2022 Assembly poll results: Rewriting India’s political roadmap where performance overrides caste factors

There are no leakages, no corruption, no favouritism and people get their share irrespective of their caste, region or other divides. If you fit in the criteria, you would get the benefits. No official can deny it. No politician can help twist the system. In that sense, Narendra Modi is more leftist than the Left. People who benefited came out in large numbers and voted for the person who has given them benefits without seeking any favour. The large turnout of people during Modi’s roadshow in Varanasi in the last phase of polling was an indication of the shape of things to come.

Added to that are massive development works launched by the BJP governments in respective states. The various expressways have changed the landscape, and the price of property has gone up even in backwards regions of Bundelkhand. The state is witnessing new synergy where development is the catchword. Today Modi is the biggest face of development and the most articulate spokesperson of how the country can get transformed into a faster economy.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has done remarkably well by taking Modi’s development vision to every section of the society. He has implemented the Central government schemes religiously and added a few more from the state funds. Actually, it is the Modi-Yogi combination that has worked wonders for the state. The BJP may have lost a few seats in Uttar Pradesh but it has gained in terms of support. Failure of the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to perform well has led to a bipolar contest. The BJP’s victory is historic. No party in government has won successive elections in the last 37 years.

Full credit must go to Yogi Adityanath. He has done wonders in implementing good governance through a dependable law and order situation where the common man feels safe and the anti-social and goonda elements fear being sent to jail. A trusted law and order situation is a sine qua non for implementation of the development agenda.

What stands true for Uttar Pradesh is true for Uttarakhand too. The campaign of the Prime Minister and other senior leaders such as Amit Shah and national president JP Nadda helped create that magic. The repeated focus on the double-engine government and the fact that the Congress was losing trust of people to deliver good governance helped such a decisive victory.

This has put additional responsibility on the leadership to work for faster development of the state. Sadly, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lost despite such a massive victory. At times this happens when the chief ministerial candidate is not able to give time to his seat because he has to take care of all the seats. He has worked hard to shore up the party’s image.

The victory in Manipur is another testimony that the party is gradually able to win hearts of the states in the North East. The party already has a government in Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, and is part of the government in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Manipur is another feather in the cap. The North East is seeing developments not on papers but in the field. People have realised that the BJP’s is the right instrument to undertake development.

In Goa, the party has emerged as the single largest party and will certainly form the government. The electoral arithmetic in Goa is very delicately balanced. This is the first time that the party has contested without the guidance of stalwart Manohar Parrikar. There is a marginal improvement in vote share too. The BJP consolidation is taking place in a strong way.

Parrikar’s son Utpal Parikkar lost from Panaji which is a testimony that the BJP’s rank and file and also people do not accept dynastic claims to any seat. He claimed his father’s legacy. The BJP wanted to accommodate him as well. One wishes that he would have waited for his chance or taken the bet from any other constituency.

Punjab should be a disappointment but not as much since the party was never in the reckoning. The BJP should be credited for sacrificing personal party interest at the altar of the state’s unity agenda. The party aligned with the Shiromani Akali Dal and accepted its junior partner status for Hindu-Sikh unity and this has worked in the best interest of Punjab. When the Akalis left the alliance, there was not much time for the party to build or expand its organisational base.

Punjab was largely a vote against the Congress and its failure to govern. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that was growing in popularity became a viable alternative. You do not get such a huge support that the AAP has got without raising expectations.

Now, the party would be under test to deliver without complaints. Whether Arvind Kejriwal can order reforms and good governance would decide the fate of the AAP. Populism does not work beyond a point.

Navjot Singh Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi, both big leaders of the Congress, lost the elections along with many Cabinet ministers. Captain Amarinder Singh lost and so did the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal. Sidhu should know one should not overestimate one’s popularity. Channi should also know that mere slogans do not work in politics. Voters, being the king, make even the biggest bite the dust. So far as the BJP is concerned, the field is wide open now to cultivate its own grounds and create a niche among Punjab voters.