Biggest Pradesh, clear Uttar: Modi

Lucknow : Ending a 14-year “vanvaas” in Uttar Pradesh, the  BJP juggernaut has stormed  the Hindi heartland on the “parivartan” plank, winning 325 of the 403 seats, leading to an almost “Samajwadi-Congress-BSP mukt” Uttar Pradesh. These parties together mustered a measely 74 seats.
The BJP on its own won 312 seats and its alliance partner Apna Dal nine and the Suhel Dev Bharatiya Samaj Party four, taking the BJP tally to 325 — way beyond exit poll predictions. None saw the BJP cornering a whopping 39.7 per cent of the vote share.
It was virtually a repeat of the BJP tsunami in 2014 when, along with ally Apna Dal, it had won 72 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah team campaigned aggressively, putting the entire Opposition on the back foot — be it Congress’ Rahul Gandhi,   SP’s Akhilesh Yadav or BSP’s Mayawati. Repackaging demonetisation in the rich-versus poor idiom and pursuing soft Hindutva in the qabristan-shamshaan sub-text, paid the BJP rich dividends. “Samjhane se nahi, behkaney se vote mile” (votes were won not by convincing people, but by misrepresenting facts)”, remarked Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav during his first interaction with the media after he had conceded defeat. The SP-Congress alliance wrapping up just 55 (48+7) seats sends out a clear message that UP perhaps was not so enthusiastic about their ‘saath’. While Yadav defended the alliance as the coming together of two young leaders, claiming it would continue in the future, whispers within the party on the Congress “puncturing” the cycle are already doing the rounds.