It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the PM face of the BJP in the 2029 elections or not, but in both the situations, the results of 2024 will continue to haunt the central BJP leadership as the party’s tally came down to 33 seats from 63 in Uttar Pradesh where it was expecting to get more than 70 seats out of the total 80.
Bhopal: Is the Bhartiya Janata Party looking for a big regional Hindutva icon ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections who can help the party regain its lost ground especially in Uttar Pradesh (UP), and can strongly retain its support base in Madhya Pradesh?
It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the PM face of the BJP in the 2029 elections or not, but in both the situations, the results of 2024 will continue to haunt the central BJP leadership as the party’s tally came down to 33 seats from 63 in Uttar Pradesh where it was expecting to get more than 70 seats out of the total 80.
And despite the party’s slogan- “Abki baar 400 paar (This time more than 400 seats in the parliament) the party’s tally in the Lower House of the Parliament was reduced to 240 seats in 2024 Lok Sabha polls from 303 that it had got in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, due to the unexpected setback it received in UP.
The arithmetic of the party went wrong in UP despite the fact that the BJP kept talking about a double engine government here and chief minister Yogi Adityanath remained a prominent face of the Hindutva brand.
To think that the BJP will not contest the 2029 elections on the narrative of Hindutva is fine for an academic discussion, but in reality it will not happen.
Despite this, the party would not like to see the same results to be repeated in Uttar Pradesh as were seen in 2024.
Before 2029, assembly elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh in 2027 and in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 2028. It will not be out of context to mention here that Bihar is going to polls this year itself, another important state in the Hindi heartland for any political party.
But instead of waiting for the assembly results, the BJP is already busy fixing its electoral arithmetic, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
The fact that the ‘Maha Kumbh is being held in Prayagraj after 144 years’ was publicised by both the central government and the Uttar Pradesh government. As a result, Hindus from all over the country rushed towards Prayagraj.
The stampede and deaths in the Maha Kumbh and the stampede and deaths at the New Delhi Railway Station put a big question mark on the arrangements made by both the central and Uttar Pradesh governments, but still it did not seem that the public agitated against the governments over this.
But the party cannot formulate its electoral strategy by believing that the flood of faith as seen in Maha Kumbh will turn into the arithmetic of votes in 2029 and the slogan of crossing 400 will come true.
Instead of any ifs and buts, the central leadership of the BJP would like to work on or is working on a solid strategy so that it gets absolute majority in 2029 and does not need any crutches like JDU or TDP to form the government at the Centre for the fourth consecutive term.
Therefore, BJP would like to further sharpen its Hindutva edge and for that it may need a face that is not already tried and has acceptance among a large section of Hindus.
So, can Dhirendra Shastri of Bageshwar Dham (In Chhatarpur district) who has got a good following in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other Hindi heartland states, be the new Hindutva icon or weapon of BJP now?
The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a program to visit Bageshwar Dham and showered his affection on Dhirendra Shastri by calling him his younger brother, it seems that the BJP leadership is amazed by his increasing popularity.
The Prime Minister not only laid the foundation stone of ‘Balaji Sarkar Cancer Institute’ in Bageshwar Dham but also addressed a public meeting there.
Indirectly, the Prime Minister even praised Dhirendra Shastri’s method of drawing slips.
He told Dhirendra Shastri’s mother that he had a note with him on what was going on in her mind and that was that she wanted to see her son’s wedding.
By the time these lines were being written, India’s President Draupadi Murmu had also reached Bageshwar Dham.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla and several other BJP leaders including ministers of several other states have also gone there and praised Dhirendra Shastri.
Dhirendra Shastri has been advocating “Hindu Rashtra” from his platforms. BJP does not put its stamp on it but such slogans or speeches provide it support in its electoral politics.
In the eyes of rationalists, Dhirendra Shastri’s style is just a pretense. During his Maharashtra tour in 2023, rationalists had challenged him to prove his powers. But Dhirendra Shastri came back from there and claimed that he did not run away from the field but his plan to come back from there was pre-planned.
Last year, an application was filed in a court against Gurusharan Maharaj (Pandokhar Sarkar) for allegedly making objectionable statements against Dhirendra Shastri.
Obviously, there are two opinions about Dhirendra Shastri in the public, but still many people consider him a “Siddha Purush” and go to his court and expect a solution to their problems.
Dhirendra Shastri comes from Bundelkhand which extends to Uttar Pradesh. It remains to be seen whether Shastri becomes a part of any plan of BJP in the coming times or keeps his role non-political.
