Modi, Shah Reign Again

The duo get their names inscribed in history books by crafting a spectacular win, decimating a determined opposition and proving traditional political theories wrong,

- Uday Mahurkar

Ravindra Yadav, 42, does not strike you as the average BJP voter, it is probably because he isn’t. The college dropout from Ayodhya now drives a taxi in Delhi and says he voted for Narendra Modi. He reels out a list of reasons why: from poverty alleviation programmes to direct benefit transfers, Prime Minister Modi, he says, has “saved us from greasing the palms of clerks to release cheques, which wem had to do earlier. The transparency and efficiency he has brought in can be felt”. His brother built a new house back in their village with a Rs 2.6 lakh grant from the Modi government.

It is this silent voter that political observers lost sight of. Millions like Yadav are what contributed to the BJP’s decisive 300-plus-seats victory. Their vote went to the party following the extraordinary effort by party president Amit Shah to convert the over 300 million beneficiaries of the Modi government’s schemes into voters, with a combination of skilful strategy and a sharp party machinery. The knockout punch came in the form of the 142 public rallies that Modi addressed and another 341 that Shah did, besides the road shows across the country, with special focus on West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Speeches for each rally were customised and fine-tuned to appeal to the local crowds. Equal time was devoted to development and the Balakot strikes in both their speeches. The public response to Balakot was electric, embodied in this sentiment—“Now the rules of the game with Pakistan have changed. If they fire goli (bullet), we will fire gole (cannon balls).”