Paddy pricing may have swung elections in the past in Chattisgarh but this time around, BJP’s victory in the State is as much a result of a strong vote from women and tribal communities.
Women voters and their support to the BJP has become a common refrain while analysing the party’s recent political victories, and so it was in Chattisgarh, where a 10-day sprint by the BJP to fill 53 lakh forms for the Mahtari Vandan Yojana (income support programme for women) was a big contributor. “We had a very short time frame for this idea to reach the electorate, we found out from our research and surveys that the Mahtari Vandan Yojana had resonance among women and a carry-over effect from Madhya Pradesh’s Laadli Behena Yojana,” said a senior BJP office-bearer.
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, BJP’s poll in-charge for the State, simply called up the party’s mandaladhyakshas (mandal-level chiefs) to get forms filled out for future beneficiaries. “Between November 7, which was the first phase of polling in Chattisgarh and the beginning of the silent period, i.e. November 15, we managed to get 53 lakh forms filled. Not just that, with the phone numbers that we collected, we called up the women beneficiaries to emphasise the benefits of the programme,” said a senior office-bearer of the BJP.
The Congress announced a similar scheme — the Chattisgarh Griha Lakshmi Scheme. However, since the announcement came on the day of Deepavali, no newspaper was printed the next day and hardly anyone was interested in TV news either, he added.
The next big section that the BJP tapped was the tribal seats, where the party had been wiped out in the 2018 polls. “When we visited the interior areas of the tribal belts, we found that bonuses for tendu leaf collectors had been very infrequent, and in fact, there was a fond remembrance of the Raman Singh government’s policies of bonuses and even gifts like footwear etc., for tendu collectors. We said that all will be restored in these areas,” said the source.
“There was already anti-incumbency with regards to the Bhupesh Baghel government although he was politically quite robust. But people knew that the State had been financing the electoral effort of the Congress in other States like Assam, U.P., Himachal Pradesh etc., and the ‘ATM’ label and corruption allegations had stuck. By announcing that we would give ₹3,100 as MSP for paddy, ₹100 more than the Congress, we equalised our appeal among farmers as well,” the source explained.
The absence of big leaders or a recognisable face turned out to be an advantage for the BJP in Chattisgarh. Working with the view that anyone could become Chief Minister allowed party workers to pull their strength together without any factionalism.
