By Divyansh Thakur

With 2022 coming to an end, the Narendra Modi government has just one-and-a-half years left in its second term. That leaves hopes that 2023 will see heightened political activity with the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra coming up with better than expected public support.

The political sphere has been full of upheavals during the last one year. Many assembly elections and bypolls were held where the states witnessed changes in regime. Some regimes changed when a party either split or chose to swap partners, like in Maharashtra and Bihar, respectively.

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No surprises in spring Assembly results

In March, the election results of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur were out. The BJP retained power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The Aam Aadmi Party wiped out the opposition in Punjab and formed its first government outside Delhi. By the end of the year, new governments were formed in two more states, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. While the BJP registered a record victory in Gujarat, the tradition of changing the ruling party remained intact in Himachal Pradesh, with the Congress putting up a strong showing.

All eyes were on Uttar Pradesh as people were expecting a change, but the results surprised everyone. Under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, the BJP once again retained power in the state. The Congress’s strong pre-poll showing in Uttarakhand didn’t amount to much as Pushkar Singh Dhami returned as CM of a rampant BJP.

Mann to Mann in Punjab

The results of the Punjab Assembly elections were unexpected. The ruling Congress in Punjab had to face a humiliating defeat. The way in which the Aam Aadmi Party government was formed under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, the same result was seen in the Punjab elections.

The ruling Congress was brutally defeated here. The Aam Aadmi Party won 92 of the total 117 seats in the state and Bhagwant Mann  was sworn in as Chief Minister. The Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal were left blinking in the AAP  tsunami that smashed all regional and family loyalties in Punjab.

Read Also: Uttarakhand: Group of college girls fight each other in the middle of the road in Roorkee, video viral | WATCH

Security lapse during PM Modi’s Punjab visit

On January 5, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on his Punjab tour when some farmer protesters blocked the road in Ferozepur on which the Prime Minister’s motorcade was to pass.

Because of this, the Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 20 minutes. The Prime Minister returned to Delhi after the incident. He neither attended any programme nor could he address his first rally in the state after two years. This was a major security lapse.

Historic victory of BJP in Gujarat, Congress in Himachal Pradesh

Results for the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were out in early December. The people of Himachal Pradesh voted out the ruling BJP and voted in the Congress with a majority. Some say the state alternates between the two parties in a long-standing custom.

In Gujarat, the BJP registered a historic victory by winning 157 of the 182 seats. This was the first time in the history of Gujarat that a political party has registered a huge victory.

Hijab: To wear or not to wear it

This controversy started from a government inter-college in Udupi, Karnataka. Muslim girl students were said to have violated a new government order mandating a dress code by wearing a hijab.

This saw many saffron organisations blockade Muslim institutions while the Muslim girls were no pushovers either. The case against this reached the High Court and the Supreme Court, the apex court returned a split verdict with one judge upholding the government mandate and the other supporting the right of Muslim girls to wear the hijab.

Nupur Sharma and the Prophet

Nupur Sharma, a BJP spokesperson, made a lot of headlines this year. She made a controversial comment on Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate leading to demonstrations against Nupur Sharma across the country.

Violence took place in many parts of the country. Later, Nupur Sharma had to resign due to this controversial statement and BJP suspended her from the party for 6 years.

Shiv Sena Split

Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was derailed mid-term by Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde and 28 party MLAs. They camped in Gujarat and then to Guwahati, hosted by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. 

Initially, the Thackeray faction tried to pacify them, but in the end the Shiv Sena split and Uddhav Thackeray was out of power. After this Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde formed his government with the support of the BJP. The legal battle between the two factions is still going on for the name and symbol of the party, which was one of the big surprises of 2022. The party had been cast in a monolith form by its founder Bal Thackeray, now split into factions though nephew Raj Thackeray had already struck out on his own in the patriarch’s lifetime.

Nitish glues up Mahagathbandhan again

Politics in Bihar lives true to the idiom which says 2 plus 2 need not be 4 all the time. The relations between the BJP and the JDU broke down and Nitish Kumar left the BJP and joined forces with old ally Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD.

In a single move, Nitish took the oath of the post of CM again by dissolving the entire cabinet and forming a grand alliance, pushing his ally BJP to the opposition. In Nitish’s new cabinet, Tejashwi Yadav returned as Deputy CM and his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav became a cabinet minister.

The unpopular front

The government banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) in September and arrested more than 100 active members. The organisation was banned for allegedly being involved in terrorist activities.

According to a notification issued by the Home Ministry, the Central Government was apprehensive that the PFI and its affiliates have been involved in destructive acts affecting public order, undermining the constitutional framework of the country and terror-based governance is being encouraged. Also trying to implement it. PFI was formed on November 22, 2006 in Kozhikode, Kerala.

Beating Nitish at his own game but this time in Manipur

In Manipur this year, the Janata Dal United, the party of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, suffered a severe blow.

Five JDU MLAs switched sides and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). K Meghjit Singh, Secretary of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, issued a statement in this regard. Significantly, JDU had won 6 of the 38 seats in the Assembly elections held in March this year.

A non-Gandhi Congress chief

2022’s signal achievement for the Congress was an open election for its president. Mallikarjun Kharge became the first non-Gandhi president of the party after 24 years and after Sitaram Kesri.

Mallikarjun Kharge defeated Shashi Tharoor by a huge margin. Kharge got a total 7,897 votes while Shashi Tharoor won 1,072 votes. Many will dispute how Kharge, a Gandhi family loyalist, can be seen as an independent leader. Kharge’s newfound enthusiasm was seen in the Gujarat campaign where his quote on Ravan was misrepresented to the people by the BJP and ended up nearly decimating the Congress performance there.

Bharat Jodo Yatra

Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra made a lot of headlines this year. Initially dismissed by both the media and the BJP, the increasing numbers joining the yatra made both of them sit up and take note. Such a padayatra is taking place in Indian politics after a long time. This journey started from Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022. Covering a distance of 3,570 km in 150 days, the journey will end in Srinagar.

हौसलों की नौका पर सवार हम हैं।
देश को मझधार से निकालने के लिए
थामें पतवार हम हैं।
नफ़रत की लहरों को देकर मात,
हम करने आए हैं अमन और प्रेम की बात। #रोक_सको_तो_रोक_लो #BharatJodoYatra pic.twitter.com/AYTeWM4Coa

— Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (@bharatjodo) December 24, 2022

Opposition unity which will be needed for the 2024 campaign was fractious when the yatra wound its way through Kerala. The CPI(M) which runs the Kerala government was quick to point out the yatra was not taking UP and Gujarat seriously and was hurting Opposition unity by hurting the CPI(M). But the yatra persevered, Rahul Gandhi grew a longish beard a la Forrest Gump but unlike Forrest, the man’s resolve grew with each step. Snaking through the South, the Vindhyas and into the Hindi belt to a grand entry into Delhi. But like Nizamuddin  Auliya’s message to Muhammad bin Tughlaq: Hanuz Dilli Dur Ast. The yatra’s fine and grand, but votes will tilt the scales in 2024.

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