BJP won, but with a wake-up call

BJP is heading for victory in Gujarat for the record 6th consecutive time and it is also set to win Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. The victory is victory and the defeat is defeat. But BJP must take the message from Gujarat that though it won for the sixth consecutive time, its strength of MLAs in assembly is expected to go down by more than 15 MLAs. As the counting is in progress, it is difficult to get the exact number. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's magic still works, which has been amply testified by Gujarat and Himachal assembly election results. But one thing clearly indicates that his magic has also started losing its sheen. As far as Congress’ newly elected President Rahul Gandhi's performance is concerned, he led the Gujarat election campaign from the front against the formidable rival BJP and gave a very tough fight to it. He also took the three young leaders of Gujarat on board against the BJP. He brought the PAAS leader Hardik Patel, SC/ST face Jignesh Mevani and OBC leader Alpesh Thakor on a single platform to support the Congress party. Alpesh Thakor finally joined the Congress Party whereas Hardik and Jignesh supported it from outside. The clear picture is yet to emerge how far Hardik succeeded in convincing his community Patidar not to vote for BJP. It appears from the result that Hardik influenced the Partidar voters against the BJP to some extent, but not in totality. One thing that Congress also lacked that it failed to project a Chief Ministerial face in the Gujarat assembly elections. In absence of an alternative face, people may have got confused that if Congress won who would be their Chief Minister. Rahul Gandhi laboured hard in Gujarat elections. It also appeared this time to the people that there was alternative to BJP before them. He may not be as eloquent as Prime Narendra Modi, but people also gathered in large number to hear him. The worrying reports for the BJP in Gujarat elections are that the young voters voted for Congress. It is a good sign that the Congress party under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has caught the imagination of the Youth. The youth had played a major role in voting PM Modi to power in 2014 Lok Sabha election. As far as Himachal assembly election result is concerned, it has been the tradition of the state that every 5 alternate years, the government is changed. It has been happening since 1980. Both the BJP and Congress come to power after every five years alternately. The Gujarat result also shows that downward trend is about to set in BJP if no corrective steps were taken immediately. Its poll percentage in Gujarat has fallen sharply from what it had polled in 2014 whereas there has been a marked improvement in the polling percentage of the Congress. Strong opposition is the need of the democracy. Before going to Lok Sabha polls in 2019, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattishigarh and four N-E state assembly elections are going to be held in 2018. Opposition Congress is resurging slowly, but steadily. It would also give a tough fight to the ruling BJP in these state assembly elections.