It was 2019 and the BJP was at the peak of its powers. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the saffron party-led NDA won 353 seats and the BJP alone clinched victory in 303 seats. It swept aside every hurdle to come back to power for a second consecutive term, marshalled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
It's now February 2020 and the BJP has suffered an embarrassing defeat in the Delhi Assembly Elections 2020. It was at loggerheads with the ruling Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and in the end, AAP galloped to victory with ease by winning 62 seats, while the BJP managed to win eight.
The defeat in Delhi, coupled with the recent defeats in two other Assembly elections, has changed the scenario for the saffron party a bit, denting its invincible aura.
The mayhem in Maharashtra
The party suffered in Maharashtra and it was followed by a defeat in Jharkhand. Ironically, in both places, the BJP was the ruling party.
That it failed to form the government in Maharashtra is something that will haunt the BJP for years to come. It was not that it didn't get the votes. Rather, after the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the BJP emerged as the party with the most seats under its belt - 105 - way ahead of its then ally the Shiv Sena, which bagged 56 votes. The BJP was poised to come back to power for the second consecutive term and Devendra Fadnavis was gearing up to become the chief minister again. But politics, with its bag full of surprises, turned the tables which resulted in the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the present allied government of the NCP-Shiv Sena-Congress in Maharashtra.
The jolt in Jharkhand
Then came Jharkhand. The ruling BJP led by Raghubar Das was determined to win the Assembly elections. It was evident from the numerous rallies of Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi. To thwart the BJP, the Opposition forces of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the NCP joined hands under the UPA banner. And in the end, the UPA emerged the winner in 48 out of the total 81 seats, with the JMM alone trotting to victory in 35 seats. The BJP, on the other hand, won 25 seats and it was a significant fall from the 37 seats that they won in the previous Assembly elections in Jharkhand.
BJP's stumbling block
The Delhi Assembly election was a gruelling test for the BJP. The recent poll setbacks have applied some brakes on the party's buoyant juggernaut. The national capital is already embroiled in protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens. In such a scenario, the BJP needed to gain control of Delhi and the desperation was visible in the election campaigns led by their top leaders. The loss in Delhi will probably create another blip on its popularity radar and a reduction in saffron dominance is bound to create ripples of anxiety inside the party.