Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Varanasi as part of BJP’s campaign for the 7th phase in Uttar Pradesh. The Prime Minister was scheduled to address a rally at Jaunpur at 2.45 pm and was also supposed to visit several temples before that. The striking point of his visit was the huge reception that he got. Modi was welcomed in his home constituency with slogans ‘Har har Modi, Ghar ghar Modi’. The town was covered in flowers, people were on roads and for anyone watching it on TV, it wasn’t less than a festive celebration.

PM Narendra Modi acknowledging the crowd:

For some people, this may not be something very special as Modi is the Prime Minister of India, the most important political figure who has emerged as a strong international figure too. However, his unprecedented popularity in Uttar Pradesh may mark the beginning of a new era in a state that has been dominated by Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party for more than two decades now.

Interestingly, two of his biggest challengers in the state, Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi also had their joint road show scheduled in on the same day but no such excitement and hype were reported for it. The current Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who was meanwhile in Jaunpur, addressing a huge rally, demanded a list of 10 works that Modi has done for UP since he became the prime minister but neither did he get any media attention nor was able to create the same aura as PM Modi.

There are more signs that signal towards a heavy defeat for Congress and SP despite the two parties joining hands to fight off Modi’s wave. For example, during the 6th phase polling in the state, Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav recorded the lowest turnout of 21 percent. Even though the SP patriarch did not campaign in this constituency, these numbers are a huge blow to Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party.

Supporters came out in PM Modi’s support:

Fighting separately in 2012, Congress and SP had together polled more votes than the BJP in all the three seats, with the Congress finishing as the runner-up in two of these: Varanasi South and Varanasi Cantt. As the things stand right now, looks like none of the tricks by other political parties will be enough to stop Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janta Party in UP this time. However, only time will tell if the picture is actually so beautiful or not.