Migrant crisis has undone PM’s pro-poor image: Experts

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 9

With questions intensifying on the handling of the Covid lockdown, political observers and strategists say the heart-wrenching migrant crisis has damaged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s carefully crafted “pro-poor and chaiwala” image.

‘Regaining trust to be difficult’

Political observers say the BJP will have to come up with new tricks to break the current image of “a ruthless and draconian state that forces migrant labourers to walk thousands of kilometres”.

The BJP successfully used the PM’s image to woo economically weaker sections and win many a political battles in the past seven year.

Prime Minister Modi’s lockdown has “sharply divided society” in two parts — middle/affluent class and economically weaker sections — and undone PM’s carefully crafted “humble and pro-poor” image.

Naresh Arora, a political strategist, says the migrant crisis has completely undone the pro-poor image the BJP crafted to dispel its “middle-class” image. Prime Minister’s Modi’s ‘chaiwala’ brand went beyond political and caste equations.

Sudheer Panwar, a political observer, says, “The political constituency Modi built with great care is feeling angry and hopeless. The economically lower section these migrant labourers belong to is the vote bank he built with great care with his image.”

“This class, which transcends caste combinations and equations, has been most committed to the BJP since Prime Minister Modi came to power,” he says. Migrant crisis has given credence to Opposition’s claims of the BJP being a party of rich and privileged, says Arora, adding “there is no coming back from this”.

“The party will have to work very hard and come up with new tricks to break the current image of a ruthless, draconian, iron-fisted state that sprays bleach on labourers, forces them to walk thousands of kilometres and lets them starve to death,” he says. Panwar explains why it may be difficult for the BJP to gain confidence of its committed vote bank.