An Express Series Mumbai to Murshidabad: The Indian Express retraces the route from where Rahul Gandhi’s second ‘yatra’ ended, takes detours to listen to people on where the Opposition and ruling party are headed
Addressing the BJP national convention, Modi said the nation will now have to dream big and make big resolutions to make India a developed country by 2047.
The BJP as an organisation has become a carrier of Modi's messages and a beneficiary of his popularity. Several BJP leaders in various belts admitted that it was not the party that voters were voting for, but Modi.
On the ‘united opposition’ formed by the Congress, PM Modi said this perception has been created by them that ‘these (assembly) elections were only against Congress, whereas the reality is something else’.
The traditional aspect of rewarding key players has become less of an SOP since a relatively unknown outside Gorakhpur was selected ex-post by BJP as Uttar Pradesh CM in 2017. In effect, BJP s choice of CMs has been about signalling - aligned to both the broader aspect of firming up Brand Modi BJP, as well as the narrower tinkerings of identity politics.