Charisma, Demonetisation And Caste Equations, How Team BJP Conjured Up Modi Magic In UP

UP¡¯s massive mandate to BJP was a vote for Narendra Modi. ET spoke to a number of people familiar with the election strategy of the prime minister and his core team to get a sense of how the Modi Magic was created.

BCCL

First, the PM got the messaging right. UP¡¯s campaign message was divided into three parts. It started with a massive critique of the SP regime. That morphed into a message on asking for change from the SP-BSP dominance in UP¡¯s politics. Third, the PM spread the message of ¡°hope¡±, when he campaigned heavily in the last two phases and put his personal ¡°guarantee of good governance¡± on the forefront. Each message got BJP huge dividends, the PM¡¯s core team said.

Second, the PM¡¯s personal charisma. His core team said every survey of UP showed Brand Modi was just as big in 2017 as it was in 2014. ¡°The PM was our trump card, and we played that card exactly right,¡± an aide said. He pointed out that the PM¡¯s rallies were calibrated to extract maximum advantage from Brand Modi. The long stay in Varanasi to maximise gains from Purvanchal was a classic example of effective use of Modi¡¯s charisma, another aide said.

BCCL

Third, the PM and his core team avoided the ¡°mistake¡± of Bihar and capitalised on the ¡°mistakes of Akhilesh Yadav¡±. Unlike Bihar, BJP gave very few seats to allies in UP. It fought 383 of the 403 seats. In Bihar, BJP had left 87 of the 243 seats for allies.

This allowed the Modi effect to play out fully in UP. Helping Modi and his party was the ¡°grand error¡± by Akhilesh Yadav ¡ª leaving 105 seats to a ¡°weak¡± Congress.

A member of the PM¡¯s core team called it a ¡°favour without logic¡±.

He said the ¡°day the alliance was made, we knew we were headed for a big win¡±.

People familiar with the thinking of the PM and his top aides say it ¡°was extraordinarily immature of Akhilesh to be so generous to Congress¡±. In the last state polls in 2012, Congress had forfeited deposits in 240 of the 355 seats it contested.

BCCL

¡°Rahul Gandhi had been rejected by UP¡¯s people in 2012 and 2014,¡± another senior PM aide said.

Fourth, and the PM¡¯s key aides say this was hugely crucial, Modi put his radical demonetisation policy on a referendum in UP. Modi never gave up on the theme that demonetisation was a move against the crooked rich and for ordinary voters, and voters ¡°overwhelmingly agreed¡±.

Members of the PM¡¯s core team said Modi¡¯s message on note ban was helped by Rahul Gandhi¡¯s and Akhilesh Yadav¡¯s relentless attacks on the policy. That galvanised even more support from poorer voters for Modi. ¡°The PM read it absolutely right, Rahul read it utterly wrong,¡± a top Modi aide said.

Fifth, the Mayawati factor. The core team was convinced from the beginning that although Mayawati was a lesser force than she was, she could be a useful ally in a united Opposition. But that Opposition unity was never on the cards. Mayawati could not play a Lalu Prasad role in UP.