ATTACK MODE

Worried by Rahul Gandhi's massive rallies in Bihar, the BJP asks its leaders to go on the offensive

- PRATUL SHARMA

THIRD TERMS ARE rarely smooth sailing. Two previous prime ministers who lasted that long—Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi—experienced that firsthand. Now, Narendra Modi appears to be in the same boat.

Around 14 months into his third term, the prime minister has had a lot to tackle, but he is doing so head on. Modi has tried to ensure that his government and party have responded resolutely, even if there have been, at times, questions about the efficacy of the decisions.

While the Pahalgam terror attack was answered with Operation Sindoor, the US-imposed tariffs are being countered by a possible reworking of ties with China—the presence of Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in Beijing makes for powerful optics.

On the political front, the challenges in the past year have been dealt with by turning the heat on opposition parties and their leaders. For instance, the Congress's promise of a caste census if it won Bihar was deflated by Home Minister Amit Shah; he announced that it would be conducted along with the decennial census. The BJP's U-turn on this issue showed flexibility, though it confused the party's core voters.

The biggest headache for the party now is the likely fallout of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, first announced in June. The opposition, shocked by the sudden move, accused the Election Commission of “disenfranchising voters” and helping the BJP.

The BJP, for its part, has framed SIR as an exercise to weed out illegal immigrants, but the opposition feels this has communal overtones. Over 65 lakh names were struck off the list as they were either dead, had multiple identities or had moved out of the state. The Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal made it an election issue in Bihar, and opposition leaders from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which go to the polls next year, joined in.