Will Modi-Shah weave their magic again?

The BJP has launched its pan-India ‘Maha Janasampark Abhiyan’ to take on the Opposition, either united or not, in the next general elections, from Ajmer on Wednesday in the poll-bound Rajasthan. Rajasthan is all set to go for its Assembly elections later this year along with Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. This only means that the BJP leadership does not want to waste any time in gearing up for the vital 2024 elections. These elections are crucial not only to Narendra Modi but also to the BJP-RSS sangathan that has set a long-term goal of taking forward its own brand of ‘Hindutva’ while also seeking a course correction of the country’s history.

The party has planned 543 such Abhiyans in 543 Lok Sabha Constituencies in the country ahead of other political parties. The BJP still retains its distinct advantage over the fragmented Opposition in this regard and it is not wasting any time in implementing its strategy to woo people with extensive interactive programmes. Over 51 huge rallies, public meetings at more than 500 places, and over 600 press conferences in over 500 Lok Sabha and 4,000 Vidhan Sabha constituencies are part of the party’s strategy and at least five lakh distinguished families (one may read it as politically influential families) are to be contacted in the course of time.

Wednesday’s Rajasthan meeting, perhaps, has seen the coming together of the former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Modi on one stage after a long time. During the last Assembly elections, care was taken by both the leaders not to cross each other’s path. The effort of Modi to promote anti-Raje groups in the State is well-known. The party has been experimenting with ‘fresh faces’ for quite some time now and did so in Haryana earlier. It did the same in Karnataka and landed in a soup recently. The party seems to have lost not only its power but also the Lingayat support quite decisively.

A reformed approach by the Congress and the united face that it has put up in Karnataka delivered it Karnataka and going by the number of Lingayat faces in the Cabinet now, it could be difficult for the BJP to repeat its previous LS performance from the State. Anyway Karnataka is gone. It has given a new hope to the Opposition that the BJP is not invincible anymore. There are efforts by the Congress to iron out differences between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot in taking on the BJP in the upcoming elections. The latter is still not convinced about the utility of a united Rajasthan leadership, it seems.

The Modi-Shah duo would do well to sort out the Rajasthan tangle much before the elections or else it could be a repeat of Karnataka. In fact, the party needs to address such leadership issues in Telangana, AP, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra, too. All is really not well in these states for the party. Particularly, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh look bleak for it and attempting to bank on Modi’s charisma alone may not yield the required result for the ruling party.

Anti-incumbency alone is enough to defeat any party in power for two terms. All the leaders must have a strong desire to retain power in the ruling party which means some sacrifice on their part. Will Modi-Shah be able to convince their leaders on this count? More so when the entire minority vote is consolidating against them as never before?