Electoral master plan

Now that we are talking about women and love, what about the earthly angels involved in the serious business of electoral politics? For some time now, the question of how to win the 2019 national elections and the forthcoming state assemblies has vexed most of the BJP leadership. Publicly, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah exude utmost confidence. Officially, the party’s top brass claims that the NDA will cross the magic half-way figure in Lok Sabha, and win all the states before the national elections. But when journalists scratch a bit, and talk to the BJP leaders in private, there is an immediate admission that the situation isn’t hunky-dory and tough months lie ahead. However, there is a concrete plan in the mind of the Modi-Shah duo. In fact, things are working almost-perfectly according to this plan. The Triple Talaq ordinance has divided Muslim families; the women have turned pro-Modi. The game-changer, Mayawati of Bahujan Samaj Party with crucial Dalit votes in North India, has begun to dance to Modi-Shah’s political tunes. It is learnt that she was told, in no friendly terms, that her choice lies between an alliance with the Samajwadi Party or finding her brother, Anand, in jail. (Apparently, the Enforcement Directorate has a dossier on her and her brother’s allegedly illegal wealth.) This is possibly why Mayawati decided to fight the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assemblies on her own. She is likely to sing the same-divide-and-let-Modi-rule tune in the near future. Another move that will benefit the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is the decision of Shiv Pal Yadav, Mulayam Singh’s brother, to ditch his nephew ‘Tipu’ (Akhilesh Yadav), and start his own party, Samjavaadi Secular Morcha. The final masterstroke of the Modi-Shah duo may come in the form of a political purge, and electoral surgical strike. Almost 60 per cent of sitting MPs and MLAs are unlikely to be given tickets in the forthcoming elections. Modi, obviously, will not sacrifice himself at the altar of anti-incumbency. The fact remains that Modi was a bit restrained and guarded in the 2014 elections because he was the ‘Opposition’. Now, he is in power, and 2019 may witness a no-holds-barred campaign.