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BJP leadership gets in a huddle to counter anti-incumbency in MP
A section of leaders in the party is also wary of a hardline narrative playing out in the state, which has the potential to upset its outreach among these communities, said a party functionary aware of the details.
Amid speculation of a revamp in the organisation and state cabinet in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the 2023 assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership is pursuing an election strategy to buck anti-incumbency and woo socially and economically marginalised communities that play a decisive role in shaping the electoral outcome.
A section of leaders in the party is also wary of a hardline narrative playing out in the state, which has the potential to upset its outreach among these communities, said a party functionary aware of the details.
While the central leadership has been tight lipped about possible changes at the top -- mirroring the revamp that took place in Gujarat last year -- the state has been abuzz with speculation that to beat anti-incumbency and mitigate dissatisfaction with the current government, the state leadership could be recast. In Gujarat, the chief minister and the entire cabinet was changed last year ahead of the state elections scheduled later this year.
“A series of meetings have been held, the most recent was in Ratapani forest reserve last week chaired by (national general secretary organisation) BL Santhosh to discuss wide ranging issues including how the party will elicit support from the SC and ST communities that had drifted away from us in 2018,” the functionary said.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, national general secretary Kailash Vijayvarghia, and state president VD Sharma were among the select lot of leaders present in the meeting.
Referring to the focus on SC and ST communities, the functionary said although many social welfare schemes were run by the Centre as well as the state government, there were gaps in implementation and a narrative has been created by some opposition parties that the BJP was anti-reservation.
The party’s tally in 2018 fell to 109 from 165 in 2013, while the Congress with 114, a gain of 56 seats, formed the government in the 230-member assembly. The BJP came back to power in 2020 after the then Congress leader, Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 others, joined the BJP.
To be sure, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party’s performance was in sharp contrast to the state polls and the BJP bagged 28 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats.
While an extensive outreach has already begun in areas dominated by the tribal communities and in constituencies reserved for SC candidates, there is a fear that the so-called bulldozer politics being pursued by the Chauhan’s government will further drive a wedge between the party and the socially and marginalised groups.
“There is some concern among a section of party leaders about adopting a hardline like in Uttar Pradesh, where the state has a policy of demolishing homes of those accused of crime,” said the functionary quoted above. “The percentage of Muslims in the state is about 6.57%, Dalits are 15.62 % and 21.2% of the population is from tribal communities. There is apprehension about the impact that the action (demolition of homes) will have on these communities.”
The party’s concerns are fuelled by the outreach by outfits such as the Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) and Bhim Army and the Samanya Picchdaa Evam Alpsankhyak Samaj, among others, that underline the distinction between the SCs, STs and the larger Hindu community.
