The victory of the Mahayuti comprising Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar), is not shocking, since it was felt till the time of counting that there would be neck-and-neck fight between this alliance and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), but the landslide victory of the former is surprising. While the results of all elections have to be accepted by all, there is a need to look into the causes leading to the results. The major defeat in the legislative assembly elections is not of the MVA, but all that Maharashtra stood for over the years.
The major factor that helped the Mahayuti to achieve the unprecedented success is the Ladki Bahin scheme introduced just a few months before the announcement of the elections. The beneficiaries preferred to go by the idiom: A bird in hand is better than two in the bush. Thus the MVA promise of increasing the amount to Rs 3,000 per month did not have an impact on women, who were seen coming out in large numbers to cast their votes.
The defeat of Hntendra Thakur and his son Kshitij, who had apprehended BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde with a huge amount of cash on the eve of polling, shows that the finding of the money did not affect voters in the region. The biggest defeat is that of the non-communal fabric of Maharashtra. The “Batenge toh Katenge” and “Ek Hain toh Safe Hain” slogans resulted in strong polarisation of the Hindus, who have started believing that their existence has been threatened by Islam.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis went to the extent of declaring the elections as a Dharmayudha (holy war). The election campaign saw the use of money in a big way, legal as well as illegal. Distribution of money and gifts was seen all over the state and a majority of those arrested indulging in such acts belonged to the BJP and SS (Shinde). Maharashtra also saw unprecedented electionrelated violence this time, which is a cause for grave concern. However, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar have to acknowledge that voters have accepted the parties led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar respectively as the real party after the split. The biggest mistake of the MVA leaders was they had lost touch with the masses.
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The leaders spent more time flaying the Mahayuti government, but failed to meet the people at the ground level. Uddhav Thackeray was criticised for not coming out of his home when he was the chief minister; he could have countered that by meeting members of the public. The Congress leaders repeatedly mentioned that Rahul Gandhi walked 4,000 kilometres, but they themselves did not take 40 steps to reach out to the public.
The defeat of senior Congress leaders stresses the need for the party to get younger people into the leadership, the way the BJP has been doing. The MVA leaders keep chanting the names of Shahu, Phule and Ambedkar, but have done little to take the ideology of these eminent social reformers to the public at large.
The time has come for sensible minds to revive the thoughts of these social reformers as well as to educate the masses that Shivaji Maharaj was not against Muslims, as is being projected. The biggest victor in the election is Raj Thackeray and his party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, whose sole purpose was to eat into Opposition votes to enable the victory of the Mahayuti. In Mumbai lingo, he can be called the political supari killer.
Abhay Mokashi is a senior journalist and media trainer. He tweets at @a_mokashi
