BJP plans social outreach ahead of Assembly elections in Haryana

After facing allegations that they wanted to change the Constitution of India after winning more than 400 Lok Sabha seats for the NDA, the ruling alliance led by the BJP is planning to initiate corrective measures and streamline its social outreach.

Weeks after the Lok Sabha results in which the BJP did not get a majority for the first time in a decade, senior party leaders have chalked out a nationwide plan and the state units have been asked to reach out to the members of the scheduled castes (SCs) to understand the reasons behind a section of the community voting for the Opposition parties.

Acknowledging mistakes

“The first step is to acknowledge that we have made mistakes and that we need to take corrective steps. The work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for social justice is impeccable. However, the elections results did not meet our expectations. So it is important for us to understand why the BJP could not succeed like previous Lok Sabha elections,” Ram Chandra Kannoujiya, president of the Scheduled Caste Morcha of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, told The Federal.

To understand the mistakes committed by the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, the party leadership has now asked all its state units to reach out to members of the Dalit communities and prepare a detailed report on the party’s shortcomings during the polls. Senior BJP leaders have asked the state units to organise a ‘Chaupal’ (meeting) in the areas where members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities live and understand why the BJP could not retain its seats.

“During the Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition parties succeeded in convincing people that if the NDA manages to get 400 or more seats it will change the Constitution and end the reservation policy. The Opposition’s strategy also worked because some of our leaders in different states also made these statements. Though the BJP government under PM Modi always worked for the poor and financially weaker sections, such remarks made by our leaders hurt the poll prospects of the party,” Kannoujiya said.

The recent move of the NDA government to observe June 25, the day the Emergency was imposed by the then Congress regime in 1975, as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas’, was also part of the alliance’s counter-strategy.

Plugging gaps in Haryana

Meanwhile, after suffering a setback in the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, where the Assembly polls are due later this year, the BJP leadership is trying to plug the gaps in its strategy and reach out to the communities that backed the Opposition parties in the general elections.

The BJP leadership is now considering giving Rajya Sabha ticket to a leader from the Scheduled Caste community in Haryana. Ahead of the assembly polls in November this year, Haryana will witness Rajya Sabha polls, as senior Congress leader Deepender Hooda has vacated his Rajya Sabha seat after winning the Lok Sabha polls from Rohtak.

Earlier, to consolidate its position in Haryana, the BJP gave Rajya Sabha ticket to Subhash Barala, a senior Jat leader and former state unit president, in April this year. The decision to give Rajya Sabha tickets to leaders of Jat and Dalit communities is interesting because the two communities supported the Opposition candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.

Shah steps in ahead of polls

“No political party can defeat the BJP. The party lost some of the Lok Sabha seats because we made mistakes and were unable to rectify them at the right time. The biggest mistake was that we let the Opposition create a perception that the Constitution would be changed. Apart from it, we allowed the Opposition to build a narrative that the state leadership was not in control,” Gaurav Beniwal, executive member of BJP’s SC Morcha in Haryana, told The Federal.

Taking a cue from the suggestions that the BJP leadership should place greater emphasis on putting up a united face in the elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has decided to intervene and is planning to visit Haryana this month. The BJP leadership has decided that it will not only try to win back the voters of the Dalit and Jat communities, which together comprise over 40% of the voters, but will also try to consolidate its hold over OBCs.

“The BJP is facing the ire of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) because of its actions. It is unfair to blame the Opposition parties. During the election campaign, some senior party leaders spoke about possible changes in the Constitution, if the NDA got 400 or more seats. There is no doubt that the BJP has changed the reservation structure by including the EWS and other such measures. So while the BJP can now accuse the Opposition, people notice what the party does and that is why the BJP suffered a jolt in Lok Sabha polls,” Dr N Sukumar, author and political science professor at Delhi University, told The Federal.