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BJP central team took reins of campaign to cement win
A major reason behind the party high command’s decision to take reins of the election in their hands was the knowledge that factionalism in the state unit posed a big challenge and threaten the BJP’s chances, according to senior party leaders
Behind the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in Rajasthan, and, more importantly, the quality of it -- the part won 115 of the 199 seats that went to polls -- was a mix of the usual and the unusual. The usual involved a combination of Hindutva and welfare (the second all the more relevant given the outgoing Congress government’s welfare schemes), and a sharp focus on corruption scandals and crime. The unusual was a decision to fight the election under “collective leadership”, a departure from the norm in the state where the chief minister has usually been either the Congress’ Gehlot or the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje. For the BKJP, of course, this also meanmt fighting the election, like it does most, in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A major reason behind the party high command’s decision to take reins of the election in their hands was the knowledge that factionalism in the state unit posed a big challenge and threaten the BJP’s chances, according to senior party leaders.
That done, a senior BJP leader who asked not to be done said the party decided to focus on “simmering anger” among the electorate on issues such as appeasement and corruption.
“The election narrative was dominated by the claims that there is no anti-incumbency against Gehlot. What a lot of people including the media failed to read was the undercurrent of anger against the failure of the government to check crimes against women and corruption,” the leader added.
Just as it had done in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, when it spoke about law and order having deteriorated in the absence of governance and strong administrative support, the BJP began a campaign to highlight every instance of crime against Hindus, women and underprivileged groups in the state.
“Our message was that the Congress has always followed a policy of appeasement. The riots and the beheading of Kanhaiya Lal by two Muslim men caught on camera reinforced the sentiment that the party failed to protect and offer justice to the Hindus,” said the leader.
Lal, a tailor in Udaipur was killed in 2022 for sharing a comment by the now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, disparaging the Prophet. The BJP targetted the Congress government for not doing enough to deliver justice to his family. “Victims of accidents who are from the minority community are immediately provided financial help, but Hindus who are victims are made to wait,” the leader said.
A second senior BJP leader said the issue of infighting between rival camps was tackled by deciding to “ go faceless” in the election. This came as a surprise to many and also came in for criticism. Supporters of Raje clamoured for her to be made the CM face . But the high command did not relent and announced that the election would be fought under PM Modi’s leadership. This created a balance between rival factions, a third senior party leader said.
It helped that the party had already replaced Satish Poonia with Chittorgarh MP CP Joshi as the Rajasthan BJP president. Joshi, BJP leaders said, worked on the directions of Delhi to bring all factions on one platform.
The BJP also chalked out a strategy to work on different castes and communities. In September, the party undertook a month-long campaign to reach out to voters on the SC and ST seats.
There are 34 scheduled caste constituencies in Rajasthan and 25 scheduled tribe constituencies. Of the SC seats, BJP won only 12 in the 2018 elections and the Congress 19. It won nine ST seats in 2018 and Congress 12. In 2023, the BJP won 22 SC seats and 12 ST seats and the Congress won 11 SC seats and 10 ST seats.
