Nalin Mehta’s views were featured by NDTV in this article on December 5, 2022.
On a recent Friday morning, Dhansukh Patel — volunteer, loyal foot soldier, and long-time member of Bharatiya Janata Party — sat on the verandah of his home deep in discussion with aides on strategies to win more voters to the party.
As Gujarat holds state elections, Mr Patel is on a mission to ensure that most of the 1,400 people in his village of Umber vote for the BJP. Aided by a database with details about local voters collected over the years, his team of eleven people has been knocking on doors, sending WhatsApp messages, and helping families sign up for government welfare programs that provide them with free rice and medical assistance….
The BJP’s main opposition party, the Congress, doesn’t have enough boots on the ground and has been struggling to reclaim lost ground after suffering its worst-ever defeat in the 2014 elections that brought PM Modi to power nationally.
The BJP’s unapologetic emphasis on Hindu nationalism, creation of new social and caste coalitions, and focus on women and welfare programs made it the “primary pole of Indian politics, replacing the Congress”, said Nalin Mehta, dean of the School of Modern Media at UPES University in Dehradun and the author of “The New BJP.”
“All of these factors combine with a formidable grassroots cadre and a ruthless managerial focus on winnability to create a powerful election machine that can often make the difference in close contests,” says Mr Mehta, a political scientist. “This increases the scale of the challenge for India’s opposition parties as they gear up for the next general elections in 2024.”…
Read the full article on NDTV
This article was first published ndtv.com | December 05, 2022
