Narendra Modi roadshow
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, November 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a roadshow in the royal city of Jaipur. Modi kept his focus on the law and order poll plank in the Rajasthan Assembly lection as his roadshow took out from the Sanganeri Gate in the walled city of Jaipur.
With a huge crowd on both sides of the road, Modi pushed through Bapu Bazaar, Kisahapole Bazaar, Chhoti Chaupad, Tripolia Bazaar, Badi Chaupad and Johari Bazaar with the supporters making a grad show of flower petals showered on him. By the time Modi wrapped his roadshow in Jaipur from where two of the Lok Sabha MPs – Diya Kumari and Rajyavardhan Rathore – are in the poll fray, the political observers spotlighted the significance of the event as it lays claims to revive the BJP’s traditional hold in the royal city.
With some of the Assembly constituencies having significant Muslim population, political observers noted that the roadshow also sought to whip up polarisation which has been known as the trump card of the BJP in elections. Dalit voters are also present in significant strength in Japuri city area which has a total of 19 Assembly seats. The scorecard in the 2018 Assembly election had the Congress counting 10 seats while the BJP had bagged six constituencies and the independents had won from three seats.
But the BJP poll managers know that the 2018 result in Jaipur was far more disappointing than the apparent scorecard. The BJP had polled just about 33,000 votes less than the Congress. The BJP’s vote share was 39.3 per cent against Congress’ 40.5 per cent. Also, the BJP was disheartened more for the reason that Jaipur city has traditionally been a saffron bastion.
In the 2013 Assembly election, the BJP had polled a whopping 47 per cent vote share. But five years later the BJP had lost almost eight per cent vote share in the city. In 2013 Assembly election, the BJP had won 16 Assembly seats against three of the Congress. Thus, the BJP is aware that a repeat of the 2013 performance in terms of vote share could help the saffron outfit demolish the citadel of the Congress in Rajasthan. The political observers also note that Jaipur sets the electoral trend for the whole of the state.
While Modi laid his emphasis on law and order situation, the workers on the ground counted the spate of communal tension in the city in the recent time, including violence because of alleged cases of cow slaughter. The BJP will hope that its Hindutva trump card plays in Jaipur city to set the tone for Rajasthan.
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