PM Modi Must Fall Back On Allies To Win 2019

A united Opposition may deny the BJP a majority in 2019, but it will need to pull out all the stops to take on Narendra Modi, who still towers over the political landscape.

- Raj Chengappa

Every Prime Minister who was stood on the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day and unfurled the tricolour, as cannons boom and the band strikes up the national anthem, must have felt the gravity of the moment. Both as a symbol of free India as also the tremendous burden of expectations it enfolds. So must have Narendra Modi as he readied to address the nation for the fifth time from the 378-year-old Mughal-era monument. It must be both addictive and sobering to have the attention of the nation’s 1.3 billion people—the perks of power— and know that the actions you take will in some way impact their individual trysts with destiny.

On August 15, 2014, when Modi delivered his first address as prime minister, he portrayed himself as the outsider, who had received the mandate to transform the country, end the policy paralysis of the previous government and revive the flagging economy. He announced a host of innovative programmes, including his signature Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Four years later, in 2018, Modi has become very much the insider and was in supreme command as he spoke with oratorical flourish about his government’s accomplishments in every sector and for every section of the people, whether the poor, the backward, farmers, the middle class, businessmen or young and women. The prime minister’s big pitch: my government has delivered.​​​​​​