the Opposition but it certainly is a setback for the ruling party. The party has won far fewer seats than last time which is certainly far short of its own expectations. Of course, in both States the BJP would still form the government but not without compromises with the allies and/or footloose legislators. He stated that in Maharashtra, the Sena has probably got its chance to flex its muscle against big brother BJP yet again.
Faizy pointed out what has actually been intriguing is Prime Minister Modi and India’s new iron man Amit Shah failing to keep their assertive promise and posture to completely finish the opposition from these two states. They miserably failed in accomplishing their mission. Yet another development which has been noticeable has been flop-show of the charisma of Modi and his slogan of nationalism and patriotism failing to motivate the voters. The entire thrust of Modi and Shah has been to win over peoples’ support on the issue of nationalism and patriotism. It is worth mentioning that just ahead of the election, Shah had vowed to jail persons who are so called anti-nationals. Ironically for Modi-Shah this gamble did not work.
Slap on the face of hate politics
Meanwhile, the Assembly elections results could be seen as a slap on the face of the hate politics of the ruling BJP, Sangh Parivar and their affiliates. Across the country, as many as 19 Muslims have won these latest Assembly polls, some of them won by directly defeating BJP or its allies. There had been organized hateful campaigns against Muslims on social media such as #CompleteBoycottofMuslims.
However, Faizy stated that, the win of Muslim candidates show common people have rejected the hate campaign.