The Congress launched its Madhya Pradesh campaign with a high-profile tour by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She began her tour with a Narmada aarti, surrounded by priests to give the right optics; and also addressed a public meeting where she made the following five promises, should the Congress win the state.
These include a return to the Old Pension Scheme for government employees, Rs 1,500 per month for women under the Nari Samman Yojana, gas cylinders at a subsidised rate of Rs 500, farm loan waiver and free electricity up to 100 units a month and a 50% discount on electricity bills up to 200 units. What was interesting is the overall imagery of soft Hindutva, even though the Congress leader cautioned against the BJP using religion as a poll plank.
But with the former Chief Minister Kamal Nath himself wooing Hindu leaders, the Congress has decided it’s better to play along instead of opposing the politics of religion. In fact, one of the tallest statues of Lord Hanuman is in Chhindwara, which is Nath’s constituency in Madhya Pradesh. Every time he tours the area in his chopper, Nath makes it a point to do an aerial parikrama of the statue. During his tenure as CM, he also set up 1,000 cow shelters and tweeted that the “Gaumata is a symbol of pride and faith for us and I cannot see her suffering on the streets.” This move was specially appreciated by the sages and Hindu priests. During the last elections, another former CM Digvijaya Singh had also undertaken a strenuous 3,300 km Narmada Parikrama yatra.
As an election strategy this is a smart move. It makes numerical sense to play along, than polarise the vote. Anecdotal evidence shows that the Congress is on a comeback ticket in Madhya Pradesh and a lot of it is to do with Kamal Nath himself. He has been on the ground ever since his government was toppled by the BJP. Though a familiar face in Lutyens Delhi, Nath did not rush back to the Capital, but instead stayed on in the state and took on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, both on the ground and on the floor of the Assembly. That is now paying him dividends.
If there is a learning here—especially after the Karnataka and Himachal wins—it is to give the local leadership a free hand and to let them lead the campaign, both regarding the issues to be raised and the tone and tenor of the narrative. Priyanka has learnt that from the above mentioned two elections, she takes the cue from the local leadership and then plays it up in her own style. This gives the campaign central heft.
The state of Chhattisgarh tells a similar story though here the Congress is in power. But with sitting CM Bhupesh Baghel balancing the politics of development with soft Hindutva, the Congress has a fine chance of retaining the state for this leaves the BJP with little to oppose.
And moreover, the BJP lacks a tall leader to take on Baghel. For reasons of its own, the party is not backing former CM Raman Singh who still remains its tallest leader in the state.
As for Rajasthan, well here both the BJP and the Congress are equally rift with inner party strife. However, since the BJP has a strong decisive Central leadership, their differences are not being played up in the headlines as much as the Congress ones. But these do exist and Vasudhara Raje still rankles with the Central leadership, especially as they know they need her to win the state.
Both Chouhan and Raje have resisted all attempts to move them to the centre. Which leaves the BJP little option but to fight the coming Assembly elections under their leadership. Hence, given the BJP’s own confusion and inner party rivalry, the state of Madhya Pradesh is ripe for the picking. For there is no such confusion within the Congress camp. Nath is the CM face. All the Congress needs to do is to play the cards right, and the state could well land right back in Kamal Nath’s score card.