When BJP learnt good economy is good politics, the hard way

New Delhi, Dec 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) From the blasting of dhols to the silence of gloom -- the BJP headquarters has come a long way.

For a party that has become so used to winning elections that any loss would stand out, losing in five states in one year accompanied by bypoll losses is West Bengal -- a key state for the saffron party -- has left the cadres disillusioned, leaders wondering and the opposition emboldened.

"The party will evaluate the results (Jharkhand) as BJP always does. All I can say is that we may have lost seats but we have got an impressive vote share in Jharkhand, which most seems to ignore," said BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya.

But this is not just about Jharkhand. In the last one month or so, the BJP lost another key state -- Maharashtra. After keeping everyone guessing for nearly a month, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stitched an unlikely alliance with the Shiv Sena and the Congress to keep the BJP out of India's economic powerhub.

In the last one year, the number has gone up to five. It all started last December when the BJP was wiped out in three states at one go -- Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

BJP's 15-year-rule came to a sudden end when the Congress dethroned the 'lotus' from Chhattisgarh. The Congress swept to power with a three-fourth majority of 68 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

Similarly, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was replaced by Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh, while Ashok Gehlot uprooted Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan.

Not just that, BJP lost a slew of bypolls with the latest being in West Bengal where it lost three out of three -- Kaliaganj, Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur -- despite Kaharagpur being the home turf of Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh.

So what went wrong after the unprecedented victory this May when BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections by winning 303 seats?

Many blame the poor economic state for the results. BJP's social sector heavy image took a sharp turn towards the nationalist, pro-Hindu image after its victory in May this year.

Many feel this suited the BJP as its core voter base liked the scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A. But joblessness seems to have undone the benefit, even as the BJP hoped to reap benefits by keeping its electoral promises.

Recently, BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Subramnian Swamy claimed in his book "Reset: Regaining India's Economic Legacy" that the economic gloom may cost BJP dearly in the Jharkhand elections and Delhi Assembly polls scheduled next year.

Now with the loss in jharkhand, where the JMM-Cong-RJD swept to power, Swamy's claims have attained credibility.

As early as September 2015, Swamy had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi informing him about the economy being in "early phase of a tailspin".

In 2019, the projected GDP growth fell below 5 per cent, around 2.30 lakh auto sector jobs have been lost and the sale of passenger cars in July fell 35 per cent, leading to unprecedented economic gloom.

When asked, a central BJP leader, who is also in-charge of few states, told IANS that the party understood the gravity of the current economic scenario and the consequences it had to bear in the elections.

When asked why did it not focus on local issues in Jharkhand, he said, "What did you expect us to say? We can only talk on issues which we are confident about. During UP elections, we were confident about Ujwala Yojna and we spoke about it at length. But this time, Article 370 was our only refuge."

So what will the BJP do now?

"BJP never appears confused even when we have doubts. Amit Shah has taught us to face every situation, no matter how tough it may be. We will go all out in Delhi elections. Jharkhand is past now," said a BJP national secretary.

Will the BJP win in Delhi?

"We will give our best. I will do whatever the organisation asks me to. But yes, it's a tough battle," he said.

It seems the BJP is feeling the need to fix the economy for its politics for the first time.

Source: IANS