The BJP has a strong presence in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh — the two states which are going to the polls shortly. The campaign in the northern hill state has, however, dropped off the news radar for various reasons. For one, while Hindutva dominates the political debate in the Gujarat elections, it is completely absent in Himachal, and of course there is no Narendra Modi-like figure here.

But the contrast is striking nevertheless. Himachal has a unblemished record as far as communal harmony is concerned. There were no reports of communal tension in the region, in the wake of Partition. The communal frenzy stirred up by the Babri issue and the Godhra incidents did not have a ripple here. Admittedly, Himachal’s Muslim population is mainly confined to two pockets, the Chamba and Sirmour districts, but even these areas remained completely peaceful when communal tensions were building up in other parts of the country. However, it is intriguing that no party has ever fielded a Muslim candidate in the state. It is only in the current elections that a Muslim candidate is contesting as an independent from Shimla.

The BJP has a strong vote bank in Himachal, even though it has faced the anti-incumbency backlash every time it came to power. The 1993 election saw it faring the worst: while the party strength was reduced to merely eight seats in a house of 68 during that election, the party managed to garner a vote share of 33.8 per cent. In the 2002 elections, when the Congress won 44 seats and the BJP merely 6, the latter received 35.38 per cent of votes polled.

... contd.