Though President J P Nadda announced proudly that the BJP had become self-reliant, emphasising that it no longer needed the crutches of the RSS, the saffron party realised its mistake soon. The party reached out to the Hindutva outfit and the two decided to do a tango in the Haryana Assembly Election 2024.
RSS-BJP Tango In Haryana Assembly Election
After the BJP lost 49% of the booths, winning just 9,740 out of 19,812 booths in Haryana in the Lok Sabha Election 2024, the saffron party decided to seek the help of the RSS. The saffron outfit pointed out that in most of the seats the BJP had, the workers had not stepped out of their homes.
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Besides, the urban voters, who were once considered to be core, did not turn out in large numbers. The RSS said bluntly that the BJP workers believed that their candidate would win in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
RSS Suggests To Opt For New Faces
If media reports are to be believed, the RSS raised the concern over the anti-incumbency factor after remaining in the government for ten years, and advised the saffron party to drop senior leaders and opt for fresh faces. The party accepted this advice and more than half of the sitting MLAs were axed when the candidates were chosen for the assembly election.
RSS Takes Control Of Election
In what may be termed as an attempt by the RSS to take control of the election management for Haryana, it emphasised better coordination between the two Hindutva organisations
If media reports are to be believed, the RSS leaders emphasised the BJP should ensure that the party workers get their due and are not ignored. It also said in its feedback, that many workers had pointed out that they felt demotivated as those who had joined the party recently were given bigger responsibilities. The saffron outfit asked the party to address this issue and respect the party workers.
RSS-BJP Coordination
The political observers believe that the BJP accepted most of the suggestions made by the RSS because it realised that a large section of the RSS cadre stayed away from election work during the Lok Sabha election. It resulted in a reduced tally for the saffron party.
A coordination meeting was held in the first week of September. It was attended by the leaders of the BJP, the RSS and important ministers of the Haryana government. If media reports are to be believed, the RSS leaders severely criticised the party and said in the most unambiguous terms that if their advice had been followed, it would have won at least eight more seats in the Lok Sabha election.
Ticket Distribution Under RSS Control
Taking advantage of the situation, they also made it clear that the Haryana Assembly Election 2024 should be fought unitedly, and the RSS cadres should have active and significant roles at the booth level.
If media reports are to be believed, the RSS made it clear that it should have an active role in ticket distribution as well. It also prepared a list of its candidates.
Consequently, more than half of the MLAs including some ministers were denied tickets. The RSS also managed to get tickets for some of its cadres.
RSS ‘Swayamsevakas’ Spread Across Haryana
After meetings and too many deliberations, the RSS deployed 150 ‘swayamsevakas’ or volunteers, who spread to the length and breadth of the state. These volunteers worked under ‘karyakartas’ (workers). These workers worked with the volunteers at panchayat-level volunteers and organised ‘chaupals’ to reach out to the voters.
The BJP is upset over the fact that its vote share in the Assembly elections fell from 43% in 2014 to 36.49% in 2019. Similarly, the Lok Sabha vote share dropped from 58.21% in 2019 to 46.10% in 2024.
Despite coordination with the biggest Hindutva outfit at the grassroots level and taking all steps to fight anti-incumbency, the BJP is in a very difficult position and it is an uphill task in true sense to return to power.
