Assam has spoken and made it clear in no uncertain terms. With over 85 seats in the Assembly, the alliance of BJP, AGP and BPF has one of the biggest mandates the state has seen in recent times.
In many ways this election is reminiscent of the 2014 general election. Modi was the clear leader, and under his leadership, NDA won a resounding majority. Here too, BJP went to polls with a CM face in Sarbananda Sonowal and they have bettered their own target of 'Mission 84'. Even when you go into the intricacies of the campaign, there are striking similarities.
Both in 2014 general election and the Assam polls the battle was against an incumbent Congress government which was in power for consecutive terms. There was a strong anti-incumbency factor, and most importantly, there were a number of bit players who were aspiring to take up the top job.
In 2014, a Nitish, a Mulayam, or even Sharad Pawar were hoping for a fractured mandate, as that would have helped them become the consensus PM candidate. Here, Badruddin Ajmal and Prafulla Mahanta were dreaming of the same till 8:30 this morning. Mahanta had said Sonowal is the CM candidate of BJP and not alliance, the party after getting 63 seats is in a position to decide whether it would want Mahanta around or not. Ajmal would tell every one willing to listen, his grand plan of AIUDF-led govt of regional parties, supported by Congress.
Even inside the party, in 2014, there were a number of aspirants. Rajnath Singh was seen meeting with Muslim clerics, to be the moderate face. Sushma hoped to be Advani's candidate, and then Advani himself, by virtue of being the 'tallest' leader. Their calculation was if BJP was within striking distance of power, but short of majority, they would be more preferred PM faces for prospective allies.
In Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, arguably the only leader with a base in both Brahmaputra and Barak valley, thought he could be the chief minister, if the need to get more MLAs came. But with over 80 seats , BJP has put paid to all these aspirations. Sarbananda Sonowal would now be firmly in control, though it remains to be seen, what the central leadership offers to Himanta Biswa Sarma.
But therein lies a crucial difference between Modi's win and Sarba's. 2014 was all about Narendra Modi, but in Assam , Himanta's role was of immense significance. Not only did he stitch together the rainbow alliance of anti Congress parties, he was the lead campaigner too. Himanta addressed more than 250 rallies across the state. So, though not friends by any yard of imagination, they worked like Modi-Shah duo, united by their zeal to defeat the Congress.
The alliance partners benefited heavily from the Modi wave of 2014, and similarly the strike rate of BJP's alliance partners appear to better than even the party itself. BPF taking the cake by winning almost every seat it contested in.
Increasingly, it is seen that the country has been giving verdicts with resounding majority. The days of coalition games looks so 1990s today. Probably it is because the nation has learnt its lesson of what happens when a ragtag coalition is voted in. Or it could be just a game of larger vote share.
For today the story remains Sonowal has done a Modi in Assam.
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