Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his publicity team are masters of the election one-liner. In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party slogans were ‘ache din aane wale hain – good days will come’, and ‘ghar ghar Modi – Modi in every home’. The 2019 one-liner was ‘phir ek baar Modi sarkar – Modi government once again’, with a reminder from the Balakot surgical strike, ‘ghar mein ghuskar maara – we entered the enemy’s home and killed them’. In 2024, the BJP went into the Lok Sabha election campaign with the war cry of ‘abki baar char sau paar; this time we will get over 400 seats.
The slogan is designed to intimidate the Opposition. The idea is to push a media narrative that the election is a ‘done deal’ – one which the former has no hope of winning. Char sau paar is cleverly pitched psychological warfare to force the Opposition to give up without a fight.
