The inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in January was meant to deliver an unprecedented electoral harvest to the ruling BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. And when it lost its majority, many thought it was the beginning of reverses awaiting the BJP. The outgoing year followed anything but a predictable path for the party. However, as the year drew to its end, the BJP has stamped its authority on the country’s political map once again with remarkably improbable wins in what were seen as difficult state elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.
The BJP’s vulnerabilities and as well as strengths were in full display in the year but what stood out is its ability to adapt its message and methods to the voices from the ground, underlining the full-spectrum of its campaign machine in which various components rise and fall in importance depending on its electoral needs.
If the RSS was seen to be less than fully active during the national elections, its affiliates and sympathisers were in full force helping the campaign of the BJP during the subsequent assembly polls.
As the BJP looks to elect a new president to replace J P Nadda, also a Union minister, it is believed that the Hindutva organisation, considered the ideological mentor of the party, will have a big say in the choice.
The ruling party depended on a message of triumphalism and inevitability about its return to power in the Lok Sabha elections with a mandate bigger than the 303 seats it had won in 2019. It gave the call of “abki baar, 400 paar”.
The results were sobering. If a section of its cadres and supporters turned, a section of voters were also alarmed and were drawn to the opposition’s “Constitution in danger” call built around the BJP’s “arrogance”, giving a late boost to the disjointed INDIA bloc.
The party lost its majority but the National Democratic Alliance led by it secured a comfortable majority of 294 seats in the 543-member House.
Enthused with its better-than-expected show of 99 seats, the Congress fancied a rebound in its fortunes after a decade of setbacks,
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi boasted of having “demolished” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image, while the opposition party celebrated him as the “true voice of the people” following his 100-day stint as the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
As a new year approaches, it is Modi who remains the unchallenged leader while his government has shown none of the weaknesses of a coalition dispensation. It is the opposition INDIA bloc which is showing signs of unravelling, with allies increasingly distancing themselves from the Congress.
Still, some key decisions the BJP made on its alliance proved farsighted.
The party joined han
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