One nation, one party, one leader

It can be argued that the “double engine government” pitch of the BJP, repeated in this round of state elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, goes against the spirit of federal values held out in our Constitution. In ordinary times, the Election Commission may have been asked to weigh in on the constitutionality of this argument that ultimately seeks to undermine parties not in sync with the Centre. But we live in extraordinary times when, let alone opposition parties, the BJP also undermines its own candidates.

For instance, in Himachal Pradesh, the PM recently said that “You need not remember the BJP candidate. Wherever you see the symbol of Lotus, it means BJP and Modiji have come to you.” Broadly, therefore, the policy of the national leadership of the BJP is to project one leader across the nation in state and national elections. The party is just an electoral machine with one leader to project. It is not just engaged in undermining the very idea of distinct regional representation, but also its own state leadership and candidates. One could pun on this attempted double whammy that seeks to make everyone redundant in state and nation, unless they are an avatar of the PM himself. The PM himself says so forcefully.

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In the current state polls, this is more starkly visible than it was when the Uttar Pradesh elections took place earlier this year as Adityanath Yogi could hold his ground. But in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the chief ministers are apparently dispensable. Since Narendra Modi demitted the Gujarat CM office in May 2014, the state has had three chief ministers, with the latest being Bhupendra Patel, since September 2021. His predecessor Vijay Rupani was CM for five years but is apparently redundant enough to be phased out. Reports in the Gujarat media say that he and his deputy Nitin Patel have publicly said they do not wish to contest the state elections again as they wish to make room for younger candidates.

The backstory, reportedly, is that they would not have been fielded again as the BJP is changing many candidates and accommodating defectors from the Congress. This is an ego battle for the BJP, which has never crossed the 149-seat record set by the Congress in 1985 in an assembly of 182. The best performance for the BJP was 127 seats in the 2002 post-Godhra riot election; the 2017 mandate of 99 seats is seen as a humiliation (that figure would go up to 111 following defections). Therefore, anything goes. Among the “youth” being put forward by BJP is Payal Kulkarni, 29, daughter of Manoj Kulkarni, one of the 32 convicts in the Naroda Patiya and adjoining Naroda Gam massacre case in Ahmedabad in which 97 Muslims were killed. Her father, sentenced to life imprisonment, is currently out on bail.

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The Naroda case in 2002 is described as the “single largest cause of mass murder” during the post-Godhra riots. It was an orgy of violence, sexual assault, and gang rape followed by murder. Now a daughter of a convict is being positioned as a representative of the BJP’s young woman power. There is, however, resistance to her candidature from within the BJP, but it’s entirely because the sitting MLA has been dropped. At the time of writing, the BJP had dropped 38 sitting MLAs after the party announced tickets for 160 of the state’s 182 seats. The party, however, retained Chandrasinh Raulji, who had used the phrase “Sanskaari Brahmins” for the 11 men released after being convicted for raping Bilkis Bano and killing nine members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. Raulji was part of the Gujarat government committee that decided to release these convicts. Clearly, therefore, beyond “double engine”, the Gujarat BJP is also signalling about its anti-Muslim “sanskaar” as they try everything to give the PM an ego-boosting result.

In Himachal Pradesh, too ideological issues from the Uniform Civil Code to Ram Mandir et al were pitched in the swing state that voted on November 12. The problem of rebellion was more severe for the BJP as in nearly a third of the state’s 68 seats, local BJP leaders expressed resentment against the chosen candidates, with some fighting as independents against the official party nominees. Here the problem lies between different factions within the BJP, the more disgruntled being seen as close to two-term former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son, Anurag Thakur, current MoS for Information & Broadcasting. But since BJP President J P Nadda is also from the state, tickets have gone to many considered traditionally close to him and current BJP CM Jairam Thakur. It is probably the reports of factionalism that led the PM to publicly say that candidates are not as important as voting for Modi/BJP.

Recently, I was part of a debate on Himachal Pradesh, in which the BJP spokesperson argued that faction fighting in the state unit would be offset by voters understanding that only a double engine government (same party in state and Centre) could deliver development as things did not move smoothly when different parties were in power in the state. The more crucial question is why is that so when the Indian Constitution promises us a Union of states and not a Union that overrides the states?

This double engine rhetoric does not augur well in an age when Centre-state relations have deteriorated when data shows that the ED overwhelmingly prosecutes opposition leaders, when Hindi is sought to be promoted and is being resisted by states with their own distinct linguistic traditions. Besides, there is friction over revenue allocation and the Centre giving states their share of GST dues and complaints over New Delhi seeking to encroach on the state’s domains. It's not yet One Party, One Nation, One Election and One Leader although the BJP's top command may like it to be so.

(The writer is a journalist and author)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.