Target: Bhopal

With the BJP choosing to hold its national executive meeting at Indore, the battle for Madhya Pradesh has begun. A crucial round of assembly...

With the BJP choosing to hold its national executive meeting at Indore, the battle for Madhya Pradesh has begun. A crucial round of assembly elections are due in November, not only in MP, but also in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, the results of which will undoubtedly have a fundamental bearing on the general elections of 2004. Although the Ayodhya issue was not discussed by BJP leaders at Indore, there was a great deal of emphasis on Hindutva. Unencumbered by allies in MP, the BJP is playing the Hindu card aggressively, and hoping to replicate the Gujarat model as seen in the agitations created around the Bhojshala issue and in the fielding of Uma Bharti as the chief ministerial candidate.

MP is crucial for both BJP and Congress for several reasons. As far as the Congress is concerned, this is the only state where Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, now probably the most powerful Congress satrap of all, has bucked the anti-incumbency trend and retained power for a decade. The fact that Singh is pulling out all the stops to remain in his seat is seen in the skillful, if gimmicky, manner he has sought to capture 8216;Hinduism8217; through the gauraksha statements; 8216;Dalits8217;, through the famous Bhopal Declaration of 2002 and even 8216;patriotism8217; through his flag hoisting campaigns.

For Diggy Raja, another victory in MP would inordinately raise his stature and carry him to the very highest level of leadership within the Congress. For the BJP, on the other hand, a defeat in MP would mean a very significant loss. Notwithstanding Gujarat, from BJP8217;s point of view, the Hindi belt is far from conquered. In Bihar, it has not been able to dent the constituency of Laloo Prasad Yadav and in UP it remains dependent on the unpredictable Mayawati. Thus it badly needs a victory in both MP as well as Rajasthan to demonstrate that it is still the premier party of the Hindi heartland. The BJP8217;s campaigns against Digvijay Singh8217;s alleged tampering with electoral rolls and the earlier agitation by the state Youth Congress on the prime minister8217;s eating habits, point to the fiercely competitive nature of the contest in the offing. The trumpets have sounded for the battle of Bhopal. We now await the war.