It is said that route to Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh. People find more reasons to believe this political saying after BJP’s spectacular performance in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning 71 out of 80 seats in the state. The saffron part managed to reduce the seat tally of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress into single digits, and the BSP failed to open even its account.
The man of the match for the BJP’s massive victory in the state was Amit Shah. He was the then party’s UP in charge and currently the national president of the BJP. Amit Shah’s micromanagement of the elections down to every booth got BJP such a huge majority in Uttar Pradesh.
This time the party has appointed Gordhan Zadaphia as the UP in charge for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party’s choice has surprised everyone. Gordhan Zadaphia is the former home minister of Gujarat and he is a protégé of former international president of VHP, Pravin Togadia- frenemy of PM Modi. Gordhan Zadaphia is also a close associate of former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel and former BJP general secretary (organisation) Sanjay Joshi, both of whom have shared acrimonious relations with PM Modi.
In the past, even Gordhan Zadaphia had shared bitter relations with both PM Modi and the party president Amit Shah and has remained isolated within the party for a long time. This is the reason why his appointment has surprised everyone in the political circles. He had also founded his own party in 2004 before coming back to the BJP just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
According to the Economic Times report, Zadaphia, Gujarat’s home minister during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, had refused to take oath in 2004 when the then CM of the state Narendra Modi expanded his cabinet in Gujarat after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government lost power at the Centre. Zadaphia announced from the stage during the oath-taking ceremony that he would not like to be a part of the government. The report said that according to sources he wanted the state’s home ministry portfolio again which he was not given, CM Modi wanted Amit Shah to continue with the post.
Zadaphia is a well-known RSS ideologue. He also has considerable clout among the Patel votes. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he was shouldered with the responsibility to mobilize Kurmi votes in Varanasi, PM Modi’s constituency. He had also campaigned in Uttar Pradesh during the state assembly elections in 2017. He also enjoys significant influence over various farming communities across the country. However, he was not assigned any important role since then and was also denied a ticket in Gujarat assembly elections, maybe because the party wanted to use its ace in the most crucial territory- UP. Given the background of Zadaphia, it would provide impetus to the party to connect itself with the farming community in the state, and also smoothen negotiations with allies like Apna Dal and SBSP which are OBC groups.
On being appointed as UP’s Lok Sabha in-charge, Gordhan Zadaphia said that he was “touched” by the responsibility given to him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He told news agency ANI that he merged his party with BJP in 2014 after realising “personal egos should be kept aside for sake of the nation”.
The party assigning the crucial role to dissidents shows that it gives space to dissent in the party and does not follow the culture of sycophancy which is prevalent in the Congress party. They are fielding their best available soldier in the toughest battle regardless of the past.