New Delhi: The results in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan came as a major shock for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has won all the major states barring Delhi, Bihar, Punjab and Karnataka in elections held after the sweeping 2014 Lok Sabha victory. The BJP was routed in Chhattisgarh and defeated in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in closely-fought contests. The party mostly banked on the image of Chief Ministers Raman Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan to lift the party’s fortunes.
According to the report published in The Hindu, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) listed reasons for the defeat of BJP in the recently held Assembly elections.
It claimed that upper caste anger, NOTA and government policies are responsible for the defeat.
Passage of the bill which restored the original SC/ST Act resulted in the anger of upper caste against BJP. It has shown impact in the recently held Assembly polls.
In Gwalior-Chambal region, eight persons had died this year due to the protests by Dalits. In the region, BJP managed to win only seven seats of 34.
It may be mentioned that in the same region, the BJP had won 21 seats in 2013.
In Chhattisgarh also, SC/ST Act played a key role as shift in OBC votes was observed.
It seems None Of the Above (NOTA) also played role in the defeat of BJP in the polls.
BJP leaders had claimed that the loss is due to local anti-incumbency. However, the assessment of RSS is different. It claimed that all the three CMs are strong leaders and issues such as GST, SC/ST Act etc had undermined these leaders.
It also claimed that anti-incumbency exists but the local leaders cannot be held responsible completely.