2022 has been an eventful year for the Indian politics. The world's largest democracy witnessed high-voltage drama and entertainment of epic scale this year, as leaders defected to and from parties, faced interrogation by agencies, lost and won important polls, and some even took up long Yatras (marches) to change their political fortunes.
When 2022 began, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government was ruling in the state of Maharashtra, the AAP was limited to Delhi, Nitish Kumar was the CM of Bihar with support of the BJP, and Rahul Gandhi suffered an image problem with no apparent mass appeal.
The aforementioned things, however, changed in 2022.
Here are five politically significant events of year 2022:
1) AAP spreads its footprints:
The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), when 2022 started, was only limited to the state of Delhi (NCT). However, as the end of this year nears, Kejriwal's party has not only managed to put one full-state like Punjab in its kitty, but also won the MCD election to gain total control of the capital. With 12.9 per cent of the votes in Gujarat, as well as five seats, the AAP became the ninth national party in the country. The AAP, which came into existence after the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement during UPA-II, has made spectacular gains in national politics within just a decade of its formation.
With ambitions to become a national party and grow its footprints beyond Delhi, the AAP threw all its might into the Punjab assembly elections held in February this year. The AAP had already become the main opposition party in Punjab in the previous election, by winning 20 seats out of the 112 seats it contested. Due to the ruling Congress and then CM Amarinder Singh facing huge anti-incumbency in the border-state, the AAP emerged as the main contender to power in Punjab in no time. Every nook and corner in Punjab reverberated the slogan of Parivartan (change) during poll campaign, eventually giving the AAP a massive majority in the Punjab legislative assembly.
The AAP snatched Punjab from the Congress, that too by winning 92 seats out of the all 117 seats it contested. The Congress party was left with just 18 seats in the state it was ruling.
The Punjab victory not only declared the AAP's arrival in national politics, but also made the GOP anxious of the opposition space quickly slipping out of its hands. That, perhaps, was the reason why the Congress party has now started terming the AAP as 'B Team' of the BJP.
2) Shinde rebels; Sena splits:
After the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena's breakup with the saffron party in 2019, it formed an unnatural alliance with parties having polar opposite ideologies- the INC and the NCP. That led to the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which eventually formed a government in Maharashtra, keeping the single largest party- the BJP- at bay.
Eknath Shinde, who was considered the number two leader in the party, was given the plum portfolio of Urban Development and Public Works. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray assumed the responsibility as the Chief Minister.
Since the MVA coalition came to power, there were always speculations over whether the government will survive for five years. The BJP, irked by the betrayal by Uddhav and co., often made claims on the time period it would take for the MVA government to collapse.
After two and half years in power, and fronting once in a century kind of crisis like the pandemic, the MVA coalition started seeing cracks in the alliance they claimed was strong enough to survive. As cross voting in Rajya Sabha and MLC polls were not a shock enough for the alliance, a news of a few Shiv Sena MLAs missing started doing the rounds.
Before Uddhav Thackeray could make advances to set the house in order, over 30 MLAs of his party had moved out of the state, first to Gujarat's Surat and then Assam's Guwahati.
It became evidently clear that a massive revolt had taken place within the Maharashtra-based party, and Eknath shinde was the leader of this revolt. Eventually, over 40 MLAs, including ministers and independent legislators extended their support to Shinde's rebellion.
When Shinde returned from Guwahati, not only his life, but also the politics of Maharashtra had changed. The MVA government had gone into minority, CM Uddhav Thackeray had resigned ahead of the trust vote, and the route to form a new government in the state was cleared.
In an unprecedented development, the BJP, which happened to be the single largest party in the state, made Eknath Shinde the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, as it formed the government with support of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs.
3) Nitish makes another U-turn, patches up with RJD
In August 2022, the BJP was dealt a blow in Eastern state of Bihar as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar once again switched partners. Nitish, who fought the 2020 assembly polls in alliance with the BJP, broke up with the saffron party and resigned from the top post.
After submitting his resignation to governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan alone, Nitish then went to meet the leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav at his residence, clearing speculations around what he might do next.
Nitish Kumar patched up with his old friend Lalu Yadav's RJD, making Tejashwi the deputy CM once again.
As per political pundits, Nitish's U-turn becomes significant ahead of the 2024 general elections. Bihar, which comprises of 40 Lok Sabha constituencies, gave 39 seats to the NDA (BJP+JDU+LJP) in 2019 general elections. With Nitish leaving their side, and the split in the LJP, it is almost impossible for the BJP to repeat their 2019 performance in the state.
Moreover, Nitish has frequently expressed his desire and efforts to unite opposition parties for the 2024 polls. Nitish, who blamed the BJP for weakening his party during their alliance, has vowed to travel the length and breadths of the country to form an opposition coalition to challenge the BJP's massive election machinery.
4) Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra
Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's prime opposition party Congress, undertook an arduous 3,500 kms long foot-march from the Southern tip of the country (Kanyakumari) to the Northern edge (Kashmir).
Amid complaints of opposition not being visible on ground to challenge the Modi magic, Rahul's mass outreach program came like a breeze of fresh air for his party cadres as well as supporters.
Though many hesitated about how the Yatra would be received after it crosses the Vindhya range and enters the North India, Rahul proved all the naysayers wrong as thousands walked with him in MP, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
Although the crowds in his yatra are no measure of the response the GOP would receive from voters in next general elections, it surely has cemented the Congress' position as main opposition to the BJP, as many parties had begun to undermine the INC's support base recently.
5) PM Modi's BJP sweeps his home state
Though Gujarat assembly elections seemed like a done deal even before they were announced, the magnitude of the BJP's victory might have shocked its doubters as well as opposition.
The Congress, which came close to striking an upset for the BJP in 2017, could not even cross 20 seats in 2022 assembly polls. The entry of AAP in Gujarat also turned out to be a headache for the Congress, whose star campaigners from the Gandhi family abandoned the party.
PM Modi, with his extraordinary popularity among Gujarati voters, boasted of the 'Gujarati Asmita'. With his extensive campaign over the month, with various rallies and road shows, PM Modi ensured that the INC and AAP were nowhere in competition. Gujarat, being his home state, was a political necessity to win for PM Modi. A loss in Gujarat would have led to people, even in his own party, doubting his credibility as a leader.
However, the saffron party won 156 seats out of 182, breaking the record of highest seats won in the state by the Congress in 1985. The Congress won 149 of the 182 seats that year.
