PM’s personal connect weaves magic

KS Tomar

Unlike visible Modi wave in 2014, a ‘Silent Modi Andhi’ hit the entire country barring a few states, which was constantly negated and rejected by the media, analysts, scholars, intellectuals, politicians of all parties except the BJP and its allies.

Modi's senior Cabinet colleague Rajnath Singh was a lone senior BJP leader, who repeatedly reminded his audience during election rallies that history will repeat itself this time and nationalism will catch the fancy of voters, which was witnessed post 1971 Indo-Pak war victory and ensured a huge win for late Indira Gandhi. The stupendous and prodigious results in favour of Modi have proved him right. 

In Himachal, Modi’s personal connect with people was one of the dominant factors that completely dashed the Congress party’s hopes to the ground to win even a single seat besides eliminating caste factor in Kangra parliamentary seat. Congress was hoping against hope to win the Kangra constituency, as it fielded sitting MLA Pawan Kajal, who belongs to the OBC category, having more than 3 lakh votes. But Modi factor dealt a serious blow to this well-established factor of castes, especially in Kangra district.

Secondly, the NDA government’s decision to transfer two instalments of Rs 2,000 each in the bank account of poor farmers worked wonders, which could be witnessed in villages. It gave credence to the credibility of Modi, who is seen as an honest politician in rural areas. At least half a dozen junior and senior officials, who were deputed on poll duty in interior areas in Sirmaur and Solan districts, said they were amazed over Modi’s magic, especially on the issue of cash transfer of Rs 2,000. They confided that some of the junior officers went out of the polling stations during duty hours and called up their family members to tell them to vote for Modi this time even though they were staunch Congressmen.

Modi’s style of campaigning was different from AICC president Rahul Gandhi, which did tilt the scales in favour of BJP. A  cursory glance at two rallies of Modi makes it crystal clear that he connected directly with the people of Mandi district, when he spoke about local dishes like ‘Sepu Badia’ and taste of mushroom of Solan district. The PM surprised people in Mandi rally, as he remembered ‘Chai wala’ Ram Singh, who accompanied him during a visit to ‘Bijlee Mahadev’ temple. He did not forget to praise Sirmaur district’s farmers for growing ginger and mentioned apple crop of Shimla district. He said: “Main Congress ki gaaliyon se darne wala nahin hoon kyoonki maine Solan ka mushroom khaya hai” (I am not afraid of Congress abuses as I have eaten mushroom of Solan district).

Logically and rationally, Modi targeted lakhs of ex-servicemen of Kangra and Hamirpur Lok Sabha seats, when he gave the details of one-rank one-pension, which was implemented by him. He said the Congress government ridiculed the ex-Army personnel, as it allocated a meagre Rs 500 crore to fulfil the demand of crores of pensions, though the NDA earmarked over Rs 8,000 crore, which was a realistic figure. PM’s bold decision to order airstrikes against Pakistan also created a positive impact on the psyche of ex-servicemen in Himachal.

Paradoxically, Rahul Gandhi kept on harping on Rafale deal and raised the issues of unemployment, suicides by farmers, undermining the dignity of apex court and degrading the constitutional institutions, which did not work for his party. The AICC president also attacked the PM for showing disrespect to octogenarian leaders such as LK Advani and dwelt upon his style of giving respect to senior leaders including Virbhadra Singh.

On organisational front, the BJP was far ahead of the Congress and took lead in the finalisation of tickets, which were decided on the basis of different surveys. RSS fully supported the BJP, which had resources in abundance to contest the elections. BJP president Amit Shah formulated the poll strategy for Himachal, which was implemented in toto by the organisation and the RSS.

Contrary to it, the Congress changed its state president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who failed to check the dissensions, which weakened the organisation. New state party chief Kuldeep Rathore did not get sufficient time to set the house in order though he got full support from all leaders of the party. Ticket distribution was not a smooth affair and took a lot of time thereby creating a negative impact on party cadres. Senior Congress leaders including Virbhadra Singh, Sukh Ram, Kuldeep Rathore and CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri failed to save their prestige, as party has been wiped out in the state.

It was a fierce and frightening battle for CM Jai Ram Thakur in Mandi as party nominee Ram Swaroop Sharma was considered the weakest one, but Modi magic sailed him through. Former union telecom minister’s grandson Ashray tried hard, but faced defeat. Ashray’s father Anil Sharma lost his ministerial post and his expulsion from the BJP is imminent.

Anurag Thakur won from Hamirpur for the record fourth time and he is likely to get a ministerial berth in Modi Cabinet. Amit Shah declared that Anurag will get a bigger responsibility if people ensured his victory. Analysts point out that if Anurag is inducted in the ministry, then JP Nadda may be the next national party president replacing Shah, who is likely to get most important portfolio in the new government. In Kangra and Shimla constituencies, it was lone Modi wave, which ensured the victory of BJP nominees, including Kishan Kapoor and Suresh Kashyap, respectively.

(Writer is a senior journalist. Views are personal)