In February, on the last day of the election campaign in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced that if elected to power, the BJP government would implement the uniform civil code. The saffron party won the elections and realised the emotive power of the policy change which will govern personal laws. As Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are going to polls in the coming days, the BJP is again banking on the Hindutva agenda.
With its just 55 lakh voters, Himachal Pradesh falls way behind Gujarat's 4.90 crore voters, and Delhi's 1.46 crore voters—the other two states which will go to poll this year. However, the hilly state holds significance for the BJP and the party is going all out to woo the electorate. In its manifesto released on Sunday, the BJP has included a host of Hindutva promises including the implementation of uniform civil code and a spending of Rs 12,000 crores in the next 10 years to develop infrastructure and transportation around religious places and temples. The party has also promised to investigate into the Waqf properties to stop their illegal usages.
The state has over 97 per cent Hindu population. However, many of the BJP's opponents think it's the caste politics which drives the state's polity. The Rajput community, which dominates Himachal's politics, has given the state most of its chief ministers. The promise of UCC may hold sway in Gujarat which witnesses much more polarised politics.
The BJP has already deployed big guns: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J.P. Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath are among the party leaders touring the state in the last leg of the campaign. The campaigning will come to an end by November 10, 48 hours before the polling.
Though the government battles anti-incumbency on multiple fronts ranging from employees' pension issue and apple growers' crisis to agniveers and inflation, the BJP is relying on Modi's appeal among the voters.
The Congress, on the other hand, is relying on its general secretary Priyanka Vadra Gandhi who also own a house in the state. Among other Congress leaders who arrived in the state to campaign were party chief Malikarjun Kharge and former Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot.
So far, the Himachal election is turning out to be a fierce contest between the BJP and the Congress, while AAP's campaign appears to be more focussed on Gujarat polls.
Interestingly, all the three parties have made many similar promises before the electorate. For a small state with high stakes for the Congress, the BJP and the AAP, these competitive promises offer a wider range to the electorate.
The BJP in its manifesto promised to set up a startup fund “Him Startup”—a R 900 crore scheme while the Congress had promised Rs 680 crore for such a fund.
While the Congress promised five lakh jobs, the the BJP promised creation of 8 lakh job opportunities. The BJP has also promised to set up five more medical colleges, apart from connecting all the villages with roads. For girl students, from class 6 to class 12, a bicycle will be given to go to schools. In every district, two girls hostels would be set up.
While, the Congress and the AAP has promised to bring back the Old Pension Scheme, the BJP merely promised to remove discrepancies in disbursal of salaries of government workers. For families of soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty, compensation would be increased.
The BJP has acceded to the major demands of the apple growers. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) would be limited to 12 per cent for apple growers, the BJP manifesto said. The Congress had announced to fix MSP for apple crop, a major demand of the growers.
Both the Congress and the AAP has promised to give 300 units of free power, while the BJP government has already started giving 125 units of power free.
The Congress promised to give Rs 1,500 per month for women between 18 to 60 years, while the BJP has promised to give 33 percent reservation to women in government jobs. The saffron party also announced an increase in allocation for girls for marriage from the earlier Rs 31,000 to Rs 51,000.
The BJP also promised to pay an annual amount of Rs 3,000 to small farmers, over and above Rs 6,000 given to them under a central government scheme.
