Brand And The Hand

With the Congress in revival mode, Modi’s final stretch in his first prime ministerial term has been riddled with uncertainty.

- Soni Mishra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a reputation of swinging many electoral contests his way with his high-voltage campaigns and oratory skills. When the going got tough for the BJP ahead of the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections, Modi swooped in and tilted the scales in his party’s favour with a flurry of public meetings. He played the son of the soil to the hilt and accused Congress leaders of being in cahoots with Pakistan to defeat him.

That version of Modi, however, was seen a lot less as the party campaigned for the assembly elections held this November-December, particularly in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Earlier, Modi’s critics would remind him that he was now prime minister and should not treat every state election as his own. But he campaigned far less this time, and even his absence from publicity material was conspicuous.

There was another major difference—the BJP strongman was no longer setting the agenda. Even as the BJP’s effort was to keep the focus away from Modi, he was compelled to react in his election speeches to the barbs thrown at him by Congress president Rahul Gandhi with regard to his promises of achhe din, and the allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal and crony capitalism.

Modi’s reticence may well have been a sign of the BJP’s fears of facing electoral reverses in the Hindi heartland. Those fears came true when the three states voted out the BJP. The verdict, months ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has thrown the field open for the big electoral fight. A clear signal coming out of the results is that the Congress, though still a weak force, is up for the battle, and Modi no longer looks unbeatable. Brand Modi has lost its sheen because of the continuing aftereffects of demonetisation and a ‘faulty’ implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.