Four reasons why Modi’s BJP swept key India regional elections
Welfare schemes and their publicity
The BJP, which was seen as pro-business and pro-urban party during its initial years, has successfully expanded its base. It has launched numerous welfare schemes to burnish its pro-poor credentials.
Many of the schemes such as cash transfers, free rations and affordable gas cylinders launched by the central government led by Modi have been popular with voters amid high unemployment, an ailing agriculture sector and rising inequality.
Modi boasted his government’s efforts to help the poor during his campaign. The government claims more than 800 million people are provided with free rations, highlighting skewed economic growth in the world’s most populous nation.
‘Modi magic’ and Hindu-first politics
Modi’s personal appeal – in the words of local media “Modi magic” – towers over the BJP. The 73-year-old leader remains hugely popular with 93 million followers on X, and he has exploited his foreign policy successes to his advantage.
Under Modi, New Delhi’s ties with the United States and other Western nations have been improved markedly amid the West’s policy to counter China’s rise. India, at the same time, has also projected itself as the leader of the Global South.
Electoral funding and scale of campaigning
The BJP has been able to cast a wide net of campaign publicity owing to its high electoral funding.
Pro-democracy activists, however, have criticised a legal mechanism for political funding, known as electoral bonds, which allows parties to keep the name of their donors hidden from the public.
Of all the political funding between 2017-2022, half was received through electoral bonds. The BJP received more than 57 percent of its funding via electoral bonds – most of its sources remain opaque.
The Congress party, which was able to obtain only 10 percent of the total political funding, has also questioned the fairness of the electoral bond system, with the BJP receiving three times as many electoral bond funds as all other political parties combined.
The Hindu nationalist party deployed its funds to keep its leader in the spotlight in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote. Modi addressed 14 rallies and took out two roadshows in Rajasthan, and also spoke at five rallies in Chhattisgarh.
Lack of opposition unity
The Congress party’s loss is also being attributed to factionalism and a failure to forge alliances with like-minded secular parties. The Congress leadership has also been accused of being arrogant and out of touch with reality on the ground.
Experts say the Congress party needs to rejig its leadership, bringing young faces to the forefront, if it wants to reverse its electoral fortune. In the past 10 years, the party has been pushed to the margins of Indian politics by the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi and their mother Sonia Gandhi, remain the most recognisable faces of the party. The current party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, has worked under the shadow of the Gandhi dynasty – three members of whom have been prime ministers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party registers impressive wins in three key states, months ahead of general elections.
www.aljazeera.com
.png "Apology :apology")
.
Shambho Shiva 
you might as well be prepared.
