Resisting Cynicism: The Real Learning From Haryana

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) unexpected victory in Haryana created more than a flutter across the political fraternity and the groups that exist on its periphery.

Based on the extensive analysis that has materialised since the results were announced, it looks as though the very people who had not given the BJP even a smidgen of a chance when the counting started are now the same ones completely sure of exactly how the party pulled off this incredible win.

Of course, all the reasons that are being endlessly listed are not entirely untrue. When electoral results turn out very different from the popular perception, the reasons are often complex and multifaceted.

While public curiosity around this ensures that any listing of such causalities will grab eyeballs, the fact of the matter is that every piece of analysis will neither be false nor completely true. After all, elections are won and lost in the minds of common men and what transpires there often eludes full understanding. It’s a mysterious arena, one not easily deciphered by polls or pundits.

What is undeniably clear is that the outcome in Haryana has provided the BJP with a timely boost as it heads into elections in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand. While the party is generally perceived to hold an advantage in Jharkhand, the situation in Maharashtra remains more contentious — where the opposition had taken an unexpected lead during the general elections.

Equally importantly, what the Haryana results have done is to correct the imbalance that had entered the political narrative since 4 June — where except for the hard-nosed supporters of the BJP, most were convinced that the high of the 2014-24 decade was over and the party was staring at a period of challenges led by an allegedly resurgent Rahul Gandhi and the waning of its caste alliances.

This was not a sentiment restricted to the usual critics of the saffron fold who continue to inhabit the lanes of Lutyens. Rather, it had managed to penetrate the peripheries of the saffron ecosystem and give cause to a million laments from the faithful, who were convinced that another doomsday for the Indic causes was merely a few months away. Undoubtedly, the Haryana results have recalibrated that narrative, injecting renewed optimism into BJP ranks and dispelling some of the pessimism that had set in.

This is not to say that the atmosphere of wariness in the saffron circles and the haughty jubilation amongst the opposition that existed since the general election results was completely misguided.

Over the past year, the Congress has undertaken some of the most incendiary political campaigns witnessed in independent India’s history. The journey began with a populist strategy, which yielded success in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, emboldening the party to carry this approach into the next four state elections. However, the setbacks faced in November 2023 seemed to have pushed the Grand Old Party onto a path that could very well be remembered with infamy in the years to come.

In a matter of few months, the Congress had transformed from a left-of-centre party veering towards the extreme left into a party whose vision for India could only be described as a ‘Union of Khatakhats.’

The marginal success in the Lok Sabha polls validated the Congress leadership's approach, encouraging them to double down on this strategy and inundate the NDA government with unrelenting and incendiary vitriol, expecting that a Rubicon had been crossed and a return to power was imminent.

There is a reason the party and political establishment were led to believe this. It was because the Congress had finally found success in a type of politics with which it was most comfortable — one that fostered cynicism about the Indian nation and the civilization that shaped it. This was the same narrative that had kept the party at the helm of the nation for decades, and it seemed that, after a brief phase of Hindutva-led optimism and confidence, the public had reverted to their default setting — a setting that the Grand Old Party knew how to manipulate with remarkable expertise.

One can imagine what may have crossed the minds of the BJP leadership as they watched these events unfold. A return to self-defeating economic populism and caste-driven divisions goes against the very core ideology of the saffron fold.

However, it would also have been evident that there were short-term advantages in fighting the opposition with its own tactics. Nothing prevented the BJP, governing both the nation and several poll-bound states, from responding to the Congress’s populism with even greater populism. Nothing stopped them from leveraging their extensive organization and resources to amplify caste rhetoric in their favour. Nothing, that is, except their commitment to the vision of a progressive and secure India — rooted in the overarching ideology of the broader Sangh Parivar.

If there is one lesson that all right-minded Indians should take from the Haryana results, it is this: faced with towering cynicism, high stakes, and tempting rewards, the Prime Minister and his party refused to succumb to the cynical politics that could scar the nation permanently. Instead, they chose to take the high road.

Election results will come and go. Some will be shaped by local issues, while others will hinge on state narratives. Vote splitters will work in some cases and won’t in others. The BJP may win some and lose others. 

But there can be no doubt as to which party is genuinely fighting for a better India and who is not.