NEW DELHI: The scale of BJP’s victory and the extent of Congress ’ defeat demonstrate a Narendra Modi-led political accomplishment without parallel, according to analysts and observers. The so-called Modi wave — BJP strategist Amit Shah and AAP ’s V Balakrishnan even called it a tsunami — that has propelled Gujarat chief minister to the prime ministership, they said, is a phenomenon of immense proportions.“Wherever they (the BJP) had a presence they built on that, derived max traction in MP, Rajasthan and Gujarat and broke ground in the south and northeast,” said psephologist Sandeep Shastri of Lokniti. “In West Bengal and Odisha they did it without allies, and in Andhra Pradesh with allies.” The contours of the wave became clear as the votes were being counted.States where the party is in power saw an unprecedented support, with Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh improving the party’s tally beyond precedent.Even where BJP had marginal presence, it has shown a surge, like in Assam, Bengal, some other areas of the northeast and UTs.Shastri said there was not one, but “multiple waves of anti-incumbency and discontent, not just against the Congress but allies like the National Conference, DMK and NCP, which resulted in the coalescing of it in UP, especially in the last phase”.

The BJP campaign was aided by a nearly two-year-long push on social media, and a year-long digital effort called mission 272+. Modi despatched party general secretary Amit Shah to UP to spectacularly revive the fortunes of BJP there. A concerted year-long door-to-door campaign by RSS resulted in massive effort to enrol young voters and spread the Modi message.



Party President Rajnath Singh was visibly overwhelmed at the scale of BJP’s victory, telling cheering workers at the party headquarters that “never before in the history of India has the Congress been defeated by such a margin”.

Party spokeswoman Nirmala Sitharaman said this election cannot be viewed through the prism of past contests because it has no precedent. “This is a completely different kind of mandate and is historic in the sense that never before has the party extended its reach to such an extent.”Historian Ramchandra Guha was of the view that while looking at the winner’s strategy, it is important to consider the loser’s as well.Describing Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi as “incompetent”, he said the big losers have been the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. “Every member of his family has won elections, and not lost it in such a manner. The Congress failed to gauge that Indian society has changed. That what you can do is more important than who you are.”It was left to the normally reserved party general secretary of BJP, Amit Shah, the architect of the tally in UP, to sum up the wave, which he has referred to as a tsunami.“Not even one state where Congress even reached the two-digit mark, not even number 10 in any state,” he said.