E-Paper
Chouhan’s MP era ends after nearly two decades
In the days after December 3, when the BJP bested 18 years of anti-incumbency to win 163 seats in Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan did not stop touring the state.
In the days after December 3, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bested 18 years of anti-incumbency to win 163 seats in Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan did not stop touring the state. Publicly, he said that he was not a claimant for the top post, and that there was no post greater than “brother” or “uncle” to the people of the state. Yet, he continued travelling. There was an “aabhaar karyakram”(gratitude programme) in Bhopal; rallies in Raghogarh and Sheopur; and days spent in Chhindwara, the Kamal Nath bastion. Chouhan was focussed on his next goal, he said everywhere: “Mission 29”, or the mission to win all 29 seats in the 2024 elections. Yet, when the BJP legislators met on December 11, it became clear that Chouhan, among Madhya Pradesh’s tallest political leaders over the past two decades, would not be the man to lead that mission.
After the BJP legislative meeting, held in the presence of central observers led by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Chouhan met governor Mangubhai Patel to tender his resignation and bring down the curtain on almost 18 years in power.
Chouhan, an OBC from the Kirar community, was born in Sehore, the district adjacent to Bhopal, and won his first assembly election from Budhni, which went on to become his stronghold in 1990. By the next year, he was the Vidisha member of Parliament, and was re-elected in 1996, 1998, and 1999, seemingly fireproof from the political churn around him. But in 2003, even as the BJP won Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan contested the state elections unsuccessfully against incumbent chief minister Digvijaya Singh. He won the Lok Sabha elections in 2004, and then made the next big move in his career in 2005, when he became the Madhya Pradesh CM in November.
Over the years in office, Chouhan grew from strength to strength, cementing himself as one of the party’s tallest leaders in the Hindi heartland. He was many things: First, the self-effacing chief minister, and the man who shunned the limelight to focus on administration. Then, as time passed, Chouhan embraced the limelight, and became focussed on urban infrastructure in the capital Bhopal, or in Indore, which was declared India’s cleanest city year after year. He was, at the same time, the farmers’ chief minister — in February 2023, he said there were alternatives to everything “but no alternatives to foodgrain, fruit and vegetables.” Over time, he became a man of the people, comfortable both in an administrative meeting and a raucous public rally, where he paced the stage, microphone in hand, often speaking to women of the state, a constituency he assiduously nurtured. From Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he became Madhya Pradesh’s “mama” (uncle to some, brother to others).
Though the BJP narrowly lost the assembly elections to the Congress in 2018, Chouhan was back as chief minister in March 2020 after Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress with 22 legislators.
Battling nearly 18 years of BJP anti-incumbency, Chouhan headed into the 2023 elections with a mountain to climb. The BJP did not declare a chief ministerial face, but Chouhan reached out to voters through a relentless mass outreach, and a welfare web that included the popular Laadli Behna scheme which promises ₹1,250 per month to women beneficiaries.
During the campaign, Chouhan seemed to pre-empt the doubt on his continuation as chief minister, asking crowds at rallies if he should continue or not.
“In the BJP, the choice of the organisation is supreme and it was Chouhan who proposed the name of Mohan Yadav as the new chief minister in the legislative meeting on Monday. But his hard work, and non-stop rallies helped the BJP popularise its schemes. There is no replacement for Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh because he has become a mass leader, and is popular in the state, especially among women voters,” said Hitesh Bajpayee, BJP spokesperson.
Senior BJP leaders, however, said it was clear in the last few years that Chouhan’s hold over Madhya Pradesh had ended, and that the victory was more a result of teamwork and the pull of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chouhan may now be accommodated at the Centre, they suggested, though his future appears uncertain for now.
“There is no doubt that Chouhan is a popular figure in Madhya Pradesh,” a senior BJP leader said. “It is possible that with several ministers resigning in recent days from the Union cabinet to fight elections, he may be accommodated at the Centre.”
