This election campaign of Indian assembly election 2024 has started with the above slogan (this time ruling party will win win more than 400 seats in the parliament election)of ruling party which seemed unbelievable, unachievable in the beginning but it started the nationwide debate on the issue among the intellectuals, media people, politicians and common people. It’s quite a smart move from the BJP think tank as it set a narrative and the positioning in the mind of all the people of India that this election is not about who is winning but it’s about the quantum of the winning margin in terms of the seats.
Can it be even possible?
Seeing is believing. If we see the past record of the BJP, whatever promises were mentioned in the manifestoes during previous elections, it’s being executed one by one over the period of time be it abrogation of article 370 & 35 A, building Ram Mandir, introducing CAA, abolishing the triple talaq, digitization, transparent governance, massive investment in infrastructure, updating the armed forces, pucca house scheme for the marginal of the society and many more. Data says that insurgency, stone pelting and militant activities have drastically reduced in Jammu & Kashmir post abrogation of article 370 and air strikes on Pakistan.
Performance of 10 years (2014-2024)
Prime minister Modi has come up with another brilliant slogan “Modi ki guarantee “and it’s not a jumla as he has earned that much credibility based on the past 10 years’ performance of his government in the center. It’s a common consumer mind-set that we carefully compare the products on the basis of the warranty and guarantee given by the companies. The numbers speak about his credibility. He compares the performance of his government during past 10 years with the around 75 years of past governments performance and the gap between the numbers of the both is quite huge.
Execution of different welfare schemes
Numerous welfare schemes launched during this government’s tenure and the huge scale of execution says it all. It started with “Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)”, one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world to give access to a range of financial services like availability of basic savings bank account, access to need based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension to all the households (majorly belonging to the marginal layer of the society) in the country. As on 29.11. 2023, a total of 51.04 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts have been opened having a deposit balance of Rs. 2,08,855 crores. This scheme benefitted marginal people of the country in many ways, whether it is direct benefit transfers, COVID-19 financial assistance, PM-KISAN, increased wages under MGNREGA, life and health insurance cover etc. without the interference of commission agents or middlemen.
a) Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY)
Another revolutionary scheme was Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY). In May 2016, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG), introduced the ‘PMUY’ as a flagship scheme with an objective to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to the rural and deprived households which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc. Usage of traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment. As on 1st March 2024 there are 10.27 crore PMUY beneficiaries.
b) Swachh Bharat mission
Another path breaking project by the Modi government was the ‘Swachh Bharat mission’, aimed at creating a clean and hygienic India, was started on October 2, 2014 (Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary). The programme led to the construction of over 10 crore individual household toilets (rural areas), 6 million in urban areas, 2.23 lakh Community Sanitary Complexes, taking sanitation coverage from 39% in 2014 to 100% in 2019.
c) Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY)
Similarly, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) has so far (as on May 2023) constructed around 3 crores houses to the rural and urban marginalized people across the country. “Ayushman Bharat”, a flagship scheme of Government of India, was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). One of the sub initiative under this scheme, PM-JAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna) provides cashless cover of up to INR 5,00,000 to each eligible family per annum for listed secondary and tertiary care conditions. There are 874 packages and 1592 procedures under PM-JAY. This health insurance scheme covers about fifty crore citizens in India. Any number of family members are covered in the Ayushman Bharat card. Recently, the Indian Prime Minister launched the futuristic ‘Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana,’ a pioneering government initiative aimed at installing roof top solar power systems in one crore households, 40 GW projected capacity across the nation.
Impact of the welfare schemes on the people of the last strata and their perception
Above welfare schemes are the examples of the successful welfare schemes to uplift the living standard of the marginalized people of the society. Systematically, the BJP government has created mammoth category of beneficiaries that are in crores. They are going to vote in favour of Modi’s government. One of the smartest move of the think tank of this government is the nomenclature of the schemes. All the schemes start with the word ‘Pradhan Mantri’, even the illiterate people can easily distinguish them as the center government’s schemes. And the PM has become the face of the government of the BJP and could easily come with the slogan — Modi ki guarantee.
Apart from the huge ‘beneficiary category’ created through the various schemes, there is another massive category of voters who are influenced by the Nationalistic and Sanatan Dharma ideology of the BJP government. The Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha, abrogation of article 370 and 35 A, Balakot air strikes and surgical strike, all these bold decisions taken by the government has won the hearts of crores of Indians living in India and abroad are going to turn into votes.
Other than this, economic reforms, India being fifth largest economy, strong foreign policy, growing manufacturing hub of the world have also created a large base of the voters. One more factor which is going to work in favour of BJP and its allies is the weak and fragmented opposition. Congress is limited to the double digit number in the last elections. Other regional parties are blinded by their own benefits are unable to create a joint alliance with the other opposition parties. In the direct fight with the BJP, the chances to win would have increased for the opposition rather than going for triangular fights or more. Last but not the least, honest, hardworking and charismatic leader’s image of the PM Modi and loyal and faithful cadre of the party and RSS always work wonders to the BJP.
In this election (2024), about 969 million people will exercise their rights to vote. Modi government has been trying very hard to please female voters, poors, marginal, youth and others by bringing the various schemes and offer the benefits directed towards them.
Conclusion
Out of 543 Parliamentary Constituencies, winning 400 seats seems to be a daunting task. Last time it was achieved by the Congress under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi in 1984, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Due to the sympathy wave of the people, Congress won 404 seats during that time. However, there is precedence of winning 400 seats in the past still it’s quite difficult to achieve though not impossible. Looking at the data, it can be said that the slogan of 400 par is not merely a jumla but there is a strong possibility to achieve it. Till 4th June, it’s mere an assumption though quite a strong assumption.
