BJP’s Beed debacle: Failure to take a stand for OBCs during Maratha stir and other factors that affected Munde’s prospects

BJP’s mass leader and former Union minister late Gopinath Munde was instrumental in giving Beed a new identity and political foothold, as a result of which the BJP retained the seat from 1996 to 2019.

A decision proved wrong

In the recently concluded general elections, the BJP decided to replace two-term sitting MP Pritam Munde with her sister Pankaja Munde as the candidate,with a belief that Pankaja would be a strong contender to withstand the challenges thrown by NCP-SP amid the Maratha reservation protests that led to sharp polarisation in eight districts of Marathwada region.

However, the party was proved wrong when the election results  came in. While Pankaja Munde polled 6.77 lakh (44.50 per cent) votes, her rival Bajrang Sonwane polled 6.83 lakh (44.93 per cent) votes.

Multiple factors are attributed to the defeat of Pankaja Munde who had served as cabinet minister in Devendra Fadnavis-led Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in 2014-2019. As compared to her candidature,  low key candidate Sonwane was projected by NCP( SP) as a grassroots worker with rural connect.

According to Sonwane, “The unrest among people on real issues such as agriculture distress, unemployment and inflation led to BJP’s debacle. They projected false picture of growth under Modi that was rejected by the masses.”

Three reasons

The elections in Beed parliamentary seat has always veered around Marathas versus OBCs. In that sense the polarisation due to reservation is not necessarily an unprecedented phenomenon. The OBCs collectively consolidated in favour of BJP in Beed in successive elections in the past 28 years. But why did it fail this time?

A senior OBC leader from Beed said on the condition of anonymity, “Pankaja Munde’s failure to take a strong stand for OBCs and against Maratha reservation led to her debacle.”

During the Maratha protests in October 2023, OBC MLA Prakash Solanke’s house in Beed was torched, along with fire commercial establishment and hotels owned by people from the OBC communities. The only leader who came out in public and spoke against the Marathas then was minister Chhagan Bhujbal from the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Pankaja’s initial silence coupled with failure to take a strong stand for OBCs sent out a wrong message, though the Vanjari ( OBC) community stood by her. However, other OBC segments distanced from Pankaja Munde.

Another stronger reason for her debacle was the absolute consolidation of Marathas, Muslims and Dalit votes against the BJP.

The third reason is that Pankaja Munde, who was working in the central BJP team, did not have the same connect with people across the six assembly segments that constitute Beed Lok Sabha constituency.

The disappointment

The concerted attempts by BJP Maratha leaders to diffuse community anger against Pankaja and the party proved futile. The supporters of Manoj Jarange Patil widely circulated her comment, “you don’t get reservation by protesting”, without proper context that worked against the BJP.

The eldest of three Munde daughters, Pankaja was hoping to stage a comeback in the Lok Sabha polls with her supporters believing that a win would have granted her a cabinet berth.

After the demise of her father Gopinath Munde in June 2019, by-election was held in Beed that was won by Pritam Munde. She retained the seat later in 2019 polls.

Pritam’s failure to make it to cabinet led by Prime Minister  Narendra Modi in 2019 had upset the Munde sisters. It also led to the resignation of local leaders in protest.

The Beed Lok Sabha was dominated by Congress five times from 1957 to 1991, with breaks. In 1952, it was represented by then People’s Democratic Front. The Communist Party of India represented the seat twice in 1967 and 1977.