INDIA
Why the CAA implementation was the ace up BJP’s sleeve ahead of Lok Sabha elections
The BJP’s razor sharp focus on Bengal’s Matua voter is evident. It is confident that Assam CM Himanta can manage the protests in his state. The anti-CAA attacks that will now follow from the Opposition will be lapped up by PM Modi to show that he and the party have delivered on manifesto promises and there is no room for complacency in Lok Sabha campaigning
INDIA
Chasing 370 seats, BJP may onboard more allies, but cede fewer seats
For BJP to add more seats to its 2019 tally, it needs more alliances and needs to contest more of the seats that the prospective allies have their eyes on. Will the likes of Akali Dal, RLD, Telugu Desam and AIADMK cede more seats in their pocket boroughs to BJP for the sake of BJP’s Mission 370 and NDA’s Mission 400?
POLITICS
Protest-vaccinated BJP may withstand farmers’ fury
The BJP has not been caught off guard by the farmers’ protest at Delhi border, as the party leaders pointed out that they are now habituated with pre-poll agitations
INDIA
Bharat Ratna for LK Advani in poll year adds to BJP’s Ram Temple script
This is probably an acknowledgement by the government of the way the BJP patriarch wrote the script of Indian politics on which PM Modi built the grand edifice of the saffron outfit to command dominance in Parliament and several states.
TRENDS
Four gains for the BJP from the Bihar coup
BJP’s calculations in wooing back Nitish Kumar have served as a pincer strike on the opposition. It is a Himalayan task for the INDIA bloc to revive from its loss of the only big Hindi heartland state that it was in power
INDIA
Euphoria of the Ram Mandir will continue till the Lok Sabha elections
The unprecedented manner in which the Ram Temple inauguration has been spotlighted has ensured that it will continue to dominate the popular discourse even after January 22. The dissemination of the Ram Mandir message by everyone from PM Modi to Youtubers to affiliates of the Sangh Parivar and BJP is sending strong messages to the grassroots of a cultural nationalism project that is on the ascendancy
BUSINESS
‘Zila Ghaziabad’ aims for a new name and a place of glory like Noida in a fast-changing Uttar Pradesh
A number of reasons – political and economic – are driving the demand to rename Ghaziabad, one of Delhi’s most prominent satellite cities
BUSINESS
Bhajanlal Sharma in Rajasthan joins BJP's new club of CMs in their 50s
The rise of Bhajanlal Sharma, a party apparatchik, with a reputation as a doughty campaigner for the BJP’s pet causes, completes BJP’s social engineering efforts in this poll cycle by elevating an upper caste leader after an OBC and a tribal CM in the two other poll bound states. It also paves the way for Vasundhara Raje’s eclipse. Their age allows the three new CMs to preside for the next decade in their respective states
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Rajasthan: ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ and Hindutva pitch demand a new CM face and governance style
BJP seems to be having a tough time picking its Chief Minister despite winning the election on PM Modi’s appeal and his promises. The Prime Minister is personally invested in ensuring the state’s voters aren’t disappointed. Additionally, the anti-corruption and Hindutva agendas were heavily foregrounded. All this implies Vasundhara Raje is ill-suited to be the CM again
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Mission 325: Three lessons BJP learned from three-state win for 2024
The BJP is a party that clinically assesses what worked for it and didn’t in an election. This election cycle saw some interesting experiments by BJP: PM Modi’s direct attacks on Congress satraps, a bold attempt at collective leadership despite the risks, and neutralising big ticket opposition promises at the grassroots itself
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: Expect new welfare sops from Centre irrespective of today’s outcome
Competitive welfarism has set in. With Opposition certain to make tall promises to voters for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the central government will attempt to neutralise those with handouts that have an immediate impact and sets the poll narrative in BJP’s favour
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Rajasthan Elections 2023: How the Modi factor helped BJP campaign tide over weak state leadership
To press home the attack against Congress on minority appeasement, law and order failures, corruption, and mindless welfarism without a clear focus, BJP needed PM Modi to lead the attack from the front and present an alternative developmental vision. No other leader in BJP has a similar connect with voters or could have delivered these messages with crystal clarity.
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Rajasthan Elections 2023: BJP hopes for dawn of a new leadership, but has Raje got the message?
From fielding three key sitting MPs who are potential chief ministerial candidates to going beyond Vasundhara Raje’s pet Jat votebank to woo other communities strongly, the BJP central leadership has sent not so subtle messages that it is laying the ground for fresh leadership
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: PM Modi’s visit to Birsa Munda’s village reflects the centrality of the tribal vote
Assembly Elections 2023: BJP is conscious that it has to recover its tribal base to avert a repeat of the 2018 result which favoured Congress. While the 2019 Lok Sabha elections showcased PM Modi’s clout in the tribal community, BJP is leaving nothing to chance, and hence this visit to a village in Jharkhand when the polls are elsewhere
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: BJP’s three-man army of PM Modi, HM Shah and CM Adityanath is working to a plan
Assembly Elections 2023: The three top leaders are executing specific roles: PM Modi has the responsibility of countering the Congress party’s overtures to voters, home minister Amit Shah is marshalling the frontlines with sharp talking points and the backroom through faction management, while Yogi Adityanath is projecting the hardline Hindutva stance
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: BJP dares Congress to bat on its Ram Mandir poll pitch
Assembly Elections 2023: Union home minister Amit Shah has sent out a loud declaration of intent by raising the Ram Mandir inauguration at Kamal Nath’s Chhindwara. Apart from political rhetoric from PM Modi and HM Shah, the activity at the grassroots – mobilising people in batches of 25 from each village to visit Ayodhya – is a sure sign of how the discourse around the temple will play out at every tier of society
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: Behind BJP’s ticket distribution strategy is a growing appetite for risk taking
Assembly elections 2023: : From letting big leaders know that they aren’t bigger than the organisation to fuelling the political ambitions of ordinary workers despite the pitfalls of upsetting the settled order, and downsizing sitting MPs to contest assembly polls, much experimentation is going on in BJP ticket distribution and there is a method to it
BUSINESS
Bihar caste survey to test BJP’s post-2014 social engineering prowess
BJP is redoubling its efforts to mobilise non-dominant OBCs following the Bihar caste census findings. It also believes that upper castes are getting polarised in its favour due to the opposition’s national caste census demand, and won’t mind a greater share of tickets to EBC groups
BUSINESS
BJP’s Collective Leadership Gambit: Ring out the old, ring in the new
Despite elections turning presidential, BJP has adopted a collegial style of leadership for the coming state elections. The top brass – comprising PM Modi and HM Amit Shah – believe this will throw up leaders capable of helming these states for the next decade and lead to rewards for hard-working party apparatchiks down the ladder
BUSINESS
Five reasons why the INDIA alliance will struggle to force ‘one-on-one’ contests with BJP
Much depends on the index of opposition unity that the INDIA alliance can cobble against the ruling BJP. Untested pre-poll alliances, key opposition parties like BSP not being part of the alliance, and the ambitions of constituent parties and their local leaders make one-seat one-candidate easier said than done
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Madhya Pradesh Polls: Parties must duck politics of freebies
Freebies may push the state into fiscal troubles. The fiscal deficit for 2023-24 has been pegged at Rs 55,708 crore, which is four percent of GSDP against the 3.5 percent ceiling set by the FRBM Act
INDIA
Railways must not allow demand for the old pension scheme to gather steam
The risk of not countering the growing chorus for the OPS is huge. For 2022-23, the Railways pension fund bill was Rs 60,000 crore
