BJP won UP, Gujarat, Northeast too but…
Iyer writes that before Karnataka, the BJP had won spectacular victories in UP and Gujarat. Lotus also blossomed in the states of the Northeast, where the Christian population is high. Modi’s stature is the biggest among today’s leaders but he too could not show any wonder in Karnataka. The BJP being reduced to 36 per cent vote share in Karnataka just before the 2024 general elections is not a good sign. The loss caused to JDS is added to the account of Congress. PM Narendra Modi is more popular than his party. If you look at the trends so far, the BJP has been performing better in the general elections than in the states. See an example of this. In the last election, the BJP had won 104 out of 224 seats in Karnataka. Yet in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it won 25 out of 28 seats. Then NDA got 353 seats. However, the NDA argues that there is no one in front of Modi even today and he will definitely win in 2024.
Corruption has become an issue in elections. There were serious allegations against the BJP government in Karnataka. Not only the opposition parties, the contractors also kept on accusing ‘40% government – 40% commission in every contract’. While PM Modi came to power by saying that he will neither eat nor let me eat. This thing became air in Karnataka. The BJP says that allegations of corruption at such a local level will not affect its all-India image. Iyer says that today money power has joined hands with the BJP. Parties get donations from electoral bonds and BJP is getting 90 percent of it. In the last few years, it has been seen that leaders from other parties came to BJP, political success was achieved immediately but questions were raised on the clean image.
What will happen in 2024?
Iyer says that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi made serious allegations of corruption against the BJP government regarding the Rafale deal. However, the voters did not believe it as the allegations were not supported by concrete evidence. Then there was talk of Ambani, now Adani is in headlines since the revelations of Hindenburg Research have come to the fore. The opposition has been calling Adani close to the BJP. Hindenburg alleged that the Adani Group committed share manipulation and forgery. Adani Group shares fell sharply, though recovered later. Questions kept arising that how did Adani Group’s shares go up so much? Sebi is probing Hindenburg’s allegations. This episode has affected the image of BJP.
Aiyar writes that Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal made allegations in Parliament while talking about the ‘Adani-Modi connection’. Figures were also given as to how Adani’s wealth grew and he became the third richest person in the world. Former Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik in a recent TV interview clearly stated that Hindenburg’s allegations could really harm the party. On the question of 2024, he said that saving Adani would be harmful for them (BJP). Malik told that in the meeting of Dalits, a girl was singing about Adani… When these things go to the village, don’t think that it will not have an effect.
BJP’s shine has faded a bit. It is possible that the saffron party will still win the 2024 elections but it cannot be said with 100 percent certainty.