(This article first appeared in Kamal Sandesh)
If in 2014 Modi was a gamble, in 2019 he has been an
informed choice; if vote for Modi then was an expression of anti-incumbency,
this time it has been an assertion of right choice; if Modi’14 was magic and
wave, then Modi‘19 is the voice of ‘New India’ loud and clear.
While the 2019 election seems to have built up on the
aspirations of 2014, there is one crucial way in which it has been different.
In this election we are no longer looking through the narrow prism of old
vertical identities of caste, language and religion, among others. We have now
seen the rise of new interest groups such as poor, women, youth, disabled and
farmers. As the old watertight and discriminatory identities are now blurring,
people are now relating more to the emerging interest groups that represent
their concerns better. In 2019, Modi has effectively captured the imagination
of these interest groups and has come to represent the voice of an India of new
identities.