?Hindutva? makes BJP win

Inspite of the campaign unleashed by the opposition and the dissidence from within, Modi emerged victorious on Sunday to win the Assembly elections for the second time in a row, while forming a government in the state for the third successive term. The BJP had taken a daring risk by projecting Modi as the “man for Gujarat” despite opposition campaign over his alleged role in communal riots.

The feat, while giving him numero-uno status in the party, however, has triggered a sense of unease within the party. This was evident from the conflicting signals emanating as senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that “he will now get bigger roles” but party president Rajnath Singh contended that “no one is bigger than party”.

Many in the party, in fact, would have been happier in the event that Modi had won by a whisker or he would have had to scour around for support from independents to form his government. The thinking was that such a situation would have cut Modi to size, and deny him a “larger than life image”.

The results are also a setback to former chief minister Keshubhai Patel and his camp, who had tried to pose hurdles before Modi in the state. That the central leadership took action against them two days ago, clearly indicated which side they preferred to endorse.

Modi set the agenda for the tightly-fought race right from the beginning, whether it is his emphasis on development initially or the clever use of Hindutva later. Modi grabbed the opportunity presented by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her “merchants of death” remarks to rake up the Hindutva plank.

Right from the selection of candidates to identification of campaign issues, he left his imprint firmly on the party’s election strategy. He made a daring decision to deny tickets to as many as 50 sitting legislators and field around 100 new faces to overcome the local-level anti-incumbency.