Prashant Kishor says 'brand Modi' is challenged by election, not Oppn

New Delhi: Prashant Kishor, a political strategist, stated that the nation's people, rather than any political party or leader, are the ones that are actually challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"People are seeing in this election that brand Modi is not invincible. It's not like no one can challenge him. People are giving him a challenge, whether a political party or a leader challenges him or not," Kishor said in an interview earlier this week, Livemint reported.

"In a country where more than 60 crore people don't earn more than ₹100 per day, there the Opposition against the government can never be weakened. Never make that mistake," Prashant Kishor said.

He said that opposition parties and or the formation of opposition parties can be weak. "But in this country, opposition [to the government] is not weak," he added.

He also shared numbers which supported his argument. Kishor said, "Nobody here [India] gets 50 per cent votes. In simple terms, if 100 people vote, only 40 support PM Modi, his ideology, his work, Hindutva, Ram Mandir, Article 370 – this collectively, only 40 people are happy and 60-62 are unhappy."

He stated that there is a challenge before PM Modi and the BJP. "...rural distress is a major issue in the country...even after this if BJP is winning, that means the opposition parties are not strong enough or reliable."

"...but that doesn't mean that every person of this country is happy with" the Modi government," the political strategist said.

Comparing the power of PM Modi as a "brand” in the upcoming polls to that of the elections in 2014, he said, "In 2024, people are feeling that there's no one else to vote for... Brand Modi is weakening...the power of brand Modi is declining in comparison to what was seen in 2014 and 2019.”

According to him, there was "excitement" among BJP supporters in 2014, and in 2019, many believed the party should be granted an additional five years for the nation's progress. “There was a large section of people who believed in 2014 that the country will transform if Modi comes to power," the strategist said.

However, in 2024, people feel “ab kya karen, koi doosra hai nahi to vote inhi ko dena padega [What shall we do, there's no one else so let's vote for him only]…there's a change in narrative," Kishor said. "The excitement among people has declined," he said.

Kishor further explained, "Between 2014 and 2019, the BJP's under-performance in all the assembly polls as compared to the Lok Sabha polls was 3 percentage points – this means if the BJP got 40 per cent votes in a state Lok Sabha polls, the party received 37 per cent votes in that state's assembly elections...This under-performance has now increased to 9-10 per cent between 2019 and 2024.”

Prashant Kishor said that in the name of Ram Temple, the BJP is not getting even one extra vote. "Ram Mandir is a big issue for BJP supporters. I didn't find anyone who was not giving the BJP vote in the name of Ram mandir earlier and will vote based on it today...there's no incremental benefit," he said in the interview.

These remarks were made by Prashant Kishor before the fifth round of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, which is scheduled for May 20.