Modi’s ‘Sardar’ Sentiment for Votes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is busy with his campaign in Telangana as the assembly elections are nearing. He, then, speaking about Sardar Patel, said Telangana wouldn’t be a reality, if Sardar Patel didn’t free the Hyderabad from Nizam rule.

Modi said Sardar is the reason for India’s unity and we are saying ‘Bharat Maata ki Jai’ just because of him. Maybe Modi used the same Sardar sentiment in North and it may have worked out, but it doesn’t happen with south people, as they were already influenced by regional leaders.

BJP should use the techniques that would actually work, as Telangana sentiment is still fresh, but Sardar sentiment is very hard to connect here.

Modi has also attacked Congress while going soft on regional parties in the Telugu states. These remarks come at a time where non-NDA regional allies are coming together against the BJP to form an Alternative government.

If you see the BJP's election strategies for Telangana, it looks like the party needs to understand regional politics well and appeal to the locals on an issue-based approach.

As religion-based politics doesn’t work in South, "Hindutva" messages of BJP won’t do any good to them.