“Desh dekh raha hai, ek akela kitnon pe bhari padh raha hai (the country is watching, how one person is outweighing so many).” While that statement in the Rajya Sabha by Narendra Modi, pointing at the incessant sloganeering from the Opposition benches over the Adani Group allegations, seemed like an outburst, the Prime Minister might have inadvertently given his party a punch line. For, there is no doubt in the BJP's mind that, as it begins the countdown to the 2024 general elections, its trump card remains making the contest “Modi vs the Others”, to ride over the expected bumps due to issues such as inflation, unemployment etc. Expanding on that, the party's focus would be the Centre-run or Modi government schemes. The BJP identified this as a winner some time back, with the central message of its electioneering being that the Modi government is devoted towards reaching the benefits of its schemes to the last man standing, and qualifying this as “real secularism”, not delineated by any religion or group – or, as the party calls it, “politics of saturation”. The “labharthis” or beneficiaries of these schemes are seen by the BJP as committed voters of the party, with the gamble paying off in recent elections such as in Uttar Pradesh. Every morcha of the BJP has now been asked to organise workshops, camps and nukkad meetings, and distribute literature and make short films, to spread the word regarding its schemes. Tellingly, the recent Parliament session saw Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya warning Opposition-ruled state governments against “taking credit” for schemes started by the Centre. Referring to such moves in Andhra Pradesh and Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Punjab and Delhi, Mandaviya said the Centre might be forced to discontinue the schemes if they were re-named. Recently, the Centre promptly dispatched teams to West Bengal following allegations of mismanagement of Central schemes, ignoring protests by the Trinamool Congress government. The scheme route is also seen as the easiest path to expand the BJP in still-unconquered areas, in the expectation that it will offset some of the slide that would be natural after the 303-seat high of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At the BJP National Executive meeting last month, Modi's leading advice to party leaders regarding the nine Assembly elections this year and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls was to work beyond their traditional support base, though he qualified that this must be “not just for votes”; while his warning to “headline seekers” in the party to stay away from antagonising communities and groups was part of the same message. The BJP Minority Morcha subsequently identified around 60 Lok Sabha constituencies where the minority strength is more than 30% of the population for a four-month outreach programme. Alongside, as part of its grand, year-round G20 presidency celebrations, the BJP is seeking to refurbish the PM's image globally as a statesman. 'The Know BJP' programme is part of this initiative. What it also means that despite its hectic, incessant poll-mode activities and programmes, at the end of the day, the BJP continues to fall back on Modi.
