There are a million explanations why a particular election went a certain way. The simplest, and possibly the most correct, explanation for the way Uttar Pradesh voted is that people chose to repose their trust in the Prime Minister
last Sunday, the day after the BJP swept the Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll, winning 312 seats on its own and 325 with its allies, way beyond the party’s expectation and definitely what pollsters and pundits had predicted on Thursday evening using highfalutin mumbo-jumbo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “A new India is emerging which is powered by the strength and skills of 125 crore Indians. This India stands for development.”
It is doubtful whether 125 crore Indians feel sufficiently empowered to endorse this view or are adequately skilled to make an effective contribution to the national economy and India’s development. But there can be no quarrel with the embedded sentiment: A ‘New India’ is indeed emerging; that ‘New India’ is hungry for development; and, this ‘New India’ is increasingly impatient with narrow identity politics.
The message from Uttar Pradesh is clear — faux claims of tall success stories don’t sell any longer, just as electoral politics as a protection racket for a particular caste or religious community finds decreasing acceptance among the masses, if not the classes. Akhilesh Yadav had coined a catchy slogan for the Samajwadi Party: “Kaam bolta hai” (Work speaks for itself). The truism of this slogan is reflected in the crushing defeat and rejection he and his party suffered at the poll.
We don’t need to look far for the declining appeal of cynical identity politics. Mayawati thought she had a winning combination of Dalit and Muslim voters and brazenly sought their votes, often resorting to crassly communal and casteist rhetoric. She thumbed her nose at the Supreme Court’s pre-election judgement barring parties and politicians from making communal and casteist appeals, smug in the belief that no judge would ever call out a Dalit leader. She was right in that assumption — no judge dared take note of her defiance, but the people voted with their feet.
There are a million explanations why a particular election went a certain way. The simplest, and possibly the most correct, explanation for the way Uttar Pradesh voted is that people chose to repose their trust in Modi. There are three reasons driving that trust: His soaring popularity as a selfless karma yogi in the world of politics dominated by self-aggrandising charlatans; his tireless efforts to deliver on promises aimed at refashioning the lives of the poor for the better; and, his ruthless determination to shake up the iniquitous system fostered by the ruling elite, including the bureaucracy.
It is a measure of Modi’s foes’ inability to grasp the potential consequences of his shock-and-awe audacious gambits that they never quite understood the thinking that went into demonetisation. The only person who realised its true implications was Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In a sense, he foresaw the outcome of the Uttar Pradesh election and wisely stayed away from canvassing support for theGathbandhan’. The Commentariat got it horribly wrong, as did their political sponsors. It is not surprising that much of mainstream media is spending the weekend scrubbing egg off its face.
Which brings us to the increasing impatience of the voters of the ‘New India’ who find the ‘Idea of Modi’, as opposed to the vacuous ‘Idea of India’, exciting and alluring. It is their impatience that has led them away from the identity politics of Modi’s detractors. There is no guarantee that their patience will hold if the Prime Minister fails to deliver as they expect him to do, and deliver without wasting time on meaningless victory laps. The mandate, let there be no mistake, is for Modi and not the BJP. This distinction is crucial.
Uttar Pradesh needs a Government that is sensitive to the development needs of the State, is able to ensure corruption-free governance, and can dovetail Central schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana and Ujjwala, to name only two, into programmes that are people-centric instead of caste or community specific. Expressways are fine, and much needed, but most people are still waiting for delivery on bijli, sadak, pani. Add housing, health and security to the list.
A huge tally is tantalising, but it runs the risk of blinding the party and its bosses to the challenges of keeping the flock together, ensuring probity, and not forgetting that power is means to an end, not an end by itself. The mandate of 2017 cannot be only for stacking numbers in the Rajya Sabha or electing a President of the NDA’s choice. It should be seen as a link between 2014 and 2019.
Modi wanted a BJP Government in lucknow for the Government in New Delhi to work wonders for the people of Uttar Pradesh. Here is the opportunity to do so. Two years down the line, the BJP will have to resurrect the SP’s slogan, “Kaam bolta hai” —maybe not in those very words. If the people were not fooled in 2017, they won’t be fooled in 2019 either.
(The writer is Commissioning Editor and commentator, ABP News)