If Modi comes again, will the Constitution not be saved? If opposition comes, will even Mangalsutra be snatched away? Battle of narrative in election campaign

New Delhi : The battle for Lok Sabha elections has now moved towards its final stage. The sixth phase of voting will take place on Saturday. After that only the seventh and last phase of voting will be left. Now within a week or two the picture will be decided as to who will be the new government. Will Narendra Modi do the miracle of forming the government for the third consecutive time, which till now only Jawahar Lal Nehru could do? Will the opposition alliance be able to stop INDIA Modi’s victory chariot? The complete picture will become clear in a week or two. This time’s election campaign is also looking very interesting. In a way, both the parties and the opposition are doing ‘politics of fear’. Some are showing fear of dictatorship and some are showing fear of misery. On one hand, the opposition is trying to set the narrative that if Modi becomes Prime Minister for the third time, the Constitution will not survive. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is giving a different interpretation of the Congress Manifesto based on the statement of Congress leader Sam Pitroda. he/she is warning the public that if the opposition alliance comes to power, there will be a survey of property. If there are two buffaloes, one buffalo will be snatched away and given to the ‘infiltrators’. Even the mangalsutra of women will be snatched away.

BJP had started the election campaign much before the announcement of election dates. While it was implementing its strategies, the opposition was still busy in ensuring that all the anti-BJP parties come under one umbrella. Parties came and separated. The opposition’s initiative to field a common candidate against BJP backfired in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the architect of opposition unity, joined the NDA camp as the elections approached and is now raising the slogan of ‘this time we will cross 400’. PM Modi himself has given this slogan. Whether NDA will be able to cross this target or not will become clear on the result day, but in the first 3-4 phases of elections, only ‘400 crossed’ was heard. NDA kept making this claim. The opposition kept rejecting it. Saying that no-no, it will not cross 400.

Rounds of guarantees are going on. The Prime Minister is saying that Modi’s guarantee means the guarantee will be fulfilled. The opposition kept counting its guarantees. Congress took out 25 guarantees from its box. Tall claims are being made like eliminating poverty literally. Amidst the guarantees and claims, ‘politics of fear’ is also going on. Everyone is showing their own ‘truth’ and others’ ‘fear’ to the public. On one hand there is fear of dictatorship. On the one hand, there is fear of the end of the Constitution and on the other hand, there is fear of degradation and destruction.

BJP’s election campaign is focused on showing a ‘bright picture of a bright India’ for tomorrow. The claim is that whatever happened in the last 10 years is just a trailer. BJP is confident of achieving a hat-trick in coming to power at the Centre. But this confidence of ‘this time we cross 400’, ‘Phir Se Modi’ is not the overconfidence of ‘India Shining’ and ‘Feel Good’ 20 years ago in 2004. Then Atal Bihari Vajpayee had conducted premature Lok Sabha elections by miscalculating the ‘favourable wave’ among the public. A golden picture of the country was presented by running ‘India Shining’ and ‘Feel Good’ campaigns, but when the results came, the Vajpayee government was dismissed. To ensure that the history of 2004 is not repeated, this time BJP is not only counting the achievements and public welfare policies of the Modi government but is also counting the shortcomings of the previous governments.

On the other hand, the opposition has been creating the narrative that BJP wants 400 seats so that it can change the Constitution. Could finish it. Showing fear of dictatorship. It is being claimed that BJP will end reservation. Claims are being made to eradicate extreme poverty. It’s all a war of narratives. Now whose narrative is resonating with the public, it will become clear with the results.