The MOTN findings on the best chief ministers show that parties cannot underestimate the importance of having powerful satraps in the states
Naveen Patnaik | Yogi Adityanath; (Photos: Chandradeep Kumar, Bandeep Singh)
In an age of 24×7 media scrutiny, the chief minister’s job is undoubtedly one of the toughest in India. The Constitution vests the position with immense powers but with it also comes accountability. In the past decade, assembly polls have increasingly been fought on the persona and performance of chief ministers. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP may be a dominant force in the Lok Sabha election but in several state elections where it went up against a strong chief ministerial face, it has stumbled. Some glaring examples are West Bengal, Odisha and Delhi.
Even the Congress, which has performed abysmally in the past two Lok Sabha elections, has been able to best the BJP wherever it has found a strong regional leader, as was seen in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in 2018. So it’s clear—political parties must nurture strong regional leaders not just to win elections in the home state but also to showcase a model of ideal governance nationally. PM Modi had fought the 2014 general election on the ‘Gujarat model’ plank he developed as chief minister of the state.
One chief minister who has consistently earned high ratings from his voters is Naveen Patnaik. Away from the din of national politics, the longest-serving chief minister of Odisha has remained unchallenged in his home state for two decades. The MOTN poll shows that 78 per cent respondents in Odisha expressed satisfaction at his performance, up from 71 per cent six months ago. This makes him the most popular chief minister in a home state by a huge margin—15 percentile points ahead of his next competitor.
Mood Of The Nation Poll 2022 | LEAD ESSAY: The Modi Phenomenon
The MOTN numbers suggest that the BJP too has found two chief ministers who have often made national news for their decisive style of governance, albeit mired in controversies. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath remains the most popular choice of respondents across the country, the fifth time in a row since the August 2020 MOTN. In fact, the popularity rating of ‘bulldozer baba’, a popular moniker given to Yogi for his government’s penchant for razing the homes of people accused of crimes, has gone up—40 per cent respondents now find him the best chief minister of the country against 27 per cent six months ago.
Another CM who has been using the bulldozer model is Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma who has emerged as the second most popular chief minister in a home state. His popularity ratings have also gone up—from 56 per cent respondents in January 2022 to 63 per cent now.
But the party also has reasons to worry. The BJP is in power in 13 states, yet the MOTN finds that 60 per cent of the top 10 most popular CMs across India and top 10 most popular in their home states are not from the party. The saffron party also needs to worry about the governance model of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. The second most popular chief minister across the country and fourth most popular in a home state—56 per cent expressed satisfaction at his performance—the AAP supremo is now hoping to expand beyond Delhi and Punjab. His recent foray into Goa may have ended in disaster, but that has not deterred him as he prepares for battle in Modi’s home bastion Gujarat. His national ambition is further bolstered by a sharp decline in the popularity of Mamata Banerjee. While only 9 per cent find her the country’s best chief minister, she is not even among the top 10 most popular CMs in home states.