ABP news election survey is a feeble attempt at image makeover by the news organisation

The C-voter ABP News survey on the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh has been published. The findings of the survey were very interesting because they came with a conclusion that PM Modi is very popular in these states in comparison to his prospective opponent Rahul Gandhi who was a distant second but on the other hand, the survey predicts that BJP is losing the states. 

According to the survey, a campaign by PM Modi could still save the governments of state from losing because he is still highly popular among voters.

So what could be the reason behind the dismal performance of the BJP in the crucial states, 2 of which are considered party stronghold. We think that there is a rather interesting reason behind it.

The survey could be an image build excercise, yes that’s right an image building excercise on the part of ABP News.

Some recent developments in the ABP news organizational structure hint that it is now under the control of the BJP or a Sanghi takeover as liberals on Twitter have been calling it. After the organization fired the managing editor Milind Khandekar, prime-time show anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai and journalist Abhishar Sharma, its management were heavily criticized by media fraternity and liberal social media users. Barbs about it being press censorship and undeclared emergency were hurled at both the government and the news channel. The media critics said that these three bravehearts were fired because they did not succumb to government pressure and continued showing truth. Punya Prasoon Vajpayee in fact went on to pen a heart wrenching account of why he was sacked? Another section presented low TRP of the prime time show as the reason behind firing the journalists.

So, ABP news may be using the survey as a ploy to reestablish its credibility. A way of saying – look we are still free, fearless and independent. But why are we so sure about this? Because this is not the first time the organization has done so, in fact, it has a track record of taking similar actions.

A few years back the parent organization of ABP, the AnandBazar Patrika removed the owner of the newspaper Avik Sarkar in the same fashion. The Ananabazar Partika and The Telegraph criticized the Mamata Banerjee government heavily before the 2016 assembly election. Patrika, a Bengali language newspaper and The Telegraph an English language newspaper are very popular in West Bengal and both are owned ABP group. Mamata government did not like the negative coverage of her government and spoke against it in a public rally. After Mamata Banerjee got reelected, the newspaper removed the owner and editor-in-chief, Avik Sarkar and installed his brother Arup Sarkar to the post to appease the Mamata government. So appeasing the government and the critics has long been a policy of ABP group.

Coming back to the survey by ABP News, CMs in MP and Chhattisgarh remain highly popular, they have outperformed all their predecessors and decimated their contemporaries. Shivraj Singh Chouhan was the man who took the M out of BIMARU. Today MP is one the leading investment destinations in India and its cities routinely feature on the cleanest cities list. Agricultural growth in MP has been applauded by national as well as international organizations. Even the fiercest critics of Shivraj Singh Chouhan do not deny the fact that economic development and poverty alleviation in the state of MP has been very good. Coming to Raman Singh, he has been pivotal in solving the Naxalite problem to a large extent. Under the Raman Singh government internal security got top priority. The economic growth of Chhattisgarh has been excellent under Singh government and he made the state among the top performers in socio-economic indicators from being one of the poorest and underdeveloped regions in the country. Both leaders have been governing their respective states for more than a decade, and with absolute and unflinching majority, the states don’t have their replacements. So a comprehensive defeat in the 2 states as stated by ABP is nothing but exaggeration of the purest kind. While there is no denying the BJP is not the strongest in Rajasthan but is not very weak either. Congress on the other hand is weakened and factionalized. Former CM Ashok Gehlot and Rahul Gandhi’s favorite Sachin Pilot don’t get along well. On the other hand Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has spent handsomely on social security programs and schemes of her government are very popular among constituents. The fight in Rajasthan could be tight but Congress is in no position to decimate the BJP.

The C-Voter ABP News survey conclusions could be a cover-up for the firing of editors and anchors. Coverups and appeasement come naturally to the organization.