End of Modi wave?

The BJP has been riding high on the Modi wave for a while after the spectacular victory in the national elections.

But the party seems to have lost its impact on the people who were promised “good days” after Modi assumed office. The party suffered a heavy blow in the Assembly by elections in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Modi’s home state of Gujarat by losing 13 of the 23 seats held by it. BJP had already suffered disappointing performances in the Assembly by elections by losing to RJD-JD(U)-Congress alliance in Bihar and to the Congress in Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in the last two months. Out of the 32 Assembly seats across nine states, BJP won 12 seats, Congress, 7 and Samajwadi Party, 8 whereas TDP, Trinamool Congress, AIUDF and CPI (M) bagged one each. The Lok Sabha by-polls were on expected lines, with BJP winning Vadodara vacated by Modi, Samajwadi Party retaining Mulayam SIngh Yadav's Mainpuri and TRS holding on its leader Chandrasekhar Rao's Medak seat.

Modi as the highly energetic”development man” promised growth and progress of the nation, once in power. But the minorities have always been wary of the far-right Hindu nationalist notorious for his blood stained past. BJP had been trying several tactics that were part of their strategy to achieve their goal of a Hindutwa nation. But the techniques apparently seems bootless unable to bring any electoral gains despite Modi’s puffed up image, BJP president, and Modi’s most trusted aide, Amit Shah’s execution of the party agendas using communal polarization and “love jihad” and faith conversion stories, mostly fabricated ones, played up by the VHP and the RSS.

West Bengal was the only state to give the Part some relief by winning Basirhat Dakshin, making its way into the state assembly for the first time. Only hope for the BJP is the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. Congress has even declared the "end of the Modi wave" saying that the people have rejected the BJP government’s "politics of polarization". If the Congress, manages to pull itself up from the shambles by learning from the past mistakes and charter out plans aiming for an organizational revamp and pursue the right decisions under a leader who is capable of propelling the party to a position once envied by the others, the party is sure to earn the backing of the people.