Prime Minister Narendra Modi is at it again. He thinks, breathes, and devours elections. Independent India has never had a leader who was so dedicated to the cause of winning elections — from the panchayat level to Parliament. His detractors see it as an obsession that is not in line with nurturing a healthy democracy.The criticism apart, it is no accident that the BJP has become the world’s largest party, which has attempted to turn the entire Opposition into pygmies. By hook or by crook, the detractors say, alleging that the ruling party was neither playing by the rules nor was there a level playing field. Now the BJP’s campaign over “Operation Sindoor” is a heady mix of Hindutva and staunch nationalism, seeking to drive home the point that only a strong leader like Narendra Modi can provide safety and security in troubled times. Any action against Pakistan is generally a sure-shot winner for the BJP, which has always thrived on emotional issues. In fact, Mr Modi had even used the slogan of “Miya Musharraf”, alluding to the then Pakistani dictator, to win an election hands down in Gujarat well before he shifted to New Delhi. “Hum pach, Hamare pachis” — was yet another, taking a jibe at the alleged growing family size in the minority community, implying that it had got the majority worried. The surgical strikes at Balakot following the Pulwama attack in 2019 had paid rich dividends to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, increasing its tally from that of 2014. In that year, Mr Modi became the first BJP leader to secure a majority for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, with 282 of the 543 seats. In 2019, the tally went up to 303. A day after the strikes, Mr Modi had hit the campaign trail, and the rest is history. This time, there are no immediate elections. The Assembly polls in Bihar are due by the year-end, and there are a host of elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu next year. Bihar will witness an interesting fight, but it won’t be a problem if the ruling NDA remains intact in the state and fights unitedly. However, some surveys claim that Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD is on the top of the charts as the next CM. Operation Sindoor, being on a much larger scale than the Balakot strikes on Pakistan, should ensure a field day for the BJP. That is the general impression. Though multi-party delegations were sent to some 35 countries, including the United States, the BJP has sought to quickly cash in on the valour of the armed forces, thereby seeking to break unity among the political class, at a time the entire Opposition had rallied behind the government. Mr Modi going on overdrive to flag the success of Operation Sindoor has brought to the fore questions over his leadership as also a stinging sobriquet — of being “Sindoor ka Saudgar”. It is for the people to judge if this is right or wrong. It looks as if the PM is getting caught in a quagmire this time. Alerted by the BJP’s tactics, the Opposition is getting aggressive and posing a lot of searching questions. Mr Modi’s deafening silence is making the matter more complex at a time when US President Donald Trump is claiming credit, day in and day out, for ensuring the India-Pakistan ceasefire. The Opposition is loudly asking why not a single nation has supported India and condemned Pakistan over the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The Sangh Parivar loyalists’ projection for some time of the PM as “Vishwa Guru” has become an albatross around the ruling party’s neck. The controversy over external affairs minister S. Jaishankar’s statement on India’s strikes at the terror hideouts in Pakistan is refusing to die down. The government’s rejection of the united Opposition demand for an immediate special session of Parliament in the wake of the India-Pakistan conflict and convening the Monsoon Session as usual in the middle of July speaks about the unease within to confront the challenge. There are no easy answers, and this has emboldened the Opposition to raise the tempo. The talk in political circles is that the BJP has botched up its reported plan to politically exploit Operation Sindoor for electoral gains. As one observer put it: “This is not the first time the BJP has shot itself in the foot by going all out in campaign mode when elections are still far away”. Mr Modi’s “over-dependence” on the Pakistan card and his silence on both China and the United States could well confuse the “floating” vote and even the middle-class voters during elections. While “floating” voters are a decisive factor in every election, his middle-class base genuinely believes that a strong PM was bent on capturing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir this time. It is also baffled about why Mr Modi and home minister Amit Shah have failed to identify and arrest all the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack. Repeated warnings and threats to Pakistan by the BJP top brass after the Pahalgam attack shows utter helplessness as nothing has changed so far on the ground and on the diplomatic front. Managing headlines is a little different than convincing “core” voters, whose deafening silence could be a warning to the government and the BJP after the ceasefire that “all is not well”. The bigger crisis is that the absence of a big idea is hurting the BJP since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which saw the party failing to get a majority on its own and having to be content with just 240 seats, almost equal to the Opposition INDIA bloc, where the biggest party, the Congress, ended with 99 seats. The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi
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