Secret of Shivraj's Success

NK SINGH

One of the enigmas of Madhya Pradesh politics is how Shivraj Singh Chouhan has managed to last for an uninterrupted 12 years in power, becoming longest-serving chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. 

In November 2005 he took over as BJP’s third chief minister in 21 months. Political pundits were not willing to grant him more than one or two years. 

The average tenure of a BJP chief minister in MP has been 15 months. Yet this week government is celebrating his twelfth year in office.

What accounts for this extraordinary feat? Is it sheer luck, as his detractors say? Or it is a reward for hard work and good governance, as his admirers would like to believe?

When Chouhan assumed office few outside MP had heard of the non-descript organisation man. As he himself says, “before that I had not become even a Sarpanch of a panchayat.” 

He was taking an afternoon nap in his MP’s flat in New Delhi when his wife informed him that party had nominated his as the next chief minister. 

In the process, he made powerful enemies like Uma Bharti, who thought that chief minister’s chair rightfully belonged to her as she had brought BJP to power in 2003 assembly election.                                                                                       

Yet he led BJP to massive victory in two successive assembly elections, pulped Congress to mincemeat and vanquished all his powerful enemies like Uma Bharti, who failed a win an assembly seat even for herself.

Vote catching mascot

He emerged as BJP’s vote-catching mascot in MP, prompting party patriarch LK Advani to project him as a probable leader ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha election, pitting him against Narendra Modi.

           

Nothing succeeds like success.

No one talks about rampant corruption, appalling human development indices, malnutrition death of children, wastage of public funds, extravaganza like the proposal for Rs 1.40 lakh chairs for chief minister and his chief secretary, luxurious lifestyle of ruling politicians and arrogance of ministers.

Personal charges like Dumper scandal and involvement in Vyapam scam have simply failed to stick.

Let us face the facts. Chouhan is hugely popular in rural areas and among urban poor. Indeed he has emerged as the most popular chief minister in State’s history. 

It is not due to development, as spin doctors would like people to believe. 

True, state budget has increased by seven times, gross state domestic product has jumped by 500 per cent, agriculture growth rate is 20 per cent, electricity production has gone up from 2,900 MW to 17,500 MW and irrigation capacity increased from 7.5 lakh hectares to 36 lakh hectares.

All these might have contributed to his success, but four major factors are responsible for his popularity, and consequent longevity. 

Transforming BJP

First, he has changed BJP’s image from a party of petty shopkeepers and trading class to a party of farmers and urban poor, snatching the class base of Congress.

He is also the first politician in MP to cater to women as a class through his schemes like ladli laxmi, providing them 33 per cent reservation in government jobs and 50 per cent in local bodies.

The second factor is his populist policies like farm loan at zero per cent interest. The distressed farmers love him because of his actions like spending Rs 70 crore of tax payers’ money on purchasing onions that they could not sell in the market and then spending another Rs 7 crore on destroying the rotting crop in its godowns.

The archetypal politician is never wary of making an announcement. Chief Secretaries are at their wits end keeping track of all the promises made by him and clear the debris in its wake.

The third factor is his boy next door image and his ability to relate to the masses.

Unlike the top Congress leaders ---- Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia have elite Doon School background and Digvijay Singh is a product of Daly College ---- Chouhan was educated at a government school.

His humility makes him just a face in the crowd.

But that weakness becomes his strength.

When 78 persons were killed in Petlawad blast last year due to apparent failure of government machinery, braving angry crowd he visited blast site and sat on ground to share their grief.

"Modi is God's divine gift"

The fourth factor is his ability to respond readily to changes.

In 2013 assembly election, BJP used smaller photograph of Narendra Modi on elections posters and gave more prominence to Chouhan, raising eyebrows in political circles. By that time it was already clear that RSS had thrown its weight behind Modi.

But soon after Modi assumed power, Chouhan declared that the nee Prime Minister was “God’s divine gift to India”.

When Congress was in power in New Delhi, Chouhan played the role of an opposition politician with aplomb, participating in rallies and riding bicycle to office to protest petrol price hike.

He never allowed the Opposition to get better of him in the state, even engineering mass-scale high profile defections to BJP on the eve of each assembly election.

Apparently, Congress has a lot to worry about in assembly election two years from now.

Powers That Be, my column in DB Post of 4 December 2016

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