From the Urdu Press: Modi juggernaut en route to 2024 and AAP’s Delhi twin-engine to Cong’s Himachal breather

In its editorial on December 9 on the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the New Delhi edition of Roznama Rashtriya Sahara writes that their results were not surprising — the BJP was expected to retain power in Gujarat and that the Congress managed to wrest Himachal from the BJP in line with the hill state’s history of throwing up alternate governments.

However, the BJP’s triumph in Gujarat, the daily writes, was an unprecedented landslide, with the party bagging 156 of the total 182 seats with a staggering 52.5 per cent vote share as compared to its 99-seat tally and 49.05 per cent votes in the 2017 Assembly polls. “The entire credit for this spectacular victory of the saffron party has to be given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who single-handedly scripted it, spearheading his party’s campaign through the length and breadth of the state,” it says, noting that Modi has made this a “prestige battle” in his home state. “The Congress’s new president Mallikarjun Kharge called him ‘Ravan’, but Modi turned it to his advantage. The PM campaigned hard, even did four rallies in a day, and sought to reach out to people everywhere. And the people of Gujarat again gave their mandate to the BJP while ignoring a slew of hot issues including the Morbi bridge disaster, price rise, unemployment, economic distress, and shrinking freedom and rights.”

The daily points out that the Congress fared disastrously in Gujarat, which was the first election the party faced after Kharge came to its helm. Despite a plethora of issues, the party failed to maintain its own previous performance, plummeting to 17 seats with 27.3 per cent votes from 77 seats with 41.44 per cent votes in the previous polls, it says, adding that in contrast the new entrant in the Gujarat fray, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), put up a remarkable show, garnering 5 seats with a 12.9 per cent vote share.

Although the Congress managed to come to power in Himachal Pradesh, but it pales into insignificance when seen in the larger context, the editorial says, referring to the recent history of the Himachal Assembly polls being marked with the rotational defeat of the incumbent party. “And even then, it was not a one-sided contest. Senior Congress leaders also did not show much interest in campaigning in the hill state, although Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi did hit the trail in the final countdown to the polls,” it notes. “In the final analysis, the outcome in this round of elections is a booster for the BJP. The AAP has now also joined the select group of national parties. As regards the Congress, the party must review its policy and strategies if it wants to check the BJP’s inexorable nationwide domination.”

URDU TIMES

Commenting on the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP’s victory in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in its editorial on December 8, points out that the AAP has dislodged the BJP from power in the MCD after 15 years, thereby taking charge of the civic body in Delhi where the party has its own government for the last two consecutive terms. The daily writes that the BJP-led Centre had unified the three MCDs earlier this year perhaps under a strategy that it would help the party ward off the newbie’s challenge but to no avail. It notes that the AAP

bagged 134 of the MCD’s total 250 wards, as compared to 48 of 270 seats in the 2017 polls, while the BJP won 104, down from 181 in the previous elections, and the Congress came a distant third plunging to just nine from 30 seats.

The edit notes that of the Congress’s nine councillors seven are Muslim faces, which is a pointer, it says, that the minority community has preferred the Congress over the AAP in several Muslim-dominated areas despite “both the parties shying away from raising the community’s issues”. It refers to the AAP’s “silences” and “non-committal stand” over issues like the 2020 Delhi riots and the remission of 11 convicts’ sentences in the gang rape and multiple murders in the Bilkis Bano case. “The BJP pulled out all stops to clinch the MCD polls, with even Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among other senior party leaders, hitting the campaign trail. Its defeat would trigger concerns in the BJP since at times even a seemingly minor setback may herald a brewing larger defeat.”

The daily says Kejriwal showcases his party’s “clean image”, but a municipal corporation is known to be a breeding ground for corruption. “MCD’s budget exceeds Rs 15,000 crore. The question is, will Kejriwal be able to rein in his councillors and maintain probity at a time when several AAP leaders including ministers such as Satyendar Jain have been in jail in connection with corruption charges,” the editorial says, adding that the Delhi people would expect better education and healthcare and other civic services under the AAP-ruled MCD, which would also be under the scanner of a strong Opposition.

SIASAT

Referring to the BJP camp’s renewed moves to rake up the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the Hyderabad-based Siasat, in its editorial on December 10, points out that the BJP MP from Rajasthan, Kirodi Lal Meena, introduced in the Rajya Sabha a private member’s Bill — Uniform Civil Code in India Bill, 2020, which seeks the constitution of a committee to prepare and implement a UCC in the country — amid strong protests from the Opposition parties. The editorial notes that the Bill was introduced in the Upper House after this motion was cleared by a majority votes by division called by the Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. “This move could be the BJP’s bid to test the waters on the UCC issue by gauging the prevailing public mood and political atmosphere. The UCC has always been a contentious issue in the country… Those opposed to secularism have always made attempts to impose the UCC to put an end to the community personal laws based on religion,” it states.

The daily says that the ruling BJP’s election manifesto had mentioned the UCC, although the party did not push for it earlier. “For the BJP, playing up controversial and polarising issues to extract political and electoral mileage always yields dividends,” it writes, stressing that the UCC is an “extremely sensitive and significant matter”, which will have its implications and repercussions for every community across the country. “The BJP should avoid playing politics on such a fraught issue and rather prevent the country’s atmosphere from getting vitiated. Before pushing it, the party should reach out to people everywhere and allow a nationwide discourse while steering the country towards communal harmony,” the edit says. “The BJP government may want to see the UCC row while maintaining a silence,” it says, adding the saffron dispensation should refrain from such attempts which might cause “disquiet” in the country.