India forging unity at G20 may give BJP fresh campaign pitch

The adoption of G20's Delhi Declaration has given the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a platform to advance its political outreach and electoral campaign ahead of next year's general election, highlighting the role of its governance model and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership in the successful summit.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

The PM has previously referred to the summit as an opportunity to present the country on the international arena.

According to party leaders, the outcome of the summit and the key takeaways will be aggressively publicised over the coming weeks and will be conspicuous in the party's outreach ahead of the elections that begin with five states going to polls at the end of the year and climaxes with the national elections in April-May 2024.

"It is undoubtedly a huge win for the government led by PM Modi. Getting world leaders to congregate at a platform and forge a consensus even on issues that are as polarising as the Russia-Ukraine war is not an easy feat. This also shows that PM Modi's leadership is accepted.

The opposition has been campaigns running against him, while he was working towards the growth and development of our country.... we will go to people with this message," said a senior party leader who asked not to be named.

The leader said on earlier occasions when the government and the party spoke about India's growing influence and heft and how it was emerging as a powerful voice in the world, the opposition "ran down" the PM's efforts on the global platform to "discredit" him.

"When Indian students and citizens of other countries were evacuated from Ukraine as part of Operation Ganga, they said it was done with the elections in UP (Uttar Pradesh) in mind. A campaign has been run to show the government as intolerant...but this summit has exposed their designs," the leader added.