There has been a big change in the strategy of the BJP which has so far been fighting the Assembly elections by projecting the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party now plans to keep the face of PM Modi away from active campaigning in states and fight all the Assembly elections in the name of the leaders of the respective states.
In the three-day meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Delhi, Sangh leaders told the BJP that till 2024, there should be no stain on the face of PM Modi, so Assembly elections should not be fought on his face.
It is worth mentioning that the way the BJP failed to perform as per expectations in West Bengal despite the Prime Minister’s massive campaigning across the state, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed it the defeat of PM Modi. In West Bengal, PM Modi’s election rallies were projected in such a way that the Assembly elections were being held between Prime Minister Modi and Mamata Banerjee. The BJP’s failure to wrest the state from the TMC’s grip exposed chinks in the PM’s armour and his image as an unbeatable general seemed to have taken a beating.
The RSS has told the BJP leaders that PM Modi’s image is to be “saved” till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. So in the Assembly elections to be held in 2022, the BJP will contest by projecting the leaders of the states—Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh, Tirath Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand, Vijay Rupani in Gujarat, Pramod Sawant in Goa. The party also plans to project a Dalit leader as CM face in Punjab. The BJP will contest elections in Himachal Pradesh on the face of Jai Ram Thakur.
Similarly, in 2023 in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, the BJP will fight the Assembly elections in the face of the leaders of the states.
To improve the image of the Prime Minister, not only the BJP, but the Prime Minister himself has also intensified efforts. Decisions like announcing to give free vaccines across the country after 42 days, announcing free ration to 80 crore families till November, raising MSP on pulses, oilseeds, cereals, announcing the cancellation of class 12 CBSE examination are being seen as a part of this image-building exercise, which seems to have been dented a bit due to the poor handling of the Covid-19 second wave.
In the coming days, more such decisions aimed at bolstering PM Modi’s image are likely to be announced.
