DC Edit | As Modi magic blooms, BJP sets new record in Gujarat
Deccan ChronicleThe Gujarat unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party would not be a bad fit as Nike’s brand ambassador, because they, incredibly, just did it. For a seventh consecutive time, the BJP won the Assembly elections in Gujarat, variously described as Hindutva’s crucible and lab to one of India’s most developed and industrially progressive states. If being the seventh consecutive victory is a record, the BJP, which has now equalled the streak of wins by the CPI-led Left Front in West Bengal, it is the sheer scale of win and domination of the sweep to achieve its seventh term that illustrates the absolute mindspace occupied by just one political figure — Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP not only bettered its own all-time best victory in 2002, the-then first win as chief minister by Narendra Modi, of 127 seats out of 188, but also breached the watermark record of the Congress, under Madhav Singh Solanki in 1990 of 149, by becoming the first party ever in Gujarat’s history to cross 150 seats, winning 156 out of 188. The projection of the BJP’s win in Gujarat on national politics must reflect on the sustainability of the Modi factor in all polls ahead, be it the state Assembly elections next year in Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, or the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.