DECADES ago, when I was sitting with Harmohan
Dhawan, the then minister of Civil Aviation in the Chandra Shekhar Government,
I was told that the latter had asked the relevant ministers to give 5,000
telephone connections and 5,000 LPG connections to win the Lok Sabha election
from Chandigarh constituency. I suggested to him, “You cannot win a Parliament
election with only largesse. What you really need is a political narrative that
can appeal to and woo the masses.” He ignored me; he also lost the election. A
leader needs a compelling electoral narrative to enhance his support,
especially with the growing population of fence-sitters and first-time voters.
Similarly, decades ago, Narasimha Rao, the former Prime Minister of India, was
asked by his party colleagues on what could be done to stop the rising
popularity of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it embraced the Ram Mandir
strategy to win the elections.
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