NEW DELHI: The air strike on terror camps deep inside Pakistan territory on Tuesday has buoyed up the BJP and given it confidence that it can now take control of the narrative in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and do an encore of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, which came soon after the surgical strike inside Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
BJP chief Amit Shah is learnt to have called a meeting of his close aides on Wednesday to brainstorm on strategies for polls, even as the party’s scheduled ‘Kamal Jyoti’ outreach initiative rolled out on Tuesday seemed to gain more support as details of the strike trickled in.
“The BJP was projected to lose to the grand alliance of Samajwadi Party and Congress in 2017 UP state polls. The pollsters largely didn’t notice the undercurrent in the state triggered by the surgical strike conducted on 26 September 2016. The air strike deep inside Pakistan created a much bigger undercurrent for Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said a senior BJP functionary.
Party strategists note it would be able to counter the caste arithmetic of the grand alliances in key states, including UP and Bihar, by stoking nationalist fervour woven around “strong and decisive leadership of Modi”. The PM, too, is stressing on it as the ‘USP’ and strategy to take on the menace of terrorism in his recent public utterances.
With the public discourse dominated by the Indian action, the BJP is also hoping that uncomfortable issues like unemployment and agrarian distress, takes a backseat in the polls.
No more self-doubt among rank and file
Self doubt had seemingly crept into the rank and file of the BJP following the rout in the recent Assembly polls. “The punitive air strike deep inside Pakistan will resonate for days and months. This adds to the might of ‘Brand Modi,” said a BJP functionary