Frontrunner & elusive poll theme

Excitement is often highest in 'wave' elections. There is a sense of anticipation, a better future, even vengeance. For these reasons, 2024 is turning out to be an unexpectedly themeless election

We are now at about the halfway point in the Lok Sabha election campaign and what stands out is — and I say so with some trepidation — how little stands out. Trepidation because the nutgraf of the argument is the frontrunner’s inability to define this campaign so far.

Since Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first rose, say from 2012 onwards, they have defined the terms of competitive politics in India. In 2014, it was the call for achchhe din (better times) for all and a “56-inch chest” and laal aankh (angry red eyes) for enemies, namely, Pakistan