Modi dominates the campaign but can he win a decisive victory for BJP?

With today’s voting, the 9 phase elections to elect the members of 16th Lok Sabha have come to an end. From April 7 (1st phase of elections) to May 12 (last phase of elections), India was engrossed in celebrating the largest festival of democracy.

Since the elections were spread over 9 phases, there was not a single day of rest either for politicians or the journalists. Normally, campaigning comes to an end before 48 hours of polling but this time if polling was taking place in one constituency then campaigning was going on in some other constituency the same day. And you could watch both events on your 24*7 TV channels. There was confusion in political parties as they complained against each other for trying to influence the voters on an election day using the electronic media.

So what were the highlights of 2014 election campaign? How will history remember this election campaign?

Apart from being remembered for a long drawn campaign, this election will also go down in history for introducing a presidential style campaign for the first time in India. And Narendra Modi was the leader who left no stone unturned in Converting BJP’s campaign as a personality driven campaign that appeared a little unusual to Indian electorate. Nevertheless, the crowds at Modi’s mega rallies were impressive in almost all places and it was surprising to see how easily Modi connected with masses. Indian politics had not seen this kind of spontaneous and enthusiastic support for any one leader in last two decades. Clearly, Modi emerged as the most charismatic leader in 2014 election campaign.



Modi has done everything he could do to ensure his smooth entry into 7, Race Course Road. It was a path full of thorns for him. First, he faced stiff opposition from senior leaders like Advani and Sushma but the solid support of RSS helped him cross all the intra-party roadblocks. Once declared as the BJP’s PM candidate at the Goa conclave, Modi’s next challenge was to position himself as the most suitable politician to lead the country. His track record in Gujarat as a no-nonsense and decisive leader had already created goodwill among the electorate across the country. Even in remote areas, people were not aware of BJP but they had heard the success story of Modi led BJP.

Now the challenge for Modi was to tap those electorates who liked Modi but were not impressed with BJP. Modi knew that the BJP had reached saturation point so far as its influence was concerned and if the party had to win the 2014 elections they had to look beyond their comfort zone. It was under these circumstances that Modi and RSS decided to fully encash Modi’s personal appeal so that the party could transcend all barriers of regional, linguistic and sectarian divisions. And a decision was taken by the RSS and BJP leadership to turn the 2014 election campaign into a presidential style campaign for BJP.

With full backing of corporate houses that were willing to put money in the name of Modi, BJP launched a high voltage election campaign. Modi’s oratorical skills and his personal charisma came in handy for the party in reaching out to the electorate.

Modi started with development agenda but did not hesitate in playing caste card when he realized it was necessary to overcome the stiff challenge that he faced from leaders like Mayawati, Mulayam and Lalu. A relatively newcomer like Priyanka Gandhi provided Modi with an issue (Neech rajniti) that he exploited to hilt. This episode went on to show how an experienced political player can turn a crisis into an opportunity.



Modi and BJP succeeded in converting these elections as Modi Vs rest campaign. Modi was setting the agenda and others were just responding to him. Proving all apprehensions regarding Modi’s inability to win over allies wrong, the BJP went into polls with around 25 pre-poll allies, a first for the party in its history.

The Congress party never looked like trying its best to win the general elections for a third time in a row. Rahul Gandhi travelled across the country and addressed rallies but somehow couldn’t connect with the masses. It’s not that he had no vision but the problem was that he failed to effectively communicate the message to the electorate. The arrival of Priyanka Gandhi on the horizon boosted the morale of Congress works and she succeeded in attracting media attention but the party decided to restrict her to the two constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli and this decision was questioned by many political observers. May be, the party decided to reserve its trump card for 2019.

The party went soft on its Saharanpur candidate Imran Masood who was caught on tape saying he will cut Modi into pieces. Surprisingly, Rahul Gandhi campaigned for him in presence of his wife and kids. Some political observers accused Rahul of indirectly supporting Masood to polarize the electorate.

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has fielded candidates in more than 400 LS constituencies but all eyes are set on the party candidates in Varanasi and Amethi. Party supremo Arvind kejriwal is taking on Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency while Kumar Vishwas is challenging Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.  Apart from these two constituencies, the AAP failed to register its presence in other constituencies. Shazia Ilmi, AAP’s candidate from Ghaziabad, goofed up when she was caught on tape saying that the Muslim community should get communal this time. This was a setback for the party which targeted Modi for spreading communalism.



Undoubtedly, the prize for best run campaign goes to Narendra Modi but is it enough to win the race for 7, race Course Road? All pre-poll surveys have predicted a comfortable victory for BJP led NDA but the track record of pre-poll surveys on national level does not inspire confidence, be it 2004 or 2009 pre-poll surveys. Modi may be ahead of others including Rahul and Kejriwal but to romp home with a clear cut majority on his own is still a big task for him because the party has no presence in large parts of India although Modi has tried his best for a breakthrough in states like West Bengal.

Brand Modi has been marketed very efficiently and a win for Modi led BJP would indicate that India too has joined the league of Western countries where selling a candidate requires the skills of  selling a product. This is more so in United States where media blitzkrieg plays an important role in ensuring victory of presidential candidates.

One thing is for sure, a Modi victory will open scope for marathon debates on whether Indian electorates have   shown a preference for a US style presidential campaign to judge the charisma and quality of candidates.  Let’s wait for May 16.