Without strong leadership and effective delivery at the regional level, PM Narendra Modi’s charisma and Hindutva is not sufficient to win elections, RSS-affiliated magazine The Organiser has said in an issue published following BJP’s defeat in the Karnataka Assembly polls.
“For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it is the right time to take stock of the situation. Without strong leadership and effective delivery at the regional level, Prime Minister Modi’s charisma and Hindutva as an ideological glue would not be sufficient. The positive factors, ideology and leadership, are genuine assets for the BJP when the state-level governance is operational,” the magazine said in an editorial by Prafulla Ketkar on May 23.
Hinting at allegations of corruption against the Bommai government and calling the election results “surprising” but “not shocking”, the editorial said, “First time since Prime Minister Modi took the reins at the Centre, the BJP had to defend the corruption charges in an Assembly election.”
He also said that the results would boost the Congress ahead of the 2024 polls.
The BJP performed below par across the state despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the campaign. The PM had given a personal tone to the campaign, framing the election as a vote for a double-engine sarkar. He also gave it a polarising spin, particularly in the last lap, by invoking Bajrang Bali.
The Organiser editorial also suggested that Congress seems to do well electorally “when the role of national-level leadership is minimal and the election campaign is kept at the local level.”