Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has come up with a landslide victory in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. The mandate in 2019 has come up with a surprise to many, except the BJP itself, which was confident. Narendra Modi-led NDA storming back to power in 2019 with whooping majority of more than 300 seats on its own. The most important question arises here is how did the NDA receive a bigger mandate than 2014 despite the highest crime, rural distress, weak economic growth and increase in hate crimes against the Dalits and minorities. Here are the other factors on which BJP rode a landslide success.
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The Development Agenda
The NDA government in its first tenure has launched various social and economic welfare schemes which has benefited poor in various sectors. Some of the major first time launched schemes are:
- Direct benefit transfers such as LPG and kerosene, in bank accounts, most of which were opened under the Jan Dhan and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna;
- The Ayushman Bharat scheme, which provides free medical insurance benefits to families below the poverty line;
- Skill India and Startup India;
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyaan;
- The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,
All these schemes were aimed for the economically weaker section which delivered the message that the government cared about them.
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During the election campaign, Narendra Modi has announced the Minimum Guaranteed Income of Rs. 6,000 annually to farmers under the PM KISAN Scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna wooed the farmers. Among farmers and rural people, NDA government’s Rural Electrification Programme was the biggest success.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
The central government also constructed over 9 crore toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, while the construction of highways and roads in rural areas has happened at a significant pace.
NDA is not the only government to launch schemes, UPA government had not started welfare schemes, but the BJP outsmarted the Congress by effectively communicating its schemes and their benefits to the masses and creating a perception that it alone had the poor’s interests at heart. There can be debates about the success and failure of these schemes, but when it comes to voting, it’s the perception that matters.