The belief that the NaMo personality would swing voters in favour of the BJP in states also has been based on two wrong presumptions. First presumption was that the BJP won the 2014 and the 2019 elections. And second presumption was the personality of Narendra Modi swung votes to him. Modi was not an impressive personality in 2014. He did not ask votes for the party government in either term. He fought and won impressively both the election on the promise to modernize India to convert it into an economic power. In first election he had pushed the three major demands of the party to the bottom and in the second election agenda he conceded the central placement, he did not refer to any of three issues in hundred days of his intensive campaign.

Instead of attending to correcting aberration that slowed down the growth rate his government initiated actions on reducing Kashmir from special status state into a union territory and thus deprive voters of their right to elect their state rulers. The Supreme Court opened the doors for construction of a temple on the controversial site in Ayodhya and third step to eliminate individual entity enjoyed by the Muslims. He had to contradict in public meeting his home minister.

Ameet Shah compounded the difficulties by branding protesters as anti nationals and betrayers of India though protest was stormy and more intense among young of the majority community as they saw in the step their future blocked. The sharp international reaction to legitimacy of the moves of the Modi government indicated the possibility and not only probability of shut down of doors of most developed nations on them and their prospects through use of their talents. The government plan to keep all those denied citizenship of India in separate campus was a step in the direction of increased tax burden on the others for keeping them in government managed camps. The experience of 1971 of surcharge for meeting costs of relief camps would be fresh in minds of the second and third generations since independence to send them in streets to protest. Most analyst of the government move have not commented on this aspect as they were aggrieved by thought of dividing India once again in religious entities without finding space outside India to all those denied the citizenship. Educated young saw the disaster that the NaMo government was inviting for them. The government action turned into a negative aspect as the election came in the midst of fresh wounds.

Shah overlooked that his efforts to brand opponents of his moves as anti nationalists would recoil on him as it amounted to equating himself and his party with India. Such an attempt in June 1975 had recoiled on the Congress. No individual or the party can be equated with India. It showed the limits of political comprehension of India that lived and survived for five thousand years without conscious thought for political liberty as respect and honour for others, individuals their religions, their gods and their thoughts are ingrained in the Indianness.

For five years, the BJP leadership in the state of Delhi was reduced to the secondary and subordinate unit. It did not attend to shortcomings of the state government as it was kept occupied in serving the causes off the party and not of people. Suddenly the party bigwigs realized that there are other needs and concerns of masses than religion. In previous five years, the party never took up causes of public concerns or shortcomings of the state administration. Even the home minister began to point out shortfall in promises on fronts like education and health care.

The party could not nominate or indicate the choice of leader for Delhi for it was not certain that the president of the state unit of the party would be acceptable as he belonged to Bihar in public image. He was twice chosen as the party candidate for the Lok Sabha elections only due to his fame among and the pride of the Behari populous settled in large numbers in East Delhi constituency. Apart from the Bhojpuri folk lore, he knew little about people and their problems. Incidentally the Prime Minister took little interest in the Delhi polls. Perhaps he decided to allow the BJP mentors to discover the strength and weakness of the home minister who was treated almost as the next incumbent to succeed Narendra Modi. The manners in which he rushed to the Ramlila maidan to dispel the general belief that he was a party to the game of depriving large sections of poor Muslims of their citizen’s rights indicated the prevailing sharp difference between the Prime Minister and his mentors. On January 24 2015 he was told to come back to the party, he maintained his response in silence. The price is being extracted from him. His silence on the Delhi poll outcome tells it.