2024 Lok Sabha Election Campaign May See A Surprise Move By PM Modi

By TN Ashok

New Delhi, July 17 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi may stun the nation in November this year by launching the general election campaign by stating that this is the last LOK SABHA elections for which he is beseeching the voters to vote for the BJP led NDA. And such a campaign speech might give him the edge over the opposition as he has built a huge fan base through his direct contact with the people and the polarization of the votes under a religious fervor.

“ This may be spurred by the RSS constitution that says clearly that any leader over 75 years of age shall not seek any position of power “, Mr. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi, the man, the times, said at an event organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of South Asia (FCC) here last evening.

“Whether the BJP will endorse the RSS constitution or not is a moot question. But the RSS is clear about this rule and what will it do when the year 2026 dawns is to be seen when Prime Minister Modi, who is the face of the 38 party NDA against the faceless 26 party opposition which are both holding their conventions in Delhi and Bengaluru, turns 76 in 2026. “Will he step down and make way for a younger leader is something to be seen if it’s to happen at all, he said.

Little wonder that there have been rumors constantly circulating in the media and political circles that PM Modi would step down in 2026 after winning the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, and hand over the baton to the largest state of the country Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. Because UP has some 82 seats and has the last and final laugh or say in electing the Parliamentary party leader who becomes the PM.

Nilanjan , a career journalist who contributes to several journals, newspapers and appears on TV debates, said Modi’s personae had been structured by the RSS against the Congress since his Chief Minister’s days in Gujarat. The author who scripted the book on Modi in first in 2013 has updated his editions several times during Mod’s successive wins in the Gujarat elections for three to four times and now nine years as the Prime Minister of the country.

Nilanjan said Modi had scripted his way to both the chief ministership and prime ministership right from the time he entered politics through the RSS route. Every election from the civic bodies to assembly to parliament is taken very seriously by both Prime Minister Modi and his trusted ally the Home Minister Amit Shah.

Modi has created the Gujarat model of development as one worthy of development in other states. He was the first CM to launch the constitution day on the 26^th of January even when he was chief minister of Gujarat. And even as CM of Gujarat he had begun drawing the blue print for a modern India as a prime minister. Modis prime ministerial ambitions were not born in 2014, but much earlier on, Nilanjan said.

But Nilanjan regretted that the blemish on Modi’s governance was the lack of preparedness to tackle Covid in the 1^st phase when thousands of lives were lost as also livelihood.

The faulty implementation of the Demonetization scheme hurt most of the middle class and the MSME sector dealing in cash economy. A cashless situation brought severe tensions to the nation. He said. He was also fairly ambiguous about rooting out corruption, bringing black money back home and putting Rs 15 lakhs into every citizens bank account. Modi actually meant it figuratively but did not get the message clearly across to the people.

Contradicting Nilajan was Shashi Shehar , former CEO of Prasar Bharti and author of collective spirit , concrete action , Man ki Baat and its influence on India, said one should not forget that it was under Modi, that a billion vaccinations took place and shut the disease from spreading further. It was under Modi that several neighboring countries benefitted with supplies of oxygen , health care kits.

Modi followed his own model, which was far more successful, in containing the disease as compared to the Chinese model of Zero tolerance for Covid, shekhar said even as several European countries and the us were struggling to control the disease. .

While agreeing with Nilajnan that Mr Modi had scripted his way to chief ministership and later Prime Ministership , he said Modi was not afraid of experimenting. Modi virtually ignored the mainstream media and took to the social media, to propagate his vision of modern India full of development, his speeches cast on YouTube, and handled the Twitter handle with his messages to many of his supporters and admirers.

Administration was the forte of Modi, he said adding, his Man KI Baat was a powerful tool through which he carried his curated messages to billions of people across the country and it was broadcast in a unique fashion with images and radio transmission that went out in 75 languages including in French, Spanish and Arabic. His communication skills built his image as powerful a personality and politician capable of delivering, he said.

Not once in his Man ki Baat did Moti touch on religion or the Hindutva messages, Shekhar said. Modi will probably go down in history as the only Prime Minister from the opposition to see three terms as prime minister next only to the late Jawaharlal Nehru of the Congress.

While both Nilanajan and Shekhar declined to hazard a guess at the electoral prospects of the BJP in the assembly or Lok Sabha polls, they agreed that Modi certainly held the advantage over the opposition.Mr S Venkatnarayan, President of FCC, said Mr Modi as the PM had put India’s foreign relations and foreign policy on a strong footing and with a good neighborly attitude instead of a big brother attitude adopted by some countries. FCC office bearer Waheed welcomed the guests and Prakash Anand proposed a vote.