Panaji, October 28 (PTI): Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who is currently lobbying for the Trinamool Congress for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections, has said that the BJP would remain at the centre of Indian politics and would not go anywhere for the “next many decades”. He also took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for thinking that people would throw away the BJP immediately. A video clip of Kishor addressing a private meeting in Goa has gone viral. ...

IT MAY not be possible to fathom exactly the political motivation behind the statement of political strategist Mr. Prashant Kishor, but whatever he is reported to have stated, as per the video clip, has an unmistakable element of truth -- or realisation, so to say. He is pointing to a political reality of India that no wishful thinking can erase.

If his statement on one hand is one indicator of the country’s political reality, it suggests, on the other hand, that the Opposition will have to come up with an entirely new narrative to counter Mr. Narendra Modi -- as the traditionally-held political ideas will hold no ground in the battle for popular attention in the coming times. In other words, Mr. Prashant Kishor seems to suggest that the Opposition may have to undertake a massive overhaul of its strategies to counter the Modi juggernaut.

The praise of Mr. Modi and the BJP by Mr. Prashant Kishor apart, it is more than obvious that Mr. Prashant Kishor has blasted the manner in which Mr. Rahul Gandhi tries to conduct his politics through statements on Twitter -- expressing a juvenile expectation that the people would overthrow the Prime Minister and the BJP in the elections. That assertion can be interpreted as Mr. Kishor’s brushing aside Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s effort to perch himself in the position of Opposition’s prime ministerial face. Such daydreaming has got no meaning, he seems to insist as he certifies that the BJP is here to stay for long.

Some may read this as grudging acceptance of the BJP’s dominance by an Opposition strategist. That may be a right observation. But facts support his assertion in many ways that are far beyond the normal imagination of the stagnated Opposition in the country. Survey after survey of people in India and the Indian people in other countries suggests that Mr. Narendra Modi is thought to be the leader of India beyond dispute -- on multiple parameters such as governance, popular outreach, national security, international relations, global leadership quotient, economic ideation. ...! Each survey gives Mr. Narendra Modi a rating that is way higher than the ratings the same studies give to Opposition leaders in general and Mr. Rahul Gandhi in particular.

Mr. Prashant Kishor has chosen to use that data as a stick with which to beat Mr. Rahul Gandhi and show him the mirror of reality.

Of course, Mr. Kishor has worked with Mr. Narendra Modi previously, and may even be trying to reopen a channel once again with him. But let us grant him the benefit of his professionalism in the domain of political strategy -- which needs to be based on the reality on the ground -- so that he could guide his clients appropriately.

At the moment, as is suggested by media reports over the past some months, Mr. Prashant Kishor is still with Ms. Mamata Banerjee, the feisty supremo of the ‘All India’ Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister of West Bengal. It is for the TMC’s promotion that Mr. Kishor is in Goa presently.

However, media reports also were doing the rounds that Mr. Kishor was hobnobbing with the Congress party, possibly looking for opportunity to reconnect with the Gandhi family. Those much-publicised interactions, however, might have given Mr. Prashant Kishor a better idea of the actual calibre of Mr. Rahul Gandhi. His swipe that Mr. Gandhi is daydreaming about the BJP’s ouster from its current high perch may have come from that awareness, from those discussions.

Even though Mr. Prashant Kishor describes himself as an over-rated professional, he has nevertheless made many a political change possible in several elections. That is reason why the people take his observations with certain element of respect. That explains why the media has given so much importance to his latest assertion -- about Mr. Narendra Modi’s popularity, about the BJP’s steadfast grip on national affairs, and of Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s lack of appropriate levels of political maturity.

It is, of course, possible that Mr. Kishor is pushing Ms. Mamata Banerjee’s case to be projected as prime ministerial face for the Opposition. This assessment finds support in a statement by a Bengali newspaper supported by the Trinamool Congress -- in effect that Congress is not a party to reckon with as the leading constituent of the Opposition front. Read together, these two assessments may suggest that the idea of a united Opposition front may be rather too preponderous -- at least the present juncture when the next general elections are over two years away.

Of course, legislative elections are due in the next some months in a few States. Those would provide a testing ground for the Opposition strategies -- or even present those in a fudged form so that the BJP may not be able to decipher what the Opposition plans could be for the next general elections in 2024.

The BJP cannot, of course, be expected to be so naive. It appears to have a complete and truthful assessment of the electoral scenario for the next ten or so years. All its policies and approaches to issues of importance in public affairs appear to have been guided by that deep awareness of how the public could respond to various issues.

Mr. Prashant Kishor, too, is conscious of this thought-prowess of the BJP and the Prime Minister. The forthcoming electoral battle will, thus, offer a clash of two strategies -- though the outcome will support the home truth that Mr. Prashant Kishor has begun realising.