“The second Covid wave has washed away the good work done by the BJP Governments – both at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. We have to start from scratch,” a senior BJP leader said. A similar refrain is being aired by RSS pracharaks as well.
They also admit that the second Covid wave has wiped away the glory of Ram Mandir and BJP’s robust decision to scrap Article 370 in Kashmir. “All that is forgotten now. The slate is clean. We do not know where to start,” said an RSS pracharak.
The second Covid wave has changed the political scenario in Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls in early 2022. Just a couple of months back, the same BJP leaders were thumping their chests, claiming that Yogi would return to power. Who else, if not BJP, they used to question. But now, that bravado has evaporated. The confidence has been missing in their voice and helplessness has creeped in their tenor.
“I am a BJP corporator and was unable to provide oxygen, beds and medicines to the people in dire need. Our requests were ignored and officials did not pick up our calls. People who were our staunch supporters are now questioning us as to why we left them in the lurch when they needed our support the most,” the corporator told this reporter on the condition of anonymity.
What has added to the agony of the BJP government in UP is the panchayat elections. Party leaders and lawmakers had written letters to the chief minister asking him to postpone the polls fearing it would drive the infection to the villages and lead to innumerable deaths. Their fear has just come true.
BJP MP Kaushal Kishore said that he had written two letters, asking the government to postpone the panchayat elections.  Campaigning had started for panchayat elections when Covid cases started picking up in the state.
“My requests were ignored and now we are standing on the heap of dead bodies. Hundreds of teachers and government employees have died because of corona infection and people are asking as to what has BJP gained out of this election,” Kishore said.
A senior BJP leader confided in The Pioneer that at one-time, the chief minister was willing to postpone panchayat elections. “A meeting was held which was attended by the CM virtually because he was Covid positive at that time. There was unanimity in the party and the government that elections should be postponed due to the raging pandemic. The message was conveyed to the Central leadership but it argued that if UP cancelled the local bodies elections, pressure would be on the Union government to request the Election Commission to postpone West Bengal polls as well. At that time, we were confident that BJP would sweep the Bengal elections and thus we decided to go ahead with the elections in UP to save BJP from any embarrassment,” he said.
A senior RSS pracharak said that some political decisions are taken with conviction but this time, the gamble that the BJP took proved detrimental for the party. “The crescendo was built in the last two years. Our victory on the Ram Mandir issue was the cornerstone of our campaign. Scrapping of the Article 370 added to the sheen of our campaign. But, we stand nowhere now. The second Covid wave has turned our campaign upside down,” he said.
However, there are some leaders who still believe that they can still turn the tide. State BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that people are trying to evaluate BJP’s fortunes with the panchayat election results. “The fact is that though BJP is considered an urban party, we have won seats as per our expectation. In this election, BJP was the only party to declare candidates. Their victory and loss does not matter. What matters is that we have created leadership in villages,” he said.