UP Elections Result: 'Shah' of strategy, BJP chief delivers, yet again

At a closed door meeting during the BJP conclave in January, when a member expressed apprehension about the party losing core voters' support after demonetization, party president Amit Shah merely said "Our concern is for the sampoorna (all) ".

Shah was echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post-demonetization narrative —that the government's focus was on the common man, particularly the poor. This set the tone for BJP's battle in the five-state Assembly polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. It was Shah who spun the party's strategy around this theme, casting the party's social net beyond its traditional support base of upper castes and traders to reach out to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Dalits outside the dedicated votebanks of the SP and BSP.

After 153 rallies, a dozen roadshows and countless nights spent in Uttar Pradesh, Shah exuded confidence that the party was set to win two-thirds majority; it finally ended up sweeping UP and Uttarakhand with a three-fourths majority.

For the 52-year-old Shah, a victory in UP reinforces his image as a master strategist, particularly after humiliating defeats in the Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections in 2015. Shah emerged unscathed from both setbacks with the party taking collective responsibility for the losses. The credit for victory in UP and Uttarakhand will go to two men from Gujarat—Modi and Shah—and they will call the shots on who the chief ministers will be.

The party chief's style of functioning will now be unquestioned, from selection of his team to political strategy, dismissing any criticism from within. The Modi confidante will soon start preparing for the next elections — in his home state of Gujarat and in Himachal Pradesh.

While the Congress hired Prashant Kishor, Shah worked with his backroom team that included three RSS full timers – Shiv Prakash, Sunil Bansal and Om Mathur —and party general secretary Bhupendra Yadav. The low profile micro-managers were involved in various aspects of the election. Acceptable to all, they coordinated with party leaders and guided the cadre. They devoted themselves to the party over the past year, traveling across the state. Besides them, around six pracharaks worked in the six kshetras (divisions).

Both Shiv Prakash and Bansal had played significant roles in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls helping Shah, who was in-charge of the state. Mathur was in-charge of the state and Yadav was involved with aspects like rallies and media management in the state.

Basing his calculations on the support of the non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits, Shah pulled out all stops to ensure that the party roped in these sections. He chose Keshav Prasad Maurya, an OBC, to be the BJP's chief in the state, replacing Laxmikant Bajpayee, a Brahmin. The party gave around 35 per cent of the tickets to OBC candidates. It also banked on the split in the Muslim vote between the SP and the BSP.

Midway through the elections, he resorted to the BJP's pet theme — playing the Hindu card. With the Muslim vote going to opponents, Shah made an aggressive appeal to the majority community, without mentioning either. He said the people should get rid of "Kasab" which he elaborated as "Ka se Congress, Sa se Samajwadi Party and B se BSP." This did not come as a surprise as Shah had adopted a similar tactic half-way through the Bihar election when he said crackers would be burst in Pakistan if Nitish Kumar won.

In UP, too, Shah personally kept an eye on every detail, from the selection of candidates to trying to assuage disgruntled elements in the party or sections of voters, like Jats. After Modi, it was Shah whose posters overshadowed local leaders.

And on the big day of results, unlike on the day of the Bihar results when he evaded the media, Shah held a press conference at the party headquarters here which was celebrating with the beating of drums, bursting of firecrackers, and sloganeering.

"The reason for this victory is the performance of the Modi government on schemes for the poor... He is the most popular leader after independence," he said referring to the Ujjwala Yojana on LPG subsidy, Jan Dhan Yojana, electrification of villages and demonetization.

Shah said this election (result) would eliminate casteism, dynasty and appeasement from electoral politics to be replaced with politics of governance.