But, there was a resentment too, which couldn’t be denied, against the Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party government for its failure to tackle critical issues like rising unemployment, high prices and agrarian distress. However, in the absence of a credible alternative, Modi was the better option.

In an interview, Modi himself thanked the opposition leaders for his rise of popularity due to continuous bashing of him by them. If you closely look at the opposition leaders, you would agree with Modi and find that opposition leaders were more obsessed with him than with the issues that concern the people. This was the problem of the entire opposition. If they had been really serious, the entire opposition would have united based on people’s issues. But they didn't.

The opposition had a chance to give tough fight to Modi but they missed it. There were speculations that the main opposition Congress would field Priyanka Gandhi, who resembles her grandmother former prime minister Indira Gandhi and also happens to be the sister of party president Rahul Gandhi, against Modi at Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh. But the party backed off and decided to renominate a local named Ajay Rai, who was the second runner up in the 2014 polls, a poor decision taken by the Congress. This actually made the perception more true among the electorates that Modi was winning — so Priyanka had to backstep.

Not only this in Uttar Pradesh, which sends most number of 80 MPs to the lower house of Indian parliament, Congress failed to tie up with the two regional parties — Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party — who have united after 24 years in the state to stop the BJP. In West Bengal, another significant state with 42 MPs, India's grand old party failed to ally with any of the two anti-BJP parties — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led All India Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Congress also failed to mend its relations with regional parties like Biju Janata Dal of Odisha, YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Rashtra Samithi of Telangana, which are expected to perform well in this election. Plus Rahul Gandhi's political goof-up to link his slogan that “country's watchman is a thief” with the Supreme Court of India earned ire from the apex court where he had to submit an apology letter. These events indicate that the Congress party not only failed to build an all India alliance based on issues but also committed political goof-ups one after another.

So, when Modi, who knew how to strike the chord with the masses, said in his campaigning rallies that the opposition parties unite as a coherent bloc only to attack him rather than on issues, obviously, there was no solid reason why they wouldn’t agree with him. Modi did certainly faced strong challenge especially in parts of the country where regional parties have a sway like in West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. However, the truth is that this was a national election and Indian voters knew the difference between a regional and a national election. Had the Congress led the united opposition and provided an alternative against Modi based on policies, no doubt, Modi would have definitely got a tough challenge. Lastly, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party tried for an alliance with the Congress, was partially right when he said that if Modi led BJP wins, the main opposition Congress would be solely responsible. (IPA Service)