'Modi seems to have got his mojo back'

March 14, 2019 14:36

Pulwama, Balakot and an aggressive stance on terror will be the main platform for Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's campaign. The Congress, on the other hand, will have to work a lot harder to be back in the game -- and shift focus from the national security crisis to economic concerns.

"Modi is again trying to present himself as an Opposition while being in government. Pulwama and Balakot have given him the opportunity to use his aggressive style of campaigning," says Rahul Verma, psephologist and co-author of Ideology & Identity -- The Changing Party Systems of India.

Verma is currently a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and is also pursuing a PhD in political science at the University of California at Berkeley.

"In the two months since winning the December state elections, the Congress did not do anything extraordinary. To challenge a leader like Narendra Modi or Indira Gandhi you need to do extraordinary things," Verma tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.

Read the interview here

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