New Delhi: In its first electoral battle in the Hindi heartland after facing the Bihar elections debacle, development and national security (read recent surgical strikes) will be part of BJP’s main poll planks for the coming Uttar Pradesh elections. BJP’s ‘star campaigners’ will extensively highlight the “political will” shown by the Modi government on the surgical strikes issue in politically crucial UP. The BJP leadership is hoping that “nationalism” and “national security” could help in coming back to power in UP, where it last ruled in 2002. Feedback reaching party’s poll managers suggest that the surgical strikes have boosted its prospects in UP as the “political will” shown by the Modi government on the issue will resonate among the people.
A senior BJP leader on Thursday said national security will “obviously” be a poll plank while underlining the “political will” shown by the Modi government in asking the Army to cross the LoC to hit terrorist launch pads in Pak-occupied-Kashmir.
“Development and national security are definitely issues. Who did take this decision (of surgical strikes)? It is this government that showed the political will of crossing the border. The Army carried this out but the decision was of the government,” said the senior leader while asserting that the BJP will get a strong majority in the polls scheduled for early next year.
Asked what difference does the party find in the UP election compared to Bihar, the senior leader said light-heartedly, “There is a change in atmosphere. Surgical strikes have happened.”
Riding on the ‘Modi wave,’ the BJP had swept UP in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 but is now facing stiff fight from two regional parties, ruling SP and BSP, which have ruled it by turn all these years.
BJP leaders feel that surgical strikes issue will appeal across the caste divide in the state and will fetch them extra votes in a same manner as Modi’s “developmental agenda”.
(This story originally appeared in the Asian Age)
