Himachal Pradesh polls result more important than Gujarat in context of anti-Hindutva narrative

 

Himachal hills question myth of invincibility of Modi phenomenon

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh present two different scenarios at every level, from hills to arid lands of Rann and contrasting political narratives.

Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is laboratory of Hindutva.

A major region of Himachal Pradesh has been part of Punjab from the times of the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh till 1966.

Gujarat at one level symbolises commerce. Economy of the hill state is entirely different.

As one of the main players in these two elections has been the Aam Aadmi Party, it is pertinent to bring in Punjab too. The religio-political dynamics of Punjab is different from the rest of India and this factor must be taken into account in the context of performance of AAP.

The Hindutva narrative failed to enthuse the people in the hill state to vote the BJP to second successive term, despite aggressive campaigning in the name of Mr Modi.

Dominating the narrative were the local factors and in the context of nature of demography, the politics of polarisation has little role to play.

AAP entered the hill state with a bang but soon the leadership diverted money and human resources to Gujarat. The entire might of AAP in Punjab where it is the ruling party with a massive mandate was pushed in Gujarat where AAP MLAs from this state were also seen performing Garba dance and frying pakoras.

AAP lost even security deposit in all the seats it contested in Himachal Pradesh.

As the people had made upon their mind to vote against the Hindutva linked BJP but not for ideological reasons, the soft Hindu approach of the AAP could not make any impact unlike in Gujarat.

However, one of the important factors was complete absence of Rahul Gandhi from the Congress campaign. Even his sister Priyanka Gandhi addressed only a couple of rallies.

The absence of Rahul Gandhi meant that there was no direct attack on Mr. Modi. It may be mentioned here that the Prime Minister has taken advantage of every barb directed at him by the Congress leaders at the top. The anti-Modi narrative was missing from the Congress campaign and this seems to have saved a few seats for this party.

It is learnt that Priyanka Gandhi too was softly advised against targeting Modi and rather project positive campaign.

This strategy paid off and the Congress under local leaders succeeded in replacing the BJP at the steering wheel.

It is this strategy that can help the Congress to revive itself in other regions too.

The Congress would have to shed deadwood at every level and rope in positive agenda and people with aggressively positive attitude. The total approach has to change.

The way Gujarat is template for Hindutva politics, Himachal Pradesh signals hope for the degenerated Congress and the narrative to counter the Modu juggernaut. Mr. Gandhi should be continue to focus on Bharat Jodo till 2024, the campaign that is being appreciated at every level.

The role of the AAP in Gujarat has been interesting going by the vote share of three main contestants. The BJP has been the gainer at every level, both in number of seats and vote share. The main loser is the Congress. The vote share of AAP is the same as the loss of the Congress.

The Hindu approach of AAP has rather reinforced the Hindu mobilisation and the net gainer had to be the BJP. Suggesting use of pictures of Hindu deities on currency notes was the move by AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal designed to appeal to the Hindu vote bank. But then it is Hindutva that is more appealing under such a situation.

Can the same political model of secular strategy be replicated for the entire country? The answer has been provided by Himachal Pradesh.

It may not be overlooked that AAP got unprecedent mandate in Punjab in February 2022 as people were angry with both the Congress and the Akali Dal. The people taught a lesson to AAP within four months in Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection by electing Simranjit Singh Mann from Akali Dal (Amritsar). Punjab is different in this context.

At one level, result of Himachal Pradesh is more important in the context of national narrative.