BJP banks on committed RSS cadre to win in MP

NEW DELHI: Facing strong anti-incumbency and trouble within, the BJP is banking on “booth-level micromanagement” and “committed cadres” of ideological fountainhead RSS to see it through seemingly “difficult” elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and to an extent also Chhattisgarh.

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 19

Facing strong anti-incumbency and trouble within, the BJP is banking on “booth-level micromanagement” and “committed cadres” of ideological fountainhead RSS to see it through seemingly “difficult” elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and to an extent also Chhattisgarh.

The party is also hoping that the “time tested” appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take care of the “visible fatigue” among voters to some extent. BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday again reminded voters in Madhya Pradesh, where Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan is facing a 15-year anti-incumbency, that the Opposition was suffering from the “Narendra Modi phobia”. Chouhan recently had a firsthand experience of their anger when upset voters confronted his wife Sadhna Singh during a door-to-door campaigning in his constituency Budhni.

But while Chouhan appears to be placed better so far as his relationship with the RSS in its “garh” (bastion), his Rajasthan counterpart Vasundhara Raje, who despite suffering from a lesser degree of anti-incumbency, appears to be at a disadvantageous position with the sangh factor.

Roots of the RSS run deep in MP where the Congress virtually committed a “self goal” by referring to it in its manifesto and giving Chouhan a leg-up. Raje has no such advantage in Rajasthan where the sangh cadres too are believed to be unhappy with her.

As the BJP approaches its most crucial phase in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it is depending on micro-management at the booth level through tried-and-tested methodology of “panna pramukhs”. The methodology forms the backbone of any saffron election.

Party leaders are confident of “coordination” between the BJP and sangh affiliates like the VHP, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the ABVP is keeping the momentum in their favour. BJP-RSS is very adept at micro-management at the booth level. The cadre knows voters and shares a personal rapport with them. This helps in getting them to the booth on the election day and ironing any personal grievances they may have against the party or leaders, they explain.