Heading For A Hat-Trick

His personal popularity still high, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are set to return for a third consecutive term with a clear majority, though unemployment continues to remain a concern

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

When Narendra Modi stood up to address the Lok Sabha on February 5, the prime minister exuded an aura of confidence and assuredness. He even mocked the members seated in the Opposition benches, saying they would be occupying those seats for decades. He asserted that in the upcoming general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win 370 seats on its own, 98 more than the 272 needed for a simple majority in the Lok Sabha. He put the overall tally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at an astounding 405 seats. With a flourish, he said, "Ab ki baar..." And, as he paused, BJP members in the House filled in the rest, "Char sau paar". And so the target of 400 seats was set.

That's an electoral feat only Rajiv Gandhi, riding a sympathy wave triggered by the assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi, then prime minister of India, accomplished in 1984, when he led the Congress to a mammoth 404-seat majority in the general election. The Grand Old Party later added 10 more seats in the delayed polls in Assam and Punjab. Modi is also aware that if he wins three consecutive Lok Sabha elections with a clear majority, he will equal the record of Rajiv's grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, The country's first prime minister led the Congress to consecutive wins with full majorities in the 1952, 1957 and 1962 general elections before his death in 1964.