NEW DELHI: Faced with trials, and triumph in electoral politics in 2023, the BJP’s ‘josh’ is high as it aims to win 350-plus seats in the Lok Sabha polls due early this year. The party has already come to power in three Hindi heartland states, wresting two of them (Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh) from Congress and winning Madhya Pradesh in a surprising landslide.
Keen to go with the mantra of ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’, the BJP heading the NDA is set to go after the INDIA bloc Opposition in a well-crafted strategy for 2024. “The BJP’s mascot is ‘Vikas-purush’ Narendra Modi. We will take on the Opposition by highlighting ‘politics of achievements’ against their ‘politics of appeasement’. We’ll tell people that we are against casteism, nepotism and dynastic politics,” remarked a senior BJP functionary. “Our vision is for ‘Viksit-Bharat by 2047,” he added.
The party has released its campaign around ‘Phir Aayega Modi for 2024, which includes audio-visuals on the Modi government’s achievements in the last nine years. Beginning with Ram temple, the campaign pitch includes Ganga-Aarti, Sengol installation in the new Parliament building, road and rail expansion, the success in enacting laws for reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the SC’s verdict on the validation of the abrogation of Article 370, the enactments of criminal justice laws replacing old colonial rules such as IPC and CrPC.
Even as it raises the campaign pitch in the coming days and months, the party plans a massive reach-out in 165 parliamentary constituencies, which it identifies as ‘weak’ based on the results of the previous general election. At an event that marked the party’s victory in three state polls, PM Modi reportedly told his senior party colleagues to aim at 35 crore votes in 2024 as against 22.9 crore polled in 2019.
Amid growing religious fervour with the scheduled consecration of Lord Ram’s idol in Ayodhya on January 22, the BJP, along with its ideological mentor RSS and other Hindu outfits is all set to take the event to every household through a pan-India slew of activities.
“The BJP will organize interactions involving the youth and leaders in every district about PM’s vision for them. All seven ‘morchas’ (fronts) of the party have also started reaching out to the people,” said a BJP functionary, adding that areas having minority populations are being covered by party office-bearers. The party’s ‘Agenda 2024’ will have a special part for South India. The Kashi-Tamil Samagama, was a part of the strategy. In North, the BJP will focus on winning the people’s trust based on Modi’s call that there are only four ‘castes’ for him — the poor, the youth, women and farmers.