Road to 2024: BJP bullish on Modi govt 3.0, rhetoric shows that with reforms, Hindutva to remain on agenda

The 17th Lok Sabha came to a close last Saturday with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) exuding confidence about pulling off a hat-trick in the upcoming general elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that his party would clinch the Lok Sabha polls with an enhanced majority.

PM Modi also told the House, “Our third term will witness very big decisions, and will lay a strong foundation for the next 1,000 years.” His statement foreshadows the bold agenda the “Modi government 3.0” is likely to take up during its tenure.

The 17th Lok Sabha had been no less eventful as it saw some major ideological projects of the BJP reaching conclusion. This started with the abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir – which the BJP planned and executed meticulously – criminalisation of triple talaq and the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 itself, the first year of the Modi government 2.0.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic that broke out in early 2020 slowed down some of its proposed projects, the BJP government stepped up its legislative reform moves in its final year. It passed the constitutional amendment legislation to grant 33% reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies besides passing three Bills aimed at revamping the country’s criminal justice system — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill – which replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Indian Evidence Act, respectively. The party mixed these legislative measures with political messages.

The BJP faced electoral or political setbacks in Maharashtra, Bihar – in both these states it regained upper hand after ensuring a