IN the last seven to eight months, it was hectic for the advertisement managers of RSS-driven Narendra Modi campaign. Since the day one, they were saying that a wave is in the offing. After the election results, they started saying that it was in fact tsunami. Even they could not feel the tremors that were generated by the earthquake, which caused the tsunami. One thing is certain. Wave does not necessarily harm. But, the tsunami takes away everything. If this is the yardstick, the so-called tsunami is likely to take away the hard fought benefits from the people.

We found lot of experts, who were having the statistics on everything, on the TV channels during the election analysis. Even on live telecast, they came out with enthralling calculations. Most of them were happy to see Narendra Modi at the helm. These experts didn’t get into one thing. They must have thought that this is irrelevant. That is, the results of few bye-elections in various states that were held along with the Lok Sabha elections. In fact, among these, there are three states, which will be going into the assembly elections within a year.

The first one is, Gujarat from where the present PM hails from. A clean sweep from this state ensured simple majority for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. Here, bye-elections were held for seven assembly seats. They were, Abdasa, Himatnagar, Lathi, Mandvi, Rapar, Somnath and Visvadar. Among these, in Abdasa, Mandvi and Visvadar constituencies the BJP lost. In Himatnagar and Lathi, the BJP could win only by 2,000 votes. The sweep in the Lok Sabha elections was not reflected in the bye-elections to the assembly seats.

Gujarat

The next state is Bihar, where the BJP trounced both Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad Yadav led Rashtriya Janata Dal. The RJD had seat adjustments with the Congress. The bye-elections to the assembly were held for five seats. They were, Baisi, Chiraia, Kochadhaman, Maharajganj and Sahebpur Kamal. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan led Lok Jan Sakthi combine won majority of the seats.

Except for Maharajganj, the BJP combine had lost in all the other four constituencies. In Maharajganj too, the BJP could win since the votes were split between the RJD and the Congress. These two parties contested separately despite having seat adjustment all over the state.

Bihar

In Maharasthra, there was bye-election for lone assembly seat, i.e., Risod, which was won by the Congress. Its candidate defeated the BJP-Shiv Sena combine’s candidate.

It is going to be topsy-turvy for the BJP as far as the forthcoming assembly elections are concerned. Even in Gujarat, they had to weather the anti-incumbency factor that is already being felt. In Bihar, they have already received the bad news i.e., the RJD and JD(U) have joined hands to keep the BJP away from capturing the state government. These indicators are not brought before the people of India by the mainstream media. But, it cannot be hidden for a long time.