Lotus Blooms, Cong Wilts

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tightened its grip over India’s heartland with emphatic victories across three major states on Sunday, boosting the ruling party’s prospects of prevailing in next summer’s general elections and ringing alarm bells for the Opposition, specifically the Congress which found itself outgunned and now faces uncomfortable seat-sharing talks with potential allies in the INDIA bloc.

- Dhrubo Jyoti

The BJP staved off anti-incumbency to score a king-size victory in Madhya Pradesh, kept alive Rajasthan’s tradition of voting out the incumbent with a clear majority in the desert state, and shocked the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh by wresting back the tribal-dominated province with an impressive showing.

“Some people are already saying our hat-trick in the states is a guarantee of a hat-trick in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi told BJP workers in the evening in Delhi.

The only salve for the bruised Congress came south of the Vindhyas where the party defeated the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana with a disciplined campaign that exploited the latter’s vulnerabilities, the first time in several decades that the party has triumphed against a regional force.

Still, the party’s near-wipeout from the Hindi heartland that holds around 230 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha — the only state it rules on its own in north India is Himachal Pradesh, home to four parliamentary seats — spells trouble for its 2024 campaign.

Conversely, the saffron wave that marooned opponents will give heart to the BJP, which will attempt next year to become the first party in 40 years to secure a third consecutive term at the Centre. The verdict showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal and connect with voters remains a formidable force, especially in the heartland, and the party’s robust organisation, potent messaging that blends welfarism, anti-corruption and Hindu assertiveness, and the ability to generate pro-incumbency sentiment holds resonance among voters.