March 11 shall be waited with baited breath. India may wake up to a new idiom of politics where Modi may have won, triggering an yearning for change
In an unprecedented election campaign for Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, and among the most memorable for years to come, the Prime Minister, the tallest leader of his party, took it upon himself to take the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) story to the electorate, and with incredible intensity. Prime Minister Narenadra Modi put all his might, charisma and commitment in what is most certainly a high-stake political battle.
Through his intense campaigns across Uttar Pradesh, and especially during the last three phases in the eastern belt of the expansive State, the Prime Minister displayed a spirited resolve to lead the political battle from the front.
While any prediction on the final outcome may be fraught with risks, there are loud indications that the Prime Minister’s efforts may bear fruits and the BJP may make a comeback in the State. Even if that does not happen, the BJP will emerge as a formidable political entity in a State that has seen a free-run of two regional parties who have ruled the roost.
If the BJP does perform well and acquires majority, this would deal a big blow to a bunch of fierce critics of Prime Minister Modi — especially the Godhraites — who have relentlessly targeted Modi and attacked both his ideas and ideologies with remarkable consistency.
Critics also bet big time on weaving lopsided and fallacious narratives to poke holes in the Prime Minister’s claims — be it positive effects of demonetisation, success of the financial inclusion through the Jan Dhan Yojana, or the highly successful Ujjwala programme for providing lPG cylinders to poor women in rural and remote areas.
This time, their biggest hope was on notebandi and the narrative on how it was a disastrous policy initiative that affected the poor. Farmers, traders, petty business men and women and millions suffered, the critics had said endlessly. They found no merit at all in this historic decision that displayed a strong commitment by a powerful leader to take tough decisions, even if it is pregnant with risks.
Much to their chagrin, the serpentine-queue-incessant-hardship narrative could not hold for long, and the situation limped back to normal sooner than they had anticipated. A master
communicator, Prime Minister Modi turned it back on his critics by weaving a fine narrative of how the historic demonetisation decision was designed to benefit the poor, and not harm them. People seem to have trusted the Prime Minister hands down, if some experts like Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar and Prannoy Roy are to be believed. Known not to be blind followers of Modi, these two experts have put their money on Modi, based of course on their extensive on-ground assessments and decades of experience.
Many television reports also highlight the mood of the people and many of it seem to indicate that the BJP will come to power in Uttar Pradesh. If that were to happen, the Godhraites would find it hard to fathom and would soon turn their energies on weaving new set of narratives. If the BJP doesn't win, they dance with glee.
One other highlight of this campaign has been the big gamble the Prime Minister has played by becoming the biggest mascot for the BJP, in a rerun of the Bihar model of election strategy that the party had adopted. In fact, during the Prime Minister's three-day Varanasi sojourn that concluded on Monday, his political opponents questioned if this was sign of nervousness of the BJP. While the final outcome of the election will tell if this was a desperation or an assertion of a political strategy, the Prime Minister’s aggressive outreach, defying security risks, in many ways redefined the art and science of the modern political warfare. His popularity reached a pinnacle and made it tough for other parties to match his skills and scale.
March 11 shall be waited with intense curiosity by millions, and as the sun sets on Saturday, India may wake up to a new idiom of politics where Modi may have won by triggering a yearning for change, and a new India. Who knows!
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)