Kamal Ghorui
LUCKNOW: BJP’s impressive performance in the West Bengal and Assam state polls has swung the arc-lights back to the next battleground Uttar Pradesh where the party is eyeing a third straight term under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath.BJP sources said that the twin victories were bound to lend a big push to the party’s poll momentum besides bolstering the morale of the cadre to take on a belligerent opposition — the SP and its ally Cong.Sources said that the party was already in the process of stepping up the poll groundwork to neutralize the opposition’s Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) narrative, which is said to have comprehensively dented the BJP, reducing its tally from 62 in 2019 to 33 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.Political experts said that the victory in Bengal and Assam could potentially pose a serious challenge to the opposition bloc in the state, where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav hasbeen positioning himself as a key anchor of the INDIA Alliance.“The win in West Bengal would certainly test the opposition and its ever-increasing aggressive stance vis-avis BJP,” said Prof SK Pandey, former head of the political science department at BabaSaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University.Analysts said that even though the states differ politically, the win in Bengal was bound to reinforce the BJP’s image of a “winning outfit”, driving public perception and cadre motivation in UP. The development also sharpens the focus on CM Yogi who has been emerging as a dominant political figure capable of independently shaping electoral outcomes to take on the opposition in UP.The Yogi-centric narrative, experts said, was set to gain traction in UP just like in Assam where CM Himanta Biswa Sarma became the face of BJP’s win. Analysts said that Sarma, who replaced Sarbanand Sonowal as the CM after BJP’s win in 2021, is known not only for his assertive leadership style but alsofor his hard-line positioning, just like Yogi. Sarma and Yogi, as a matter of fact, were key star campaigners for the BJP in the West Bengal polls as well. Not surprisingly, sources said, BJP’s campaign in UP would revolve around Yogi’s image, his governance record and ideological positioning. This, in effect, could create a direct “leader versus opposition” contest in the politically crucial state.The Bengal win, analysts said, would also augment the BJP structurally besides projecting it as a powerful overarching political outfit — not just against the opposition but also within its own alliance ecosystem in UP.Sources said that the BJP will be in a commanding position to tighten its grip on its allies who, at times, have been flexing muscles over the issue of seat sharing and their political relevance. Experts said that the allies like RLD, SBSP, Apna Dal (S) and Nishad party, would now be even more dependent on the BJP while having less negotiating space in the run-up to the next electoral battles.
