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BJP has two crucial elections coming up soon—Bihar and Tamil Nadu
Sources told News18 the three-fold communication strategy will be led by the BJP’s—or, to be precise, PM Modi’s— political will, which the party will hammer on, contrasting with past instances suggesting ‘it would not have been possible under Congress rule’. (Representational image)
Even as Operation Sindoor is ongoing and former Indian Army Chief General Manoj Naravane posted, “Abhi picture baki hai” on social media site X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be preparing for a long haul. On Thursday morning, he chaired a crucial meeting with secretaries of key ministries like defence, home affairs, external affairs, information & broadcasting, power, health, and telecommunications, along with the cabinet secretary and senior officials from the prime minister’s office, to discuss a range of issues, including civil defence mechanisms, safeguarding critical infrastructure, and countering fake news, among others, in view of Indo-Pak tensions. However, it’s not the government that is planning alone; the ruling party — BJP — too has its hands full with customised communication strategies and plans, using the current standoff between India and Pakistan to make its political points.
News18 has reliably learnt that the BJP is working on a three-fold communication strategy. “We just don’t plan; we wait for government confirmation of news and execute our communication strategy immediately,” said a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity.
Sources told News18 the three-fold communication strategy will be led by the BJP’s—or, to be precise, PM Modi’s— political will, which the party will hammer on, contrasting with past instances suggesting “it would not have been possible under Congress rule”. The second message will be, the BJP source suggests, “India doesn’t forgive and forget”. There are reports of India in last night’s airstrike in Pakistan killing Rauf Azhar, the operation head of Jaish-e-Mohammed and mastermind of the IC 814 hijacking that forced India to release Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Zargar, and Omar Sheikh from jail to secure the passengers. The BJP source says, once the Government of India confirms this, the second strategy will be put in motion.
Meanwhile, there is a third combination strategy BJP is working on over the Indo-Pak tensions, where the messaging will be loud and clear — India is the first country after the United States and Israel that has gone deep into another country’s territory to take out targets, showing India’s military prowess and political spine.
In its most bold pursuit, India has not just targeted Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or tribal areas like Balakot. This time India has hit Pakistan’s main cities like Lahore and Karachi with drones while targeting terror dens in cities like Jaish-e-Mohammed stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base Muridke.
The Modi Sarkar made it clear in 2016 that it won’t be playing by the rule book of Dr Manmohan Singh’s UPA when it directed a surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Uri attack and later made airstrikes in Balakot in 2019 in response to the Pulwama attack. But a sizeable section of the Indian opposition sought evidence. No wonder, soon after Operation Sindoor this time, which was a missile strike at nine targets that the Indian ministry of defence called “terror camps”, the BJP released audio-visuals of 1 minute 50 seconds highlighting the impact those strikes caused, calling them “9 evidences”, almost taunting the Indian opposition parties that raised questions on the surgical strikes earlier. The video on X alone has been watched 2 million times in the last 24 hours. In an unusual move, the Russian state media RT published the BJP’s dramatic video, calling it a “blockbuster”.
“You know, India has been restrained for way too long. But did we get justice? We had to transform to the next league of what the US or Israel can do. India has not just demonstrated that it can carry out cross-border strikes to root out threats to its citizens, but it can put them to use. When you think of demonstrating ‘Ghar me ghus ke marenge’ next time, the world will count Modi’s India along with very few world powers like the US and Israel,” Amit Malviya, BJP’s head of IT cell and the brains behind the “9 evidences” video, told News18.
BJP has two crucial elections coming up soon— Bihar and Tamil Nadu. While some in the BJP officially maintain that the government’s stands are not viewed from an electoral winnability prism, some do agree that when PM Modi eventually starts campaigning, the effect may start being visible.
Guruprakash Paswan, BJP’s national spokesperson, who hails from Bihar, told News18, “I don’t see any direct correlation between Operation Sindoor and the Bihar election, which is scheduled in October. Some other issues may come up in between. Public memory is usually short-lived.” However, the mood on the ground has swung decisively in favour of BJP, both riding high on the announcement of the caste census and now India’s action on Pakistan. BJP’s allies, like Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan, who has critiqued the Bharatiya Janata Party on many issues recently, hailed the armed forces and thanked the Prime Minister and home minister for the “bold decision”. In Patna, BJP Yuva Morcha workers celebrated the success of Operation Sindoor with vibrant displays of support and chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.
In poll-bound Tamil Nadu, even before India’s strike, the state BJP took to the roads after the Pahalgam massacre. The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a demonstration in Chennai urging the DMK government to identify and deport illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh living in Tamil Nadu. State BJP president Nainar Nagendran and former governor of Telangana Tamilisai Soundararajan were part of it. As India hit nine targets, Nagendran said, “Our Indian Army has acted with clinical precision, targeting and neutralising nine terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This strike is a testament to India’s unwavering commitment to combat terrorism with courage and clarity.”
It was 2019, and the city was Ahmedabad. PM Modi was addressing a crowd in his home state when he floated the “ghar me ghus ke marunga” promise, which we see today in its myriad manifestations. “It is my nature to give a befitting reply… Now I will enter their house and kill them… Even if they are hiding under the earth, I will drag them out and kill them.”
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