The campaigning for the Delhi assembly election – fourth election after the 18th Lok Sabha polls – has further confirmed two political trends – Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no more the star vote catcher for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and much like any other party, it has to compete on local issues for victory.
The election campaign is no more Modi-centric. There has been lesser Modi rallies and road shows in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand during the recent assembly elections. Crowds were even bigger at some of the local National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders’ rallies in Maharashtra.
Modi’s 60 odd flagship welfare schemes and dream projects no more impress the crowds, including the middle classes to whom he was once a hero. The schemes have either lost the novelty or become just another government project.
BJP avoids debate on real issues
A languishing economy, failed projects and broken promises added to the ruling party’s electoral problems. Apparently, the BJP has been striving hard to avoid debate on economic issues and livelihood problems. The dismal record of GDP growth, exports and investment is telling, but the saffron party has been shying away from talking about it.
The advance estimate of GDP growth released this month by the National Statistical Office for 2024-25 showed a fall to 6.4% from 8.2% in the previous year. Experts say that even this figure is an underestimate of the real slump. The latest figures reveal that the net FDI investment in India fell to a 12-year low as compared to the previous year.
Before the 2014 elections, Modi had gone round criticising Manmohan Singh for the fall of rupee during the latter’s rule to 58.58 per dollar. “The rupee is in ICU,” Modi had said on X. He repeated the ICU jibe over and again. Now the scorn has turned on him with a vengeance as under his prime ministership the rupee has tumbled down beyond 86 per dollar.
Evidently, any debate on such depressing indicators will adversely affect the BJP government’s electoral prospects. Modi, who came to power ten years back by attacking the UPA for ‘falling rupee’ and failing economy, finds himself in a worse predicament.
India’s merchandise exports have also dipped one percent to $38.1 billion in December last against 38.39 billion a year ago. In the past, India has never witnessed such elections with so many reckless freebies and such tu-tu, main-main (pointing fingers at each other) kind of accusations as the driving election narrative. Transactional deals with potential voter blocs have replaced debates on real issues like policy failures and livelihood problems.
Modi’s changing stance on ‘revdi culture’
Modi had scornfully described budgetary benefits to economically weaker sections and women as ‘free revdis’ (freebies) and waste of resources. This was when he was dreaming of wresting more than 400 Lok Sabha seats.
Now, after his Lok Sabha debacle, he has become the champion of endless revdis to appease the local vote bank. During his early days as the prime minister, he had put the burden of welfare schemes on loans from PSU banks and LIC. Then he switched to state funding and finally went to “Modi ‘guarantees’.”
The battle of guarantees between Modi and his rivals reached its peak during the Karnataka polls. Now Modi has become a full fledged competitive promoter of poll-eve freebies.
In Haryana, the BJP announced Rs 2,100 monthly allowance for women, scooty for girl students, free dialysis for patients and two lakh government jobs. For Maharashtra, as many as 146 freebies were announced by the NDA. These include a monthly payment of Rs 2,100 to woman per month costing Rs 46,000 crore to the exchequer, increasing salaries of madrasa teachers to Rs 18,000, monthly stipend for students, increased benefit for farmers and a new Akshay Anna Yojana for providing kitchen essentials every month to families.
In Delhi, the AAP’s freebies list includes raising Mahila Samman Yojana from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,100 per month and a Sanjeevani scheme to provide free health care to those above 60 years. The AAP said 1.3 million people had registered for the first and 15,000 for the second.
For autorickshaw drivers, it promised life and accident insurance for Rs 15 lakh, annual uniform allowance of Rs 2500 and Rs 1 lakh for the weddings of their daughters.
Other targeted groups include monthly allowance of Rs 18,000 for pujaris and granthis. For the highly influential residents’ welfare associations, the AAP has promised unspecified amount as security financing. Waving off ‘inflated’ water bills is another promise.
The Congress has promised Rs 8,500 for skill training of the unemployed, Rs 2,500 as pyaari didi yojana and Rs 25 lakh insurance under Jeevan Raksha Yojana.
The BJP has also promised to come out with attractive promises at an appropriate time.
Delhi election campaign reduced to an exercise in manipulation
Apart from freebies, the entire election campaign is being reduced to an exercise in manipulation, name calling and one-upmanship. Since the severe jolt it suffered in Lok Sabha polls last June, the ruling party has been trying to change the whole dictionary and grammar of the elections.
It starts with the voters list well ahead of the election date. The Opposition has alleged that the BJP’s booth committees and panna pramukhs remove opposition voters and add fake ones. In his letter to the election commissioner, Kejriwal cites how the BJP added 800 fake names at the addresses of a party MP and others.
It cited 33 names at one address and 13 at a former MP’s residence. Small houses, shops and offices were used for the purpose. Forty-four fake voters were added at the address of a temple.
Allegations of cash-for-votes normally come up after the polling. The AAP has alleged systematic vote buying even before polling. They said that the BJP leaders have been taking Rs 10,000 per vote but paying the sellers just a thousand. They pocket the rest of the amount, said former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
Kejriwal came out with more such allegations. According to him, the BJP is distributing “money, gold chain and saris” to selected persons in exchange for votes. Later, the returning officer, on a complaint from Kejriwal, ordered inquiry into BJP candidate Parvesh Verma distributing shoes in exchange for votes.
According to chief minister Atishi, BJP had plans to add 10% fake voters and remove 5% Opposition votes from the list.
Also Read: BJP Is Desperately Looking for a Winning Formula in Delhi
We have discussed at length reasons why the BJP has been avoiding serious debate on economic issues. Spin doctors of the 21st century with tight control on a subservient media always choose to ensure that electoral debates are over trivial subjects instead of issues which actually impact lives. One such example is the controversy surrounding Kejriwal’s ‘sheesh mahal’. The accusations went on for two weeks on TV channels, social media and print until Kejriwal hit back.
Kejriwal slammed Modi saying that someone who has made a house worth Rs 2,700 crore for himself, who flies in Rs 8,400 crore aircraft and wears suit worth Rs 10 lakh should not talk about Sheesh Mahal.
“The suit entered Guinness Book of records when someone from Surat bought it in a auction for Rs 4.3 crore in February 2016,” he alleged.
AAP leaders invited mediapersons to verify whether golden commode, swimming pool and mini bar really existed in Sheesh Mahal. They challenged the BJP leaders to allow reporters to visit Modi’s ‘Raj Mahal’. But when media persons arrived at ‘Sheesh Mahal’, police prevented both the BJP leaders and reporters at the gate.
Consider the petty squabbles and high level meddling when Kejriwal launched the AAP’s door-step registration of applicants for Mahila Samman Yojana and Sanjeevani Yojana for senior citizens. AAP volunteers said there was enthusiasm among women and senior citizens about the two schemes.
But then Delhi’s lieutenant governor banned registration. The state’s women department under the chief minister, apparently on L-G’s orders, declared it as ‘unauthorised’. Chief minister Atishi responded by threatening strict action against the concerned officials.
P. Raman is a veteran journalist.
