{"id":5456,"date":"2024-04-23T13:45:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T13:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/?p=5456"},"modified":"2024-04-23T13:45:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T13:45:45","slug":"in-apparent-rethink-pm-modi-plays-down-400-plus-slogan-the-hindu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/?p=5456","title":{"rendered":"In apparent rethink, PM Modi plays down \u2018400-plus\u2019 slogan – The Hindu"},"content":{"rendered":"

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April 23, 2024 01:32 pm | Updated 02:33 pm IST – Ghaziabad
File picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi | Photo Credit: AP
The shift in the focus of PM Narendra Modi<\/a>\u2019s campaign from the guarantee of a\u00a0Viksit Bharat<\/i> (developed India)\u00a0and the \u2018Beyond\u00a0400\u2019 (seats) pitch\u00a0<\/i>to generating fear of\u00a0\u201cour women\u2019s\u00a0mangalsutra\u00a0<\/i>would be stolen by\u00a0Congress\u2019s\u00a0<\/i>hand\u201d\u00a0after the first round of voting<\/a> has raised questions.
Playing up the majoritarian fear has always been a part of the BJP\u2019s strategy but after two terms, a distracted opposition, and the entry of secular characters in the NDA family, it appeared for a while like the BJP is looking at a post-polarisation scenario in western Uttar Pradesh, where eight constituencies went to the polls<\/a> in the first phase.
But this time, the Opposition has its counter-narrative of fear. Using the anxiety that the BJP\u2019s 400-paar\u00a0<\/i>pitch is causing among the subaltern groups, the Opposition is portraying a brute majority as a precursor to change the Constitution as envisaged by B.R. Ambedkar and the reservation policy. It thus comes as no surprise that PM Narendra Modi did not refer to the magic number at the Aligarh rally on April 22<\/a>.
The Congress manifesto was released on April 5 but it took Mr. Modi more than a fortnight to realise that the party was planning the redistribution of wealth<\/a> with a Communist mindset.
A minister in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh assured this journalist that the basic structure of the Constitution would not be touched. \u201cThe Opposition is spreading fear. The amendments will be within the framework of the Constitution as has always been the case,\u201d he said.
However, he could not back the figure of 400 seats. A BJP worker, when asked about winning 400 seats two days after the first round, conceded, \u201cIt is just a rhyming statement made during polls like\u00a0Abki baar Modi sarkar<\/i>.\u201d
Such pragmatism was missing in the run-up to the first round of elections. While PM Modi in his rallies assured crowds that winning 400 seats would help the government settle more difficult issues, BJP supporters in WhatsApp groups jumped to their own conclusions. In conversations with different caste groups on the ground, the upper-caste BJP voters reacted as if they had read the BJP\u2019s Mann ki Baat<\/i> for the next term. From it emerged a long list of what the party could do \u2014 a law on population control, disbanding of the Waqf board and turning India into a Hindu Rashtra.
During the pre-poll campaign, it was clear that despite the BJP carrying out multiple rallies in every western U.P. constituency, the ground reality showed a lack of fervour. There was an average of 6.29% drop in turnout in the eight constituencies, when compared to 2019 when the BJP won two of the eight seats.
The maximum drop was recorded in Muzaffarnagar \u2014 where the voting percentage dropped by 8.9 points \u2014 followed by Rampur, Bijnor and Kairana. Local observers said this drop could not be attributed solely to weather, weddings and harvest. \u201cPolling always happens in this season. It seems either the BJP supporter is complacent or the messaging is not exciting him enough to come out. A section of Muslims also seemed disenchanted with the electoral process,\u201d said political analyst Surya Mani Gupta.
While the Election Commission is taking measures to counter the soaring temperature<\/a>, BJP workers in Muzaffarnagar and Rampur were asking the party leadership to turn up the heat.\u00a0<\/i>\u201cPolarise\u00a0nahin ho raha hai<\/i>\u201d, was the common refrain in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Moradabad and Rampur where the Muslim population is decisive.
Those with an ear to the ground could see Mr. Modi changing gears with his Amroha rally on April 19, the polling day, when he deliberated on how the majority community suffered during the local Tigri Festival because of the appeasement politics of the previous governments.
It was a hyper-local factor that left observers surprised that a leader who was talking of\u00a0Viksit Bharat<\/i>\u00a0was suddenly changing track. \u201cWe realised\u00a0baasi kadhi ubal le rahi hai<\/i>\u00a0(a delayed show of enthusiasm),\u201d said a seasoned local journalist, referring to the BJP\u2019s return to raking up stale polarising issues.
It may be a matter of chance or lack of resources but the opposition\u2019s strategy of keeping itself under the radar also seemed to have paid some dividends. The Congress candidate from Saharanpur, Imran Masood, whom the BJP has always painted as a polarising figure, held only one road show on the last day of the campaign. \u201cHis approach helped in galvanising the Rajput anger in Behat, his core constituency,\u201d said a local source. Plus, he secured the support of Chandra Shekhar Azad\u2019s Bhim Army which is influential in some pockets of the constituency. This has turned Saharanpur into a close contest despite the Bahujan Samaj Party fielding a Muslim candidate.
In Kairana, SP candidate Iqra Hasan\u2019s brother and MLA Nahid Hasan, who has made controversial statements against the majority community in the past, kept a very low profile. \u201cYou could say he did the desk job throughout the campaign while Iqra went door to door,\u201d said a local reporter.
Meanwhile, the creativity on social media is creating its parallel political universe. When the video of Yogi Adityanath flanked by Sangeet Som and Sanjeev Balyan emerged, a Rajput group added a song to the background that painted Mr. Balyan as Vibhishan (defector). After the first round, some BJP supporters have put out the results of an exit poll, something that is illegal according to the Election Commission, on social media groups.
 General Elections 2024 <\/a>
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To enjoy additional benefitsCONNECT WITH US April 23, 2024 01:32 pm | Updated 02:33 pm IST – Ghaziabad File picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi | Photo Credit: AP The shift in the focus of PM Narendra Modi\u2019s campaign from the guarantee of a\u00a0Viksit Bharat (developed India)\u00a0and the \u2018Beyond\u00a0400\u2019 (seats) pitch\u00a0to generating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samvadbharatnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}