Loss in polls blamed on anti-Brahmin perception, infighting among key leaders.
NEW DELHI: Arrogance among MPs and MLAs, anti-upper caste and anti-Brahmin perception and infighting among top leaders led to the BJP’s loss in Madhya Pradesh, top party leaders have said. According to them, these problems are not limited to MP alone and similar reports are coming in from other states too. Top party leaders, who have been getting feedbacks from party workers and RSS functionaries who are “grounded”, are worried that if these symptoms are not dealt with urgently, then the party will be unable to do well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that are now less than four months away.
Three top leaders, whom The Sunday Guardian spoke to, said that the party think-tank has more or less decided to deny tickets to many seating MPs to tackle the anger among voters, but is yet to take a call or deliberate on how to tackle the perception that BJP is becoming anti-upper caste and anti-Brahmin. “In Madhya Pradesh, if the elections are held today, we will not be able to win on more than 8-10 seats. You speak to any leader who is active on the ground, and he will also give this number. There is no single factor for the situation we are in now,” a party MP told this newspaper.
“We have been suggesting to the people who matter that they should direct the MPs and party functionaries to become people friendly, but that is not having any impact as no one is listening. The anti-upper caste and anti-Brahmin perception damaged us very much in the MP state elections and if that perception is not corrected, the result will be very damaging in the coming Lok Sabha polls,” he added.
According to another top party leader, MPs and MLAs have lost connect with the people who voted for them. “A fatigue factor has set in among many of our MPs and MLAs and they have also taken things for granted as they feel that since there is no strong opposition, they will win again this time. This is the feedback that we are getting from all across India wherever our representatives are in power,” he said.
Data recently released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has revealed that only 35 of the 543 parliamentary constituencies utilised the entire amount of Rs 25 crore since 2014, when the 16th Lok Sabha was constituted. Giving examples of infighting in MP, which till this election was the hallmark of the Congress, an RSS functionary said that there was a silent war going on between Narendra Singh Tomar, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Kailash Vijayvargiya. “Each one damaged the other, which ultimately led to a damage to the party. We have analysed the party’s performance in each Lok Sabha segment and are preparing a report. There is a strong need to counter the anti-upper caste perception which led to a loss of nearly 8-10 lakh votes in the state,” he said. “Statements by Chouhan against the upper caste too damaged us. The BJP failed to utilise the senior Brahmin leaders in MP which could have countered the anti-Brahmin tag that has come to be associated with us. Time has come to have a look at things with an open mind because if a course correction is not done now, BJP is unlikely to repeat 2014 or even come close to it,” he added.
According to him, the party, unlike in 2014, will be facing a “resurgent” Congress. “Due to the loss in the three states, our battle has become even tougher. Workers’ morale has definitely gone down and rhetoric is not working anymore, as the result in Chhattisgarh shows. We are being forced to concede seats to our allies. We cannot ignore the Dalits, but we cannot neglect the upper castes either,” he added.