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With India finally coming out of the shadow of Covid in 2022, the political theatre this year saw a mix bag for all the outfits but it was the ruling BJP which had the last laugh. Out of seven state elections held in 2022, BJP maintained its electoral dominance in five of them, including Uttar Pradesh. While it did lose Himachal Pradesh to rival Congress and Punjab to GenNext rival AAP, BJP’s election machinery still remains the apex to out cast any political formation especially in the Hindi heartland. 2023 will witness nine state stops that could shape the political script of 2024 General Elections, wherein states like Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh will have a heavyweight clout to alter the political narrative and discourse across the voting lines.

Projecting PM Modi as Vishwa Guru

In 2023, the events will turn the tides in favor of BJP’s pet projects like Central Vista, Ram Mandir and India becoming the President of G-20 group through rotation policy but in politics, it is the timing of an event which leaves an indelible footprint, and hence BJP will leave no stone unturned in utilizing the photo op and elevating the grandeur of the occasion. With PM Narendra Modi leading from the front, the G-20 Summit which will host nations like US, China, Russia, France, Germany and the UK will be illustrated as one of the biggest opportunity to enlarge India’s image in a global context and more than the audience internationally, it’s the domestic people who would be watching PM Modi closely to ratify a claim that “PM Modi has enhanced India’s global image”. The various inaugurations in 2023 by PM Modi will zoom in his already larger-than-life image and catapult him from being a Hindu Hriday Samrat, welfarist, aspirationalist to a Vishwa Guru and BJP’s discourse on and off the record will be driven by India’s foreign policy.

The Central Vista project wherein a new Parliament, PM residence, various ministries are proposed will certainly pay BJP some political dividends in the future course, since this consensus has a backing of a proportionate chunk of people who believe that with Central Vista, they are moving on with the colonial baggage and paying homage to the freedom fighters of India. Meanwhile, the Ram Mandir trust has intimated December 2023-March 2024 as the deadline for opening and performing puja in the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, which will prove to be the ultimate gamechanger in the last leg of the Lok Sabha polls.

What next for Opposition in 2023-24

In Congress’ own experiments with truth, it achieved two major objectives in electing Mallikarjun Kharge as the new President with the first family making way for a non-Gandhi to hold the post after two decades and Rahul Gandhi embarking on Yatra to transform the image of Congress on ground. With Congress winning Himachal Pradesh and also witnessing a decimating loss in Gujarat, the grand old party’s odd-even tryst with victory is a breakaway from recent history since, it has been four years a Hindi speaking North Indian state went in the kitty of Congress. It is the state elections, particularly in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh where the litmus test of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ will be put to test and if it passes in majority of it, there would be a churning of opinions and a clash of ideologies in the voter’s conscience. Congress will have to avoid parachute entry in the nine states up for election in 2023, rather build a base with the aid of local leadership and ground level cadres to put up a political fight against the BJP juggernaut.

Aam Aadmi Party won Punjab, five Assembly seats in Gujarat and a clear majority in Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls in 2022, so it became a defining year for the outfit. AAP also became only the third party to rule in more than one state in India, and reportedly got registered as India’s ninth national party. But their national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will have to be resolute and firm with his approach towards the BJP in order for him to expand nationally in 2023-24. Certainly, it’ll be facing competition from TMC, TRS, JD(U) etc while having national ambitions but ultimately, it’ll be the opposition unity which would be the casualty. Parties will have to espouse each other’s political events and alliances since the might of BJP and the Amit Shah school of election management remains an invincible force and the popularity of PM Narendra Modi will make him to occupy being the political centerstage of India with TINA (There Is No Alternative) and TIMO (There Is Modi Only) factor looming large.

These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.