By Sushil Kutty
It has been a couple of months since the BJP got into election mode. Preparations for general elections 2024 began in earnest in July 2023. The Karnataka assembly elections loss was a jolt that called for a reassembling of sorts. On September 1, news came of the setting up of 300 call centres for “grassroots contact work”. Reports said Union Home Minister Amit Shah would inaugurate the call centres.
The call centres were for establishing contact with voters and not breaking contact till voting day. Teams of grassroots BJP cadres would be given campaign material. The BJP takes pride in being thorough. There is a hierarchy and clockwork is the mantra. Call centre venues were chosen with care. Internet connectivity was a must. The party says the call centres will help win 2024.
Party general secretary Arun Singh held a meeting on September 8. On September 1, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had held a meeting and divided “India” into 10 zones for campaign purposes. But even Shah couldn’t have imagined the birth of INDIA, the grouping of 26 opposition parties, now spearheading “Operation Defeat Modi”.
INDIA put a spoke in the BJP’s election wheel. The BJP never thought opposition parties would succeed in uniting. There were too many stalwarts in the opposition parties with massive egos. But INDIA has already held two meetings. A third one is right round the corner. From the looks of it, it wouldn’t be easy for the BJP, even with the call centres working 24/7, to break INDIA.
The BJP has been working on its dedicated electorate for months; ensuring they remained loyal to the party election symbol come rain or shine. On voting day, the call centres will make calls and check with each voter if he/she has cast his/her vote or not. The BJP’s vote-banks include the Hindutva, the Pasmanda Muslims and the independent undecided.
The party has a strategy for each of the vote-banks. It is believed that the Hindutva/Hindu will not desert the BJP, ever. But in the interregnum, many from the Hindutva vote-bank are cut up with Modi for taking them for granted, angry that the so-called ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ only served the interests of the Pasmanda Muslim.
In fact, the Pasmanda Muslims are Modi’s Achilles heel. And this is where INDIA’s anti-Sanatana dharma tirade is helping the BJP to reclaim its Sanatana-friendly image. Today, after Udhayanidhi Stalin, Priyank Kharge and A Raja’s remarks, not to miss out Bihar’s “Chandrashekar”, the BJP is back to watering its Hindutva roots, crying buckets for the wronged Sanatana Dharma.
Buoyed on by the RSS, the BJP believes the Pasmanda Muslim will one day vote for the BJP. The Muslim also wants his share of the development pie. If Congress did it, it was minority appeasement, “tushtikaran”. But if the BJP does it, it is “welfare”. The Muslim male may or may not vote for the BJP, but Muslim women will break the ceiling and “vote for Modi”. Muslim women are beholden to Modi for free rations, triple-talaq ban, Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. The last two are big hits.
So despite setbacks, the BJP is going whole hog on its own brand of Minority appeasement and if the BJP’s Hindutva vote-bank doesn’t like it, there is the highway. However, INDIA has put a spoke in Narendra Modi’s chariot-wheel. The road ahead is bumpy and the BJP has to revert to the Sanatani Hindu. Therefore, “Bharat” against “INDIA” and “one-nation one-election”; the very “special session” in the New Parliament. Plus talk of how “Modiji could forget Women’s Reservation”? These all have their importance for winning 350/400 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.
While using call centres to contact and engage specific vote-banks such as farmers, women and youth, the BJP is also using an army of YouTubers and social media influencers in its election campaign for 2024. The BJP IT Cell is playing a very important role and has battalions of the “Masterstrokevadis” whose job it is to list out Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “masterstrokes”. The earliest masterstroke was “ending triple-talaq”, the latest is bringing “Bharat” into play.
Then, of course, building on Prime Minister Narendra Modi against INDIA. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party cannot hope to win elections without that one ingredient – Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Take Modi out and the BJP might as well kiss general elections 2024 goodbye. Modi won 2014 for the BJP and five years later, general elections 2019. The same would apply for the 2024 general elections, too.
Therefore, the glorification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in every which way is a must and part of the BJP’s campaign for general elections 2024. As such, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned in eulogizing Narendra Modi as “Mahamanav” and “Vishwaguru”, the saviour of entire communities. The party is forever singing the praise of the Prime Minister – the BJP’s one-man election winning juggernaut. The BJP’s lucky charm. The just concluded G20 Summit helped elevate Modi’s image. Will that too contribute to BJP winning general elections 2024?
The party has divided seats in separate categories keeping “winnability” in mind. Some seats will get “more attention”. For instance, the seven Delhi Lok Sabha constituencies. Besides, all BJP MPs have been told to complete pending works in their constituencies. The BJP won 303 seats in 2019, securing nearly 40 percent votes. Winning 2024 will require a greater effort. The party has special plans for beating Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi and certain others who are regarded unbeatable. (IPA Service)
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