8 December 2022 will be one of the stupendous days for BJP. The party broke its own previous record best of 149 seats in 1985. The vote share shows that the people of Gujarat have showered enormous love and affection on Narendra Modi. They took personal pride in sending their lovable Chief Minister to the center as Prime Minister. Everyone saw Modi as a member of their family and not as just some politician. Such is the connect that Modi enjoys with the Gujaratis and the people from other states that have made Gujarat their home.
Every single exit poll showed BJP winning effortlessly. The well-known anti-Modi journalists were smiling in front of TV cameras when they were announcing the results of the exit polls in their respective channels but they must have had a really hard day digesting this fact.
It was hilarious to see some TV channels from Tamil Nadu going to some parts of Gujarat and interview the Tamil people there. The unanimous answer they got from almost every person they met left them red faced. They could just hear everyone saying that they are very happy with Modi and will vote for BJP.
Their frustration was evident in their anger on the Congress which didn’t even try to put up a fight. Rahul Gandhi chose not to walk much in Gujarat. They took some solace in Kejriwal by attempting to show AAP as the new challenger for BJP.
That also didn’t work as AAP turned out to be a damp squib after so much of media hype in the last month. They had to somehow dent the BJP success story. The Himachal Pradesh results came as a big relief for them. They now could at least say that the Modi factor didn’t work in there and that is the formula to defeat Modi and Modi is not invincible. One has to be really intelligent when one is strategizing against Modi. Otherwise, they will end up being a laughing stock.
Priyanka Gandhi got a lot of credit, obviously, for the Himachal Pradesh victory and some Congress leaders heaped praise. One has to be generous and let them take this credit which was really hard coming, given the dismal performance in Gujarat and Rahul Gandhi’s aimless walkathon that left everyone confused.
BJP could have done a better job in Himachal. Congress finally got one narrative right against BJP around going back to old pension scheme that was noticed by the people. It is another debate whether this is feasible and can be really implemented or not.
Himachal Pradesh loss is a blessing in disguise for BJP as that is going to help them attack the Congress strongly during the 2024 elections.
Anti-Modi journalists also got a shock when BJP didn’t do that badly in the MCD elections in Delhi as they expected. Nevertheless, BJP has to acknowledge the fact that they have to buck up in Delhi. They have to quickly decide on a CM face if they are looking for any chance to wrest Delhi from AAP in the next Assembly elections and give time for that face to register with the public.
Coming back to Gujarat, it was a once in a lifetime performance by Narendra Modi. It was very clear that people of Gujarat voted for him and only him and none other. They clearly rejected the freebies that AAP was offering in the form of free electricity etc. The BJP should take thorough advantage of this excellent gesture of the Gujarat voters and make it an example in the whole of India. Every state in India should do what Gujarat voters did as they believed in hard work and self-respect. They don’t want any party to give anything free to them. They just want an honest and genuine effort towards development and they have seen this in Modi-led BJP. Gujarat election has shown how 2024 election results are going to look like. The trend has been set. India will vote the Gujarat style in 2024. The opposition is in disarray and BJP will again break its prior records in the next Lok Sabha elections and Narendra Modi will sign off his career in style as the most successful Prime Minister that India ever had since Independence.
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