BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde has been closely monitoring his party’s campaign in his home state Maharashtra. Despite the divided polity in the state, with many estimating close contests, Tawde says the Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Nationalist Congress Party, and Shiv Sena will emerge on top. In an interview, he tells The Indian Express that the party has managed to reach out to Dalit voters who rallied behind the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls. IE: The fight in Maharashtra is between two alliances of three parties each and then there are several rebels and smaller parties. What is the BJP's biggest strength? Vinod Tawde: We have properly managed politics of indirect benefit and politics of direct benefit. Indirect benefit refers to infrastructure: roads, railways, metros, water management and farming. Direct benefit, which means providing cash to accounts, are schemes such as Ladli-Behna Yojna, Kisan Samman Nidhi … IE: The PM recently spoke against welfare schemes that were rolled out in Congress-ruled states. However, in Maharashtra, the BJP is relying on the scheme. Isn’t this a contradiction? Vinod Tawde: Not at all. We have balanced the development of the state with direct benefit (schemes). We have announced nothing against what the BJP thinks. IE: The Opposition has Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Will the Shiv Sena and the NCP that are part of Mahayuti be able to draw votes without those leaders? Vinod Tawde: Sharad Pawar had never contested with us. He is no issue. The Shiv Sena was with us. But in 2014, we went separately. We had 123 seats, while (the combined) Shiv Sena had just over 60 seats. Even without the Sena, we crossed the figure of 120. With the BJP’s strength of 10 years of non-corrupt government, development politics, and direct benefit politics alongside Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, we will get additional votes. IE: Is the BJP in favour of Maratha reservation? Vinod Tawde: As far as the BJP is concerned, any agitation for Maratha reservation will always help the movement. But I am really surprised as to why Manoj Jarange-Patil (quota activist) is against the BJP. If you go through the reservation history of Maharashtra, the BJP has always been in support of the Maratha reservation. In 2014, when the BJP came to power, we gave 13% reservation to the Marathas. It was later struck down by the Supreme Court because nobody from the MVA government appeared to argue in favour of the reservation. IE: The OBCs in Maharashtra are worried that the Maratha quota will eat into their reservation. How do you view this? Vinod Tawde: When the BJP gave reservation for Marathas, it was given in addition to the OBC reservation. IE: In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won just nine of the 28 seats it contested. Will that have an impact on the Assembly polls? Vinod Tawde: We did get fewer seats in the Lok Sabha polls, but the vote share fell only by 0.03 percentage points. Even if we get the same votes as we got in Lok Sabha, we will win as there will be division of MVA votes between the AIMIM, VBA (Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi), Samajwadi Party, and some powerful Congress Independents. Mahayuti votes have only the threat of minor division by Raj Thackeray (who leads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena). Secondly, people did not vote in the Lok Sabha elections … The voters thought that even if they did not vote, the BJP would win. Those voters are cautious this time and we will see voting increase by 3-4 percentage points. IE: In the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP contested 163 of the 288 seats. But this time, the party is only contesting 152. Vinod Tawde: When there are three parties in an alliance, we have to adjust. IE: The BJP’s setback in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls was attributed to the consolidation of Dalit votes in favour of the INDIA bloc. Is that a worry this time too? Vinod Tawde: One false narrative the Congress tried in the Lok Sabha —- and saw somewhat of a success — was that the BJP would change the constitution if voted to power. We have been to Dalit bastis and voters and told them that if we wanted to amend the Constitution, we could have done so in 2014 and 2019. I think people are getting convinced by that. On the other hand, OBCs are more worried about (Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition) Rahul Gandhi’s statements on caste census … There is a feeling among the OBCs that a caste census will drag them back and that some of them will lose out on reservation. IE: The RSS has been working with the BJP this election in Maharashtra. How is that panning out? Vinod Tawde: The RSS is simply asking people to come out and vote. The Sangh is working to increase the turnout and this is going to benefit the BJP. IE: But do the slogans ‘batenge to katenge’ and ‘ek hai toh safe hai’ show some sort of insecurity on the BJP’s part? Vinod Tawde: No. The slogans just explain the situation. The Prime Minister said “ek hai toh safe hai (together we are safe)” because Rahul Gandhi is asking for a caste census We are asking voters to be united and vote for the development of Maharashtra.
