Elections 2022: Three parties, three messages

If the BJP’s mega win in Gujarat is areminder of the remarkable support for PM Narendra Modi and the effectiveness of the party’s poll machinery, the other big story of the election season is the arrival of the AAP on the national stage. And for the Congress, despite the win in Himachal Pradesh, there is more trouble ahead

Modi-ji, Hindutva, Rashtravaad aur Vikas," declared a jubilant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker at the party headquarters in Ahmedabad, struggling to speak over chants of Vande Mataram and the victorious beats of an impromptu garba. He said it better than any pundit could.

The cult of personality, welfarism, nationalism and Hindutva are all fragments of the Modi brand, stronger than ever before after the dazzling win in Gujarat, one that broke a 37-year-old record to become the best performance by a political party in the state. A seventh consecutive term, an increase in vote share that breaches the 50% threshold and a seemingly teflon popularity, undisturbed by tragedies, such as the collapse of the Morbi bridge - these are all telling reminders of the unequivocal and remarkable support for the Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi in his home state.

But let the focus on PM Modi's chemistry not take away from the ruthless science of the BJP election machinery. The PM provokes proincumbency; it's not always the same for the BJP, which can often trigger anger and discontent over localised issues of governance. We forget now that the BJP axed 44 sitting legislators in Gujarat and embraced more than 30 new entrants since 2017 from the Congress.