BJP Has Won The War Of Narratives

Election results from Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps among the very few examples where the BJP can claim that it has won the war of narratives. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance agenda won over divisive politics of the Congress.

All parties take into account local considerations such as caste, popularity of candidates etc. What matters in the end is which party has a better narrative or agenda for the State as well as the country. Also, whether the party has been able to convince people about its agenda.

Despite facing flaks of opposition for unsubstantiated charges, the party under Narendra Modi stood firm like a rock on the issues it considered important. He neither budged from the decisions he had taken nor did he allow the party to go soft on these.

The Congress and its echo system tried to create an impression that farmers, sportspeople and unemployed, particularly the youths, were opposed to the BJP led coalition government and were sure to vote against the party. The unjust demand and false narrative created by vested interests in the farming community that the Modi government was against farmers was certain to get traction in a state known for predominance of farmers.

Added to this was the narrative that the Modi government was not sensitive to the controversy happening in the wrestling federation. The Prime Minister has always shown his sensitivity to issues connected to women but he cannot substitute himself for justice and the legal system. The Congress tried to politicize the issue. There is a craze in Haryana among the youths to participate in sporting activities and excel and make a name for themselves.

The third narrative was on the issue of Agniveer recruitment. After a long time, the country is responding to the demand of the army that the profile of fighting soldiers has to be young. The urge to create a youthful army has been politicized. Haryana like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, is known for sending its youth to the armed forces. The Congress tried to harm the national interest by spreading rumour on the issue even when the Union Government and various State Governments have come out with schemes to give full time employment to retirees from Agniveer Schemes.

Thankfully, as it is always the case, voters have proved to be smarter than the politicians. They saw through the gameplan of the Congress and supported Modi who has been taking care of small and marginal farmers by giving them Kisan Samman Nidhi on a regular basis and has come out with various measures to help the farming community.

Haryana has witnessed rapid expansion of sporting facilities in the State and the way the state government has been rewarding performers no sportsperson will have reason to complain.

In the last ten years Haryana has witnessed industrial and agricultural expansion by leaps and bound. Land prices all across the state has gone up and economic activities have widened. Development of freight project under Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is a case in point. The Congress had promises but it did not have a detailed outline of the developmental roadmap.

We cannot undermine the significance of the massive vote the BJP secured: almost 40 per cent witnessing a gain of 3.5 per cent over the previous assembly elections in 2019. The Congress too managed to retain its votes but the regional parties got almost decimated, making Haryana contest a clear one between the two national parties.

The BJP's victory is massive since it defeated anti-incumbency of two consecutive terms and got a decisive third term. For a state like Haryana where politics is as complicated as the caste equations, such a result was not possible unless there was one narrative that cut across all divides. And this was the issue of Nationalism.

One cannot use the faultlines of the society and seek to create a division for mere votes. The Congress despite repeated lessons refuses to learn. His statements abroad against PM Modi, his vituperatives against Modi in Parliament and otherwise after Lok Sabha results, and his ways to insult the legacy of Ram temple all went against the Congress. People realized that the developmental narrative of the Prime Minister was a much better agenda for the State.

Those who imagined that the BJP would form a Government in Jammu and Kashmir were hoping against hope. The predominant Muslim population is yet to come out of the BJP phobia that grips an average Muslim in the country. May be this would change with time since the BJP under Modi is making all efforts to win them over with the development narrative.

Modi tried his best to give the State a development it has not witnessed before. For this narrative to overshadow the communal politics would take time. The party's performance in the Jammu region has been spectacular as against the Congress which appears to have lost its hold. The BJP won from 29 assembly seats 4 more than what it won in 2014. Substantial presence in the assembly would ensure that the NC would not have a free run.

The BJP should pride itself with holding a free and fair elections with massive participation of people. The average voters' turnout was close to 64 per cent which is a record for the last seven elections. This was the first elections that took place after abrogation of Article 370 indicating that people in the state have reconciled to this new reality. As Modi rightly said during his victory speech at the party's office in Delhi, the state has witnessed democracy at various levels of governance and this would bring new political culture.

Mehbooba Mufti of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) who had challenged that there would be none in the valley to hold the national Tri-colour, if Article 370 was abrogated came a cropper with victory on only three seats. The massive participation was a victory of Modi's governance agenda that allowed grassroots to thrive even if the BJP failed to win trust of the valley's Muslim population.