The BJP is on the cusp of creating history by forming the government for the record third time in Haryana, as the votes for the assembly elections are counted. This is also the first election after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a record third term and formed the government at the Centre as well.
Pushed to the wall and with the odds stacked against the BJP, it came up with a rather unexpected result guided by Nayab Singh Saini. He was appointed as the chief minister in place of Manohar Lal Khattar just ahead of general elections.
But, this is not a feat that the saffron party has achieved overnight. Over the years, it has made significant progress in the state’s political fray. Case in point, Khattar became a non-Jat CM of a Jat-dominated state that shows the party was not afraid to experiment and, that too, as early as 2014. He was, however, also repeated in 2019 even though the government was formed in alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).
BJP not afraid to experiment
As far as the vote bank of the BJP is concerned, that has also been on the rise. In 2005, the party was able to win only two seats in the legislative assembly and secure around 10 percent of the vote. Further in 2009, it had four seats with a lower vote share of 9.05 percent.
But, this changed in 2014 with the Modi juggernaut. Right after the party’s stupendous success in the Lok Sabha polls that year, it went into the 2014 assembly elections on a high and was able to secure a remarkable 33 percent of the vote. The seat tally in 2014 stood at 47. In 2019 polls, the vote share was 36.5 percent but the tally was reduced to 40 seats.
BJP delivers in direct contest with Congress
Under the leadership of Modi, the BJP was able to show yet again that in the states where it is in a direct contest with the Congress — like Haryana – it is able to deliver the goods given a strong organisational structure and foot soldiers on the ground. Whether it is states like Gujarat or even Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in recent times, its organizational strength has always worked in a deep-rooted manner.
Organisational structure from booth to the state level has been its formula for success, and it was able to achieve its this to maximum effect under former president Amit Shah. This continues to be its tried and tested formula, and has worked for Haryana even this time.
The party did not fear to give seats to other castes despite opposition parties attempting to create a narrative that it was an “anti-Jat” party in a Jat-dominated state. The ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ formula seems to have worked for the BJP in Haryana with the Congress narrative of ‘jawan, kisan and pehalwan’ ultimately not yielding any results.
Modi magic worked in BJP’s favour
Last but not the least, the charisma of the prime minister got the work done. His work from the late 1990s, when he was the state incharge, is now visible. It was then that Khattar came in contact with him and the two would travel across the state together.
In several rallies in the past, too, Modi has mentioned how Khattar would take him around on his scooter. This helped him understand the state, its people and their sentiment.
Even in these elections, the PM campaigned in tough areas like Kurukshetra, Hisar and Sonipat — these were challenging because the BJP recently lost Hisar and Sonipat in the Lok Sabha polls and narrowly managed to win in Kurukshetra.
Shah has been one of the most successful party presidents for the BJP. His understanding of the situation on the ground along with an organisational resource like Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, helped him turn around the fortunes of the BJP in Haryana, a state once in famous for the phrase ‘Aaya Ram gaya Ram’.
But, for now, it looks like the BJP is here to stay for another term.
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