By the Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

There are number of reasons for defeat in elections but when you loose your own stronghold to the other side, it’s especially humiliating. Something similar happened to BJP in by elections at Phoolpur and Gorakhpur but there were several seen and unseen reasons that led to this outcome, and moreover, if this sort of thing can happen again, its implications can be much more troublesome for the country as can be seen in the anti India slogans raised in Araria few days ago.

The first and the foremost reason was the low voting percentage. People often don’t show much enthusiasm for by polls and given the presence of strong vote bank of BJP, it could be a possibility that party workers and supporters felt complacent. There however could be other likelihoods, given the reputation question of winning the seats for CM and deputy CM, it could be possible that resentment factor played some role in this defeat. Now this unhappiness can be for any reasons such as choosing wrong candidate, unbalanced caste equations or anxiety with govt. policies. Since, UP government’s focus is more on law and order situation, it could possibly be an anxiety towards the center. Although PM Modi do not have any record of corruption against him, the unpopularity of certain economic policies like GST among business class and exposure of fraud, corruption and plundering of public assets in cases such as Nirav Modi and PNB has put government’s accountability in question. Another dire problem is of unemployment; government sector which use to provide bread and butter to thousands of young graduates have fallen drastically short of its reputation. Corruption and nepotism in staffing exams, delays and court cases have mired the name of several public service exams. There could be any and many reasons behind this defeat but those reasons should be found and addressed.

All this adds to the frustration of the middle class who is the biggest and staunchest support base of Narendra Modi and sensing weakness this time, his current allies such as Shivsena and former allies such as TDP are trying to intensify the pressure the ruling party is under right now. BJP should have been more stringent on weeding out corruption, popular support and warmth of power has made them complacent over the years. The wrong doings of past, the systemic graft that has spread like termite and the general feeling of hopelessness will not go away in mere term, it will  be a long, painful process to build the “Rashtra” many in this country dream of. Power and public opinion changes like weather and people who cheered your victory may rejoice your loss.

Should Modi face difficulty in next election, the greatest implication will be of security. The Islamic and red terror that are the biggest security threat to this country will come back with a vengeance. The opposition does not have anyone with whom people can be confident with. Dynastic crown princes, no matter what their party and PR team portray are grossly incompetent to run a tea stall much less run a country. Unlike leaders of congress, people of this country don’t have a safe haven in Italy. BJP should learn its lessons or ‘acchee din’ may become a thing of the past.