In the time span of two years, the BJP not only lost on to crucial state assemblies but also lost on to significant landmass it ruled once.
Bhartiya Janata Party which rose to new heights since 2014 in the Whole Nation has decided never to settle down for the minimum. The duo of PM Modi and BJP President, now also India’s Home Minister was termed the ‘Unstoppable winning machine’. The big gains from the “Modi Wave” that swept most parts of the country were visible even in the first tenure of Modi govt.
However, data shows that in the last two years the saffron foothold that expanded in the country is shrinking. In the time span of two years, the party not only lost on to crucial state assemblies but also lost on to significant landmass it ruled once.
The political map of India has once again come into focus as the Maha Vikas Aghadi clinched the victory from the hands of rather desperate BJP. The tables turned in Maharashtra once again on Tuesday as the NCP leader Ajit Pawar who claimed support to BJP resigned. Following his resignation, CM Devendra Fadnavis resigned too, making a way for the newly formed post-poll alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress-NCP-ShivSena) to form the govt in Maharashtra. Thus, resulting in one more state being dropped from the list of BJP-ruled states.
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As per India Today’s DIU, BJP’s foothold has reduced to 40 per cent of the national landscape as compared to a whopping 71 per cent it commanded over in 2017.
In the past 5 years, BJP went from holding the power in seven states in 2014 up to twenty-one states by 2018. In 2014, BJP ruled over Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh directly or via coalition.
By September 2018 the only states BJP did not rule were Tamil Nadu (AIADMK), Kerala (LDF), Karnataka (Congress), Mizoram (Congress), Punjab (Congress), Odisha (BJD), West Bengal (Trinamool Congress) and Telangana (TRS).
The graph was slow and steady, from seven in 2014 to 13 in 2015, 15 in 2016, 19 in 2017 and then 21 in 2018.
However, BJP experienced major setback in three states in 2018-Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. These were the states where BJP hadn’t faced major opposition. In 2019, Maharashtra too slipped away from them.
Photo Courtesy: India Today
Even though BJP continued to score victories and topple governments with non-seasonable parties, such as Mizoram, it started losing its grip on Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Alliance partner TDP broke off taking Andhra out of BJP-led NDA’s hands. Jammu and Kashmir were lost to President’s Rule by December last.
While the BJP’s BS Yediyurappa managed a coup in Karnataka and formed the government after a dramatic political turmoil, a similar situation seems to have trumped the BJP in Maharashtra. Home to the saffron ideologue RSS’s home, Maharashtra has slipped through the BJP’s fingers after they lost a game of chess with Shiv Sena as well as NCP.
After Devendra Fadnavis’s resignation on November 26, the BJP has been reduced to 16 states. The number may not seem very disheartening but geographically, the BJP has lost big states while winning smaller ones.
The region ruled by the BJP, with or without allies, has fallen from 71 per cent in 2017 to 40 per cent by Tuesday.
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