From 'secular' Akhilesh to dabangg Didi: By-polls' big winners, losers

Just as we were starting to hope that the Hamlet-esque confusion over the existence of the ‘Modi wave’ has been sorted for good with the BJP dancing its way to victory in the general elections, the by-polls in 10 states reared their heads in argument. While there was an odd voice here and there, pointing at Modi’s lacklustre first 100 ‘achche din’ and suggesting that the by-polls will be different, even the BJP’s strongest critics couldn’t find any strength in the argument beyond a point. However on Tuesday, as the results of by-polls in ten states were revealed, the health of the Modi wave is back up for debate. ‘Communal-secular’ debates have hijacked Twitter conversations and BJP has acquired a brand new headache in the shape of the upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana. Here’s a list of the people who are truly the winners and losers in these by-elections which seems to have turned the tables on the country’s ruling parties. Winners 1. Akhilesh Yadav: When Akhilesh Yadav appeared before journalists this afternoon, he had the winsome will-thank-mother-neighbour-pet dog-manicurist expression that we usually associate with young girls who have just been crowned Miss India and with it, promised at least a cameo in a Madhur Bhandarkar film. We can’t grudge the poor man his moment in the sun, can we? He might have earned his place in the list of the most inept state administrators ever, but he had just showed BJP that the he, with blessings from daddy dearest, is still on top of the religious polarisation game. [caption id=“attachment_1715363” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Akhilesh Yadav. AFP image[/caption] The Samajwadi Party has traditionally earned it’s mandate by making Muslims feel like victims in a predominantly majoritarian political discourse in India. That psychology made them look like the messiahs to the large Muslim electorate in Uttar Pradesh. However, the BJP seemed to have turned the math on its head in this year’s general elections and the credit probably goes to Modi, who didn’t undermine his religious identity, but didn’t let the same eclipse his development agenda. However, the moment BJP put Hindu hardliner Yogi Adityanath in the lead for the by-poll campaign and tried to be the saviour of the Hindus, they kicked off a losing battle against the SP. They just convinced the people that the allegations of divisive politics that SP has been aiming at BJP are probably all true, what with the BJP going all hammer and tongs at an imaginary ’love jihad’. Basically Akhilesh was rewarded the sweetest kind of win - one gifted to him by the opponents themselves. 2. Sachin Pilot:  Stand away ye people, as young Sachin Pilot relishes his picture-perfect Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander moment. After all, he has bravely cycled past, in his own words, “the Government of India, government of Rajasthan… money power, muscle power, MLA, MPs and everything”. With two of the four seats Congress contested against the BJP, safely in his pocket, Pilot can now wipe his forehead, take a deep breath and even sing a song of victory if he fancies. In fact, given that, after Arvind Kejriwalising Ajay Devgn in Satyagraha, Prakash Jha might be looking for a story, young Sachin Pilot, with his fashion glossy smile and fancy spectacles can be the perfect choice. [caption id=“attachment_1715365” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sachin Pilot. AFP image[/caption] After all, it’s no small feat defeating the party which won 163 of the 200 assembly seats a few months back and swept the country’s general elections just a couple of months later. Pilot played his game well, one must say. In the run-up to the by-polls he hailed BJP’s victory - there was no way one couldn’t - yet added added a post-script to his admission. In a interview a few days ago, Pilot told Business Standard how despite having 163 MLAs, chief minister Vasundara Raje Scindia holds 47 important portfolios in the state. The unspoken caveat he made while stating this - has the victory gone into the heads of the top leadership? During his campaigning too, he underlined how the clamour for power has blindsided the top leaders in BJP making them much less effective. Finally, he cut the classic victim figure. Everyone  loves an underdog in India, isn’t it? Like in the post-win comments, he repeatedly harped on how villain BJP has been ‘abusing’ Congress in Rajasthan. Now between Amrish Puri and sweet-faced bespectacled boy, who will India vote for? The answer’s right out there! 3. Samik Bhattacharya: …Who? BJP’s ticket to Tollywood, guys! This never-heard-of gentleman did the unthinkable! He got BJP its first seat in the West Bengal assembly since Badal Bhattacharya’s win for the TMC-BJP combine in 1999, and that too right under Mamata Banerjee’s nose. Come to think of it, Banerjee and the CPM had done all the things expected of them in a constituency that lies in the Bengal- Bangladesh border and is hence communally sensitive. [caption id=“attachment_1715391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Samik Bhattacharya. Photo courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Yet, who won? Bhattacharya. Now how shocking will it be if a film starring Rahul Bose and with half a song turned out to be hit when films with Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan were vying for box office attention? Yeah, you are allowed to use your favourite curse-word expressing shock, because for TMC, this is somewhat of an early alarm they were not expecting to ring. Obviously, Bhattacharya seemed to have pulled of the secular act, with much more panache than his party in UP and for that he deserves an applause. Losers:  1. Amit Shah: Now Amit Shah is having a bit of a Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna moment here, lets say. Remember how Abhishekh Bachchan, then at his fittest and sartorial best, loses the hot woman to a limping, jittery and bad-tempered Shah Rukh Khan. It is that big an ‘ouch’ moment for Shah, in his first test at the BJP’s president in the country. Losing Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which his party neatly wrenched out of the respective opposition’s grip in the general elections just a few months back, is a big bummer for his leadership record. [caption id=“attachment_1715367” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amit Shah. Reuters image[/caption] Also, though he roared and ranted about Mamata Banerjee’s ‘scams’ in Bengal the BJP couldn’t dent the TMC’s urban votes, proving once again that the BJP has a long way to go before it makes any headway in the state. He also probably realises that he can no more say, ‘mere paas Modi hai’ and hope to win all polls, he will have to think up a strategy that’s more intensive and focussed. 2. Mamata Banerjee: How did Mamata Banerjee manage to deploy an entire phalanx of ministers and film stars, rope in a popular footballer as candidate and still lose to a not very well-known BJP candidate, operating without the Modi wave? Now that’s a puzzle that Mamata’s strongest political brains will not be able to solve in a jiffy. While the constituency belonged to the CPM, one would assume that an anti-CPM vote would ideally belong to the Trinamool, but the BJP rushed in from absolutely nowhere to grab that seat back. [caption id=“attachment_1715369” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mamta Banerjee. AFP image[/caption] Even if she isn’t a  big loser in this one, this is definitely a big facepalm moment for her. 3. Vasundhara Raje Scindia: She who led BJP back to power and then let a crippled Congress party wrench away two seats from her in the by-polls. Vasundhara Raje’s fortunes, right now, seem on a path a K-serial bahu’s  is usually - with never a moment of peace. [caption id=“attachment_1715371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Vasundhara Raje. AFP image[/caption] One might say, Raje showed a classic AAP syndrome in Rajasthan after her win, when she tried to take on too many things at the same time. In a cabinet which had just 11 ministers, Raje held 47 porfolios. She ordered a slew of projects to be expedited and launched, she even hauled up grassroots level officers, but with the whopping win, came a restless electorate. A Business Standard article notes how months after the polls, several people were disgruntled with the government. Theirs was the biggest and most stereotypical complaint of the average Indian voter which is that ‘Nothing has changed’. This feeling, once it snowballs, can very well send the state BJP where the electorate has sent the Congress to in this year’s polls. 4. Anandiben Patel:  Just how did the Congress manage to win even three seats in the Gujarat by-polls, which were traditionally held by the BJP? This should be a question that will give Anandiben Patel more than just a few sleepless nights in the days to come. Now imagine a film which has Salman Khan and ten sequences where he gets to beat up at least 100 men, flop after an Eid release? Losing those three seats to none other that the Congress is that big a disaster. [caption id=“attachment_1715375” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anandiben Patel. AFP image[/caption] One might say that this was Gujarat trying to deal with Modi withdrawal symptoms, but that says how influential a figure Anandiben Patel has really been in the state. We can guess that poor Patel is feeling a bit like what Abhishekh Bachchan will feel if he was asked to stop playing a human door knob in Dhoom films and asked to host Kaun Banega Crorepati instead! 5. ‘The Modi wave’: Of course, it has lost. If BJP wins, it’s the Modi wave. The party, TV anchors and Twitter fans flaunt it, wave it at critics’ face and make a hero out of it when BJP wins. And when BJP loses, BJP looks away as Manish Tewari and Digvijaya Singh and their ilk have the time of their lives taking pot shots at it. [caption id=“attachment_1715377” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. AFP[/caption] The Modi wave must have earned itself the biggest flop of its career by losing Rohania, part of the Varanasi constituency, also known as PM Modi’s constituency. Though the BJP didn’t directly fight from the constituency, it’s ally Apna Dal lost the seat to Samajwadi Party. This despite the BJP maintaining a camp in the area to keep a watchful eye on its ally’s activities. Still, they lost. And it’s like Sachin Tendulkar going out for a duck at the Wankhede. Here’s your cue to shed a little tear for the ‘Modi wave’s’ fall from hero-hood. While Modi might have deserted the ‘wave’ and busied himself with more important stuff like scaring China, like ‘Aag’ in Ram Gopal Verma’s career, the ‘wave’ shows no signs of leaving him.