In January 2019, inaugurating the BJP’s national convention in Delhi, Amit Shah, then the party’s national president, had termed the April-May 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a battle of ideologies, saying that a loss for the party in it could lead to “slavery” — comparing it to what happened after the Third Battle of Panipat in the 18th century, which the Marathas lost, eventually paving the way to British rule.

The BJP won that election with a thumping majority, with Narendra Modi taking charge as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term.

Five years later, last Friday, PM Modi announced that he was undertaking a “special ritual of 11 days” to prepare himself for the “pran pratishtha (consecration ceremony)” of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to be held on January 22.

In the coming days, the Ayodhya event and the fervour being whipped up around it by the Sangh Parivar across the country would not only sound the BJP’s bugle for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but also underline its agenda of cultural nationalism.

Leading this exercise from the front, Modi has pushed the Opposition to the back foot. Struggling to come up with ideas to counter Modi, Opposition parties have been searching for issues and narratives, and the Lok Sabha polls would be one more such stage.

Interestingly, amid the prevailing upbeat mood in the BJP over the party reigning largely unchallenged nationally and in the Hindi heartland for a decade, a section of its leaders feels that the party’s identity as an “ideology-based democratic organisation” should also be protected to enable it to stand on its own in the future. As of now, it is the Modi juggernaut that is rolling on everywhere, with party leaders admitting that the PM has become synonymous for their three major electoral planks – Hindutva, development, and India’s glory at the global stage as Vishwaguru.

The outcome of the recent Assembly elections has proved that the Opposition’s welfare politics or OBC push is not getting much traction, especially in North India. In these states, the plank of caste survey, welfare measures and “soft Hindutva” used by Congress chief ministers or chief ministerial aspirants fell flat, while Modi’s “social engineering” and his “guarantees” worked for the BJP again.

These state results not only indicate that caste may no longer be the dominant electoral factor, but also that voters trust Modi’s model of development. The BJP as an organisation has become a carrier of Modi’s messages — and a beneficiary of his popularity. Several BJP leaders in various belts admitted that it was not the party that voters were voting for, but Modi. So, the BJP would have to scale up its organisational efforts to convert them as its loyal support base.

A big challenge before the Opposition in the elections would be hence to counter the perception of Modi as a Hindutva icon who has provided a platform to the Hindus to express their pride.

Party insiders point out that the fasting and rituals till consecration announced by Modi now — as per practices mentioned in the Vedic texts, including waking up before sunrise, meditation, chanting of prayers and a sattvic diet — will deepen the personification of Hinduism with Modi, especially in North India.

Although the Ram Janmabhoomi movement led by the VHP and RSS paved the way for the construction of the Ram Temple, Modi is now indisputably at the centre of the celebrations in Ayodhya, with the BJP deploying all its might and resources to make it a Modi event.

Questions about State and religion now seem infructuous, with the State taking the lead in the religious ceremony, and its formal and informal structures rallying behind the PM.

This welding of politics and socio-cultural spheres has not been explored by any PM to this extent earlier, or tried, for different reasons. This would not only be a challenge to the Opposition but may also pose a question for future PMs.

While Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was clear in his mind about keeping State and religion separate in his decision to disassociate his government from Somnath Temple reconstruction, his successors, including PMs from his own family, had already narrowed this gap. The BJP PM before Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also consciously stayed away from taking a deep plunge into the socio-cultural sphere while in the post.