Narendra Modi turns Opposition's weapon into its vulnerability; public trust, corruption may form fulcrum of BJP's 2019 strategy

Setting the agenda for 2019, Narendra Modi went on the front foot on corruption — an issue that the Opposition has sought to weaponise against Modi. They had to flee because they would have to adhere to the laws here.” Modi tried to delegitimise Rahul Gandhi’s campaign as an “anti-corruption” crusader by highlighting the fact that he is out on bail in a case involving financial irregularities and referred to AgustaWestland middleman Michel’s alleged links with the ‘Family’. We find a reference to this theme — the ostensible link between Congress’s ‘first family’ and corruption — again while Modi was asked a question on the raids carried out by probe agencies and whether these were “political motivated”. When a debate is set on these terms, it becomes easier for the BJP to run a ‘Modi vs Rest’ campaign where the prime minister represents the aspirations of young people and the faith of electorate, and the Opposition — working to scuttle Modi’s plans — becomes the ‘enemy’ of the people. For instance, on ‘Modi wave’, the prime minister said for him “wave only about people’s expectations and aspirations, only about trust that who will fulfil our aspirations and expectations”, or where he says “in 2019, if there is one party which the country trusts and is connected with the people, it is the BJP.” What was Modi was trying to do here was to trap the Opposition into a binary and frame the 2019 battle not just as ‘Modi vs Rest’ but ‘People vs Rest’.