Opinion Way from Ranchi
Jharkhand results offer a sobering moment for the BJP, and a reminder of the usefulness of coalitions
Slapping sedition charges on people for staging a play that allegedly insulted the prime minister, raising slogans and statements shows a deliberate misinterpretation of the law with the intent to curb dissent. 
There are lessons for the BJP in the Jharkhand loss.
The Jharkhand result should worry the BJP, not least because it has been losing assembly elections and allies since 2017-18. The loss of Jharkhand will rankle particularly, since the BJP had won 11 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state in May and provided a stable government for the full five-year term, a first since the state was formed in 2000. The defeat may also have come at an inopportune time for the party — neighbouring Bihar, where the BJP is in office in alliance with the JD-U, is headed to polls next year. The gains in Jharkhand will be a boost for the Opposition, which, since the drubbing in the general election, has been lying low.
There are lessons for the BJP in the Jharkhand loss. One, the party’s over-reliance on a single leader, Narendra Modi, for mobilising votes, is problematic in the states. Voters, clearly, make a distinction between national and state elections and national trends are not necessarily replicated in the states: Local issues can carry greater salience in the assembly election than so-called national issues. Modi and Amit Shah campaigned primarily on national security, including the CAA and NRC, whereas the gathbandhan — the JMM, Congress and RJD — focussed on local concerns, particularly unemployment, land alienation of tribals, failures in the delivery of public goods. The BJP projected Raghubar Das as its sole face in the state, but the move triggered dissent within the party. Two, the election may also be read as a reminder of the usefulness of alliances in a fragmented polity. The gathbandhan’s success is largely the result of a well-crafted coalition whereas the BJP, once famed for its skill in building alliances, was handicapped by the absence of allies. It failed to reach a seat-sharing arrangement with the All Jharkhand Students Union Party (AJSUP), its partner in office, and that hurt both the parties: The AJSUP mopped up nearly 8 per cent of the vote.
States voting differently in the general election and in assembly polls is an indication of a powerful federal impulse that seems to have survived the BJP’s push for the centralisation of politics and governance. The Maharashtra and Jharkhand outcomes suggest that ignoring regional factors, and parties, could prove costly.
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