BJP pays price in Maharashtra for unsettling Maratha quota protest, onion growers, Muslims

Mumbai: The BJP-led alliance suffered a landslide defeat in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra by winning only 19 out of 48 seats, which was 23 seats less than the NDA’s 2019 performance in the state. The Eknath Sindhe government’s mishandling of the Maratha quota issue, unrest among onion farmers due to the Centre’s export policy and consolidation of Muslim votes were the major factors that tilted the Maharashtra results in favour of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which is part of the INDIA bloc were the major factors that worked against the NDA.

The NDA felt effects of Maratha quota agitation in the Marathwada region, which was the epicenter of the agitation. Accepting the role played by the Maratha quota activist Majon Jarange, a former state minister said that the Maharashtra government did not have the courage to own the decision taken by it to provide 10 per cent separate reservation to the Maratha community.

Though the Maharashtra government has passed a law to provide 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community, Jarange has rejected it and demanded reservation under the OBC category. “The government did not reject Jarange’s demand outrightly, which unsettled the OBC population. It was so scared that it did not even claim credit for the separate reservation it has provided. On the other hand, Jarange was able to convince the people that the state government is ignoring their demand. All of these things worked against the ruling parties. The situation was such that the BJP could not manage a double figure in the state. The initial reports suggest that the NDA candidates suffered defeats in Nanded, Beed, Jalana and Latur because the Maratha community en mass voted against the alliance, ” the minister said.

The NDA candidates lost Nashik and Dindori seats by the margins of over one lakh votes. In both constituencies, onion as a cash crop plays a major role. Apart from these two, the onion farmers’ unrest because of the export ban may have also affected the BJP and its allies in Ahmednagar and Shirur seats.

The election results were also marked by the Muslims voting for the INDIA bloc candidates, including Shiv Sena (UBT), which was once a hardline Hindutva party and was considered responsible for 1993 riots in Mumbai. The victory of Shiv Sena UBT candidate Sanjay Dina Patil in Mumbai North East constituency highlighted this fact. The seat was considered one of the safest seats for the BJP in Mumbai. However, the lead taken by Patil in Shivaji Nagar assembly segment, which is a Muslim dominated constituency, was so huge that BJP’s Mihir Kotecha could not cover that gap in the remaining five assembly segments.

However, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde blamed the “propaganda” run by opposition parties for his alliance’s defeat. “The vote bank politics of the opposition had affected the NDA’s performance. The opposition parties ran relentless propaganda that we would change the Constitution. We failed to clear the doubts among voters. Our losses are also due to vote bank politics,” he said.