THE QUEST FOR 400

THE PARTY SETS ABOUT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS HISTORIC FEAT WITH A CLEVER MIX OF STRATEGY, REALPOLITIK AND A WELL-DISSEMINATED NARRATIVE BUILT ON HINDUTVA AND DEVELOPMENT

- RAJ CHENGAPPA & ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

Making the impossible possible. It’s a challenge Narendra Modi regularly sets for himself and works steadfastly towards achieving. In the 2014 general election, at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tally had never crossed 182 seats, Modi led his party to a superlative 282-seat victory, and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to 336 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. This was the first time in 30 years—since Rajiv Gandhi piloted the Congress to a 414-seat win in 1984—that any party had won a simple majority on its own. Modi worked his magic a second time in 2019, improving the BJP’s previous tally to 303 seats and the NDA’s to 352. This time, he is staking his claim on two historic feats. The lesser peak: drawing level with Jawaharlal Nehru by taking his party to a third consecutive majority on its own. And the real Everest: doing so with 400 seats, equalling Rajiv Gandhi’s record.

Modi announced his intention on February 5, just days before the final session of the 17th Lok Sabha. All he had to say was ‘Ab ki baar…’ and his partymen provided the resounding chorus—‘