Which by-poll defeat do you think should scare the BJP? How are they likely to deal with it?

When the BJP government came to power during the Lok Sabha election in 2014, it had majority on its own and was sitting on a comfortable pedestal of 282 seats in the lower house of the parliament. Fast forward to 2018, and the BJP has come down to 273 seats, only one above the 50% at 272. How did things change so drastically?

Well, there was of course the resignation of MP’s who wanted to find their place in their state assemblies – people like BS Yedyurappa, who failed miserably with his two day stint of trying to make a saffron government in Karnataka. But, the recent shockers came from theBJP defeatin Lok Sabha by-poll elections, where the United Opposition seem to be making a lot of progress.

In the current Indian political climate, which has clearly become BJP vs everyone (because divisive and radical politics is not good for business), the former does not seem to be coming out on top, like it did 4 years back. Chasing the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha General Elections, BJP lost itsKairanaconstituency seat (western UP) to Tabassum Hassan, a minority muslim candidate from RLD (which also had the support of BSP and SP). This is significant since Hassan now becomes the sole Lok Sabha MP belonging to the Islamic community from Uttar Pradesh.

TheLok Sabha by-pollsin other states like Maharashtra (Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya), and in Nagaland constituency also sawBJP defeat. With all of its failures in LS seats pouring in with significant defeats, the BJP surely seemed to have struck the wrong chord with the public.

How are they likely to deal with it?

Well, for the citizens to still have faith in the BJP, their party should shrug it all off and dive in into ground realities and NOT propaganda on social network. While that is likely to be one scenario, that might not be the only thing happening. If one were to look at how right wing politics work, then it would be evident that the saffron party will find someone to antagonize, to blame for their failures, something that is likely to be vague and abstract – like it’s Love Jihad conspiracy theories.

Modi has time and again been successful in riling up the general public and making sure that they believe in whatever he points to, as the reason for all the woes of the country. However, with 4 years done and nearing the end of its tenure, a lot of the public does seem disillusioned, which is why, even after the Muzzaffarnagar riot divide inKairanabetween the muslims and the Jats, theBJP defeatstill could not be avoided!