John Maxwell had once said, ‘A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.’
Before the results of the five poll bound states were out, everyone was hoping to see the annihilation of Bharatiya Janata Party, especially the Lutyens’ brigade of pseudo liberals and pseudo intellectuals, who were desperate to see the ‘young’ duo of Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi holding the reins of the Uttar Pradesh government, irrespective of the disastrous consequences it would bring for the denizens of Uttar Pradesh itself.
But as one gentleman marked out, ‘Winning is the best when everyone is dying to see you lose.’ On that very note, BJP sweeped clean 2 states on its own: Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh respectively, winning a humongous majority of 55/70 and 325/403 seats respectively. All the talks and the strategies bit dust, and heavily so.
Riding high on the waves of Narendra Modi and the assertive nationalism, which is the base asset for BJP, the party even made governments in Manipur and Goa, despite getting seats less than the required majority, by tactful diplomacy, and fulfilling the requirements of ‘first come first serve basis’ for the respective governors of the state.
However, the one man, who was the guiding force behind the rock solid performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party was none other than the same man who guided Bharatiya Janata Party to their biggest victory ever in the 2014 general elections, including a mammoth win in an unlikely region, i.e. UP, winning 71 of the 80 seats available for the BJP. He is Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah, or Amit Shah, thepolitical strategist who bulldozed other strategists to mere nobodies.
Born on 22nd October 1964, to a Gujarati trader [Baniya] family in Mumbai, Amit Shah was a dedicated nationalist from childhood. He joined RSS at a bare age of 14 as a ‘Tarun Swayamsevak’, and is among the rare politicians of India, who has risen from the lowest rungs of the political spectrums to the highest in the echelons of Indian politics.
From a student convenor of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, to the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah has covered a long, rather arduous journey to be precise. As once said by Amit Shah himself, ‘What I believe in, or what our party believes in, is the reformation and not renovation of India’
But what makes him a master political strategist, whom no dignitary or political strategist from the so called Indian liberal class can match as of now? What is the USP of Amit Shah that has enabled him to wrest victory from the unlikeliest arenas?
While one can attribute his personal leadership skills as a factor, one major reason behind the humongous rise of Amit Shah as a master political strategist is his watertight, step by step arrangement, coupled by an excellent hand in micromanagement of cadres, from the highest level to the rock bottom.
Cut to 2017. BJP was not in a very good position to start with. Having barely recovered from the drubbing of Delhi and Bihar, BJP led Central Government had barely managed to wrest Asom, apart from opening their account in Kerala, and increasing their presence in West Bengal. Apart from this, except for the bold decisions of surgical strikes across the LOC and demonetizing high value bank notes to clamp down on black money being stashed in India and abroad, the Central Government had apparently nothing much to bank on. The upcoming elections in five important states, viz. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand would determine the future course of action for BJP.
What Amit Shah actually did in these states, as noted below proves why he is a much better political strategist than the so called likes of Prashant Kishor, Raghav Chadha etc. :-
Post the drubbing BJP faced in Delhi and Bihar, this was one serious bastion they needed to win to make sure the road to 2019 is easier for them.
Following were the main issues which plagued in UP, and on which Akhilesh Yadav did nothing but aggravate those issues:-
-An alarming increase in breeding grounds of terrorism
-Ghettoism in the style of Islamic colonies as prevalent in Europe, leading to crisis like situations in places like Kairana.
-Lack of law and order, leading to facepalms like the case of Jawahar Bagh in Mathura
Absolute absence of the sense of security, especially for women, leading to brutal assaults as in the case of Bulandshahr case, Badayun case, Mohanganj case as the list went on
-Excessive minority appeasement at the cost of majority, though on a lesser scale compared to Mamata Bannerjee in Bengal
-Excessive nepotism on the basis of caste and religion [Undue importance being divided to specific OBCs, like Yadavs and Muslims, in case of religious minority]
While other parties chose to selectively ignore this, BJP, led by Amit Shah, actually attacked on these very issues. Termed as ‘Fascist’, ‘Misogynist’, ‘Anti Muslim’, ‘Hindu Terrorism’, the entire Indian mainstream media grossly misunderstood the silent campaign which was being driven by Amit Shah.
Following were the salient features of the campaign driven by Amit Shah in not only UP, but also the other poll bound states:-
-Organization of cadres from the lowest rungs from at least 9 – 12 months prior to the forthcoming elections
-Rally to Rally Strategy, focusing on the major issues concerning the state, in direct confrontation with the incumbent Chief Ministers of the opposition parties.
-A unique representation to cadres from all sectors and castes, thereby establishing a consolidated, nationalist force driving the BJP, especially in states like UP & Uttarakhand, where their chief enemies relied on pseudo secularism and regressive nepotism.
-Equal representation to leaders from every sector, be it EBC [Extra Backward Castes] or the upper castes
-Taking the gamble of going as a party without the CM face
-Focus on nationalist issues like terrorism, Uniform Civil Code, restoration of law and order etc.
While this move hit the right chords, the Opposition, disarrayed, fell divided. Even though they attempted a reunion in terms of the coalition between Samajwadi Party and Indian National Congress, it ended in a disaster. How could UP forget the turncoats of Congress, who converted with ease from ’27 Saal UP Behaal’, to ‘UP ko yeh Saath Pasand Hai’?
Even when governance seemed a distant dream in states like Manipur and Goa, Amit Shah, with the help of efficient coordinators and colleagues like Himanta Biswa Sarma, managed to turn the tables on the winner party, Indian National Congress, giving them a taste of their own medicine without getting nasty. That’s the work of Amit Shah, he strikes quietly, but he strikes hard, leaving the rivals with no move but to howl and whimper.
Even if the move of selecting Yogi Adityanath as the right choice for the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was a premeditated move, nothing could have happened that easily in BJP without Amit Shah having a say in it, and if Amit Shah managed to keep this a well trusted secret, that’s another of his skills in his kitty. Now that Uttar Pradesh is rescued and on the road to progress, the next big test that this political strategist has to face is to make sure that Modi and the NDA return with a roaring victory in 2019, apart from liberating Bengal from the clutches of corruption, terrorism and Islamic imperialism.
Whether he manages to do so is another thing altogether, but if he does it, Amit Shah can rightly be termed as a worthy successor of the great political connossieur of India, Acharya Chanakya.
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