The Bharatiya Janata Party is more concerned about Maharashtra and Jharkhand than Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. In that too, Maharashtra is a matter of life and death for the BJP leadership. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP alliance lost badly in Maharashtra. Despite making Eknath Shinde’s party the real Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s party the real NCP, the BJP’s Mahayuti got only 17 seats out of 48. Last time it had fought with Uddhav Thackeray and won 41 seats. That means its alliance has lost 24 Lok Sabha seats. The situation does not seem to improve in the assembly elections either.
Maharashtra is very important for BJP for many reasons. People say that power in Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh. This is true but sometimes power in the country is obtained without Uttar Pradesh, but power in Delhi is never obtained without Maharashtra. The one who wins Maharashtra wins the country. Remember how in 1995, for the first time, Shiv Sena and BJP formed government in Maharashtra and after that BJP formed government thrice in the country in one assembly term. While being in power in Maharashtra, BJP formed government at the center in 1996, 1998 and 1999. It was out of power in Maharashtra in 1999 and then out of power at the center as well. Then it won the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra in 2014 and later formed government in Maharashtra as well. This time the same history has been repeated in the Lok Sabha elections. Congress and its alliance have won and now it is the turn of assembly elections there. If the alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray wins in the assembly as well, then there will be a big crisis for Narendra Modi’s throne in Delhi.
Maharashtra is the financial capital of the country. It is a stronghold of corporates. The kind of political message that is created by Uttar Pradesh, the same kind of economic message is created by Maharashtra. Modi and Shah would not want that message to be spoiled. The second thing is that these days there is a lot of animosity in Maharashtra towards Gujarat. In the recent past, many big economic projects from Maharashtra have gone to Gujarat. Be it Foxconn’s project or Tata Airbus’s project. Projects worth lakhs of crores of rupees that were to be set up in Maharashtra have gone to Gujarat. Marathi people are considering this as discrimination. They have this notion in their mind that in the old battle of Maharashtra vs Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to make Gujarat bigger. He is trying to make Gujarat the financial capital of the country at the cost of Maharashtra.
The defeat in Maharashtra will also weaken the position of BJP on the issue of Hindutva. If the people of Maharashtra like the Hindutva of the Uddhav Thackeray model, then it will be difficult for the BJP. It will have to re-position itself on this issue. After the Lok Sabha elections, many officials of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have also given statements here and there. However, they too have not had the courage to speak openly. But if the result of Maharashtra does not come in favor of the BJP, then the people of the Sangh will also gain courage. Then the talks in the Chhayavadi style will stop and there will be open discussions.
That is why the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand were postponed. Think about it, the term of the assembly in Haryana was ending on November 3 and in Maharashtra on November 25. Yet elections are being held in Haryana and in Maharashtra elections were postponed till the second week of November. The only reason for this was that Modi and Shah wanted some extra time to settle the political equations there and create an atmosphere through policy decisions. They also hope that if by chance the results in Jammu Kashmir and Haryana are favourable, it will have a positive impact in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. That is why so much emphasis is being put in Jammu Kashmir and Haryana and so many tricks are being used. Despite Ajit Pawar’s miserable failure in the Lok Sabha elections, he has been kept with him. There is news that his party will be given three MLC seats. With his support, BJP is still hoping for the Maratha vote.
Similarly, BJP has put in all its strength in Jharkhand. Election in-charge Shivraj Singh Chauhan and co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma have put in all their efforts, and even before the announcement of elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are visiting. By making two tribal chief ministers in the neighbouring states and by making Jharkhand’s former governor Draupadi Murmu the President, BJP has sent a message to the tribal votes, and the issue of Hindus and Muslims is also being openly raised in the context of Bangladeshi infiltrators. There too, BJP is trying all the same measures that are being tried in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.