In two days since the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) erupted into a major row, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded two of its most voluble spokespersons—especially slotted to counter Congress leader Rahul Gandhi—Sambit Patra and Sudhanshu Trivedi to rationalise the revelations and shift the focus to a political slugfest between India’s two largest parties.
With the aim clearly being on blunting the spotlight on questions over the legitimacy of the recently held elections post-SIR, the BJP is seeking to play a game it knows well—narrative warfare—with its core argument that the people’s mandate is being sought to be negated by an orchestrated and regular campaign against the Narendra Modi government.
The SIR-led rupture in the ECI, exposed by The Indian Express report, adds to a series of heartburns for the Modi government.
The SIR row has arrived at a time for the government when the wound of having sacked a Union Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, on demand of a street protest, is still fresh.
The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led Gen Z protest already has arguably dented the carefully built Brand Modi.
That the BJP had to ask party workers across the country to light lamps and diyas seeking blessings for Modi attest to widely held belief that the political brand of the prime minister is under stress.