Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Prashant Kishor lists 3 opportunities that opposition missed against BJP since 2014

The opposition would have been in a better position in Lok Sabha Elections 2024, had it not missed multiple opportunities to resurrect when Prime Minister Narendra Modi led (BJP) was on a back foot, according to political strategist . 

The first such occasion, Kishor said, was in 2015 and 2016 when the BJP lost multiple state assembly elections. 

“In January 2015, the won Delhi assembly elections. The BJP lost Bihar elections in November, the same year. The next year until May, assembly elections were held in Assam, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The BJP could win only Assam, that too in an alliance. Those 15-18 months were an opportunity for the Congress-led opposition could have bounced back since PM Modi's popularity had just begun to rise (post 2014)," Kishor told NDTV in an interview.     

Another opportunity that the opposition had, according to Kishor, was after 2016 of ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes by the PM Modi-led government. 

“There was a kind of turbulence in the country. You can call it economic or rural distress. The BJP won the UP assembly elections in 2017 but if you remember there was protest by Patels ahead of . There were protests in Maharashtra too," Kishor said. 

That was not a good time for the BJP and , he said. "In November 2017 Gujarat polls, the Congress, though lost, but performed well. The BJP could somehow manage to win by 15 odd seats. In the coming months, the BJP lost Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh elections. So this was another 15-17 month period from mid 2017 till end of 2018 when the BJP was on the back foot but the opposition missed the chance," Kishor said.

Kishor said the opposition missed another opportunity in June 2021 post second Covid-19 wave when there was a dip in the