New Delhi: If the BJP mandarins are to be believed, an “international conspiracy” involving “foreign powers” is one of the major reasons for the party’s reduced mandate this year. These foreign powers, they further allege, don’t want a powerful Modi government and conspired with the Opposition to divide “Hindu society”.
Other than “foreign hands”, the Opposition’s “lies” about the Constitution are being prominently blamed for the party’s tally coming down from 303 to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha, ThePrint has learnt.
At the party’s executive meetings in various states, the BJP brass is seemingly sending a message to the cadre that the electoral losses happened solely due to the “propaganda and messaging” of the Opposition.
There were some exceptions, according to a BJP functionary, like in the review meetings in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
In Uttarakhand, BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt accepted that giving tickets to a turncoat in Badrinath was a mistake and that it led to defeat in the assembly bypoll.
“The second was in Madhya Pradesh where general secretary, organisational, Hitanand Sharma advised workers to practise politics of probity and to learn from the former Dutch prime minister (Mark Rutte) who left office on bicycle. He also gave the example of BJP MLA Santosh Barkade who took a loan of Rs 50 lakh to buy land that he donated for construction of a hospital,” the party functionary told ThePrint.
But, the exceptions were few. Addressing the Rajasthan BJP extended executive meeting attended by 8,000-plus party workers, ranging from mandal president to district executive members, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan blamed foreign hands for the BJP’s performance in Lok Sabha.
“Our opponents, including foreign powers, are not happy due to the rising growth rate and India’s rising stature. They don’t want the BJP government in the Centre so they are making a conspiracy from behind. BJP workers should be careful of such forces,” Shivraj, the chief guest at the review meeting, said Saturday in Jaipur.
The Congress, he alleged, has become a machine of spreading falsehood. “First, they spread falsehood on Agniveers; then, they spread falsehood on MSP. Balak Buddhi (a jibe by PM Modi at Rahul Gandhi) could not prove his statement before the Speaker on these issues. They are trying to set a narrative. The BJP workers should be aware of this narrative setting game of the Congress.”
आज जयपुर में आयोजित भाजपा वृहद प्रदेश कार्यसमिति की बैठक को मुख्यमंत्री श्री @BhajanlalBjp, प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @cpjoshiBJP, राष्ट्रीय महामंत्री श्री @dushyanttgautam, प्रदेश लोकसभा चुनाव प्रभारी श्री @Vinay1011, प्रदेश सह-प्रभारी श्रीमती @VijayaRahatkar, केन्द्रीय मंत्री श्री… pic.twitter.com/UsFGJK5EBj
— BJP Rajasthan (@BJP4Rajasthan) July 13, 2024
Citing three reasons for the lower mandate, Rajasthan election incharge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, too, blamed foreign powers for the poll results. “Many foreign powers and some people in the country are not able to digest the presence of the Modi government as their vested interests are not working. They want the return of the old Congress government; they have tried their influence in this election due to which we could not get the desired result.”
Sahasrabuddhe further said the Congress “propaganda” about the Constitution and the caste politics were also to be blamed for the BJP’s setback in Rajasthan.
The former Rajya Sabha MP cautioned leaders not to draw any hasty conclusion about the tally coming down from 24 to 14 seats in Rajasthan.
“Don’t make a hasty analysis of defeat as the mandate is not against Hindutva, nationalism and good governance. If such was the case, Balak Buddhi would not come with a picture of Lord Shiva in Parliament. We will have to analyse in a neutral way to find out the reasons behind dismal performance,” he said.
At the review of the poll performance in Uttar Pradesh where the tally nosedived from 62 to 33 seats, CM Yogi Adityanath cited four reasons — over confidence, shifting of votes, opposition propaganda, foreign conspiracy and the failure to counter it — for the shocking performance.
He further blamed foreign powers for trying to divide the Hindu society through caste to undermine India’s strengths.
“The global forces know that if this society is scattered, it can be easily preyed upon, but if it’s united even the biggest power will collapse in front of it. We must remain alert against the sin committed in the recent elections of tearing apart your strength by dividing it in the name of caste. Foreign powers and our opponents were successful in that conspiracy,” Yogi said at the meeting held Sunday to boost the confidence of demoralised cadres.
Also Read: BJP’s reports pinpoint Agnipath as factor in LS setbacks across states, cadres want review of scheme
‘Opposition lied about Constitution’
Another factor that is prominently figuring in BJP state executive meetings is the lies allegedly spread about prominent changes in the Constitution that led to the shifting of Dalit votes away from the party.
“The Congress has dismissed elected governments 90 times. The Modi govt in 10 years used the President Rule only once in Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress spread propaganda of Constitutional change, but Indira Gandhi invoked the Emergency when she did not get a favourable decision from the Allahabad High Court. The Constitution was murdered and now they are posing as its saviour,” BJP president J.P.Nadda said at Uttar Pradesh state executive meeting .
Yogi Adityanath, too, said on similar lines about the “false propaganda” of the imminent changes to the Constitution, according to BJP insiders.
‘Parasite celebrating 99 seats’
Another tactic that the BJP leadership has adopted to rouse up its workers is dismissing the Congress’s electoral show as a “fluke” and attributing the improved results to the performance of INDIA allies.
Here the senior leaders have taken the cue from PM Narendra Modi himself, who had dubbed the Congress as a “parasite” — a party that eats into the share of its allies — in Parliament.
Senior leader Manohar Lal Khattar, who participated in the Uttarakhand executive BJP state meeting on Monday, accused the Opposition of spreading falsehood on every issue.
“This election is the first election where the Opposition is celebrating after defeat. In 2004, the Congress tallied 146 seats; they got 206 seats in 2009. They came to power with an alliance and after that they are not even logging 100 seats. But, they are now celebrating by saying the BJP don’t have the mandate to rule the country,” the first-time Union minister said.
Shivraj, too, attacked the Congress for “celebrating the success of getting 99 seats”. This, he said, is “unprecedented”.
Banking on Modi charisma
At the same time, the BJP is exhorting its workers to realise that Modi has created history by leading the party to power for the third time, a point harped on by Modi himself in Parliament.
In Uttarakhand’s capital Dehradun, Khattar said, “It is unprecedented that Modi has become the prime minister for the third time.”
Though the BJP swept all the parliamentary constituencies for the third consecutive time in Uttarakhand, the Congress has mounted a spirited comeback by winning Badrinath and Manglaur assembly seats in the bypolls.
Nadda, in the UP state executive meeting, asserted that there were 17 NDA governments across the states and 13 headed by the BJP. “58 percent of the country’s landmass is ruled by the BJP. India under Modi is different; India is rising.”
Explaining the logic behind this posturing, a senior BJP central leader said that the BJP executive meetings were being held to motivate party workers for the next challenge and to convince them that nothing has changed under the Modi leadership.
“It’s an easy way to motivate workers… Analysis (of poll performance) will lead to a blame game and that too is not done with 2,000 leaders, but with a select core group only,” the BJP leader said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Voter disconnect, motormouths, wrong candidate selection — what review of BJP’s UP results found
