JOIN USIf the leads are going to come true, the BJP surge is nothing short of a tsunami given the coalition politics that prevailed in the country in the last two decades. For a party that won just 115 out of 543 seats in 2009, to reach possible majority mark (272) on its own, is nothing short of a miracle. Narendra Modi, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has delivered victory for the party.
Save a couple of states, BJP’s victory has come from every state and the party can now justifiably claim that it is truly a national party, giving a befitting answer to the Congress which had been chiding the right-wing party all these years. Clearly, in this stunning reversal for the BJP, the `Modi wave’ is the most evident factor that is discernible from this election. A massive victory in the swing state of Uttar Pradesh, where its `leads’ tally stood at a massive 68 out of 80 seats, total sweep in Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, and commendable performances in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu besides smaller states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Goa cannot but be attributed to this wave.
As for the Congress, this is the most shocking defeat in history and will take quite a bit of time to come to terms with it. With the new heir at the helm, the party has faced the kind of drubbing it had never even imagined. From now on, it will be an uphill task to rebuild the party, brick by brick. That most of the Union ministers and other big names of the party have lost shows the kind of people’s anger against the century-old organisation.
With this massive victory and if it gains majority on its own, the BJP will become the first party since 1984 to do so. The best performance since 1984 till date was of Congress in 1991 when it secured 244 seats. The BJP’s best run hitherto was in 1998 and 1999, both times winning 182 seats.
However, amidst the massive support for the BJP, some regional parties stood their ground. The AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Biju Janata Dal in Odisha did not allow the BJP to make inroads in their states – not that BJP was strong by any yardstick in these states – and showed that regional parties have not lost their base amid the Modi wave.
There may be trouble for some state governments though. Ruling JD(u) in Bihar, Congress in Uttarakhand and JMM-Congress government in Jharkhand may face trouble even if a handful of legislators cross over. Assam may see a new CM as Tarun Gogoi has talked of resigning in the face of shock defeat of his Congress party. With 4-5 months to go for Assembly polls, the Prithviraj Chouhan-led Congress-NCP government may have to give up the gaddi in Maharashtra.