India is currently undergoing a significant event called “The Dance of Democracy.” Several state elections are taking place in India, and in 2024, the Lok Sabha elections will be held, making it an essential event. BJP will strive to secure another clear victory under the leadership of Modi-Shah, while INC and other regional parties will be working to end their political drought. However, before entering this political frenzy, allow me to introduce you to an intriguing book titled “How to Win an Indian Election” by Shivam Shankar Singh.
Author: Shivam Shankar Singh is an experienced election consultant who has actively worked in managing election campaigns in North East India and Punjab. He gained valuable insights into the intricacies of Indian elections while working under Ram Madhav and alongside Prashant Kishor. Shivam is known for introducing new techniques of data analysis in politics and political campaigns. He is a regular contributor to news agencies such as The Print, Newslaundry, and Indian Express and also participates in TV debates.
Positives: The author, Shivam, shared his observations about several Indian political parties, particularly the BJP, from his experience as an election campaign manager. In the early chapters of his book, he discussed his prior assumptions about Indian politics before he delved into it. He also mentioned the reasons behind UPA-2’s loss to Modi in 2014. Shivam pointed out all the corruption charges that were leveled against the Indian National Congress (INC) and how it led to a strong perception that INC was a corrupt and anti-Hindu party.
During the Manipur elections, he shared his experiences of working for the BJP. He highlighted the issues that the locals were concerned about and how all the political parties were trying to win their votes by offering them things that they believed people needed. The speaker also discussed the importance of the local factor, and how data analysis played a significant role in shaping the election strategy. Additionally, he shared his experiences of the Punjab elections and how they created an image of Captain Amrinder Singh, who the people could relate to, from Maharaja Amrinder Singh.
Shivam claimed that one of the main reasons behind BJP’s victory in the elections was their effective use of social media and advanced technology. The BJP has always been ahead of other political parties in utilizing new technology. Shivam also pointed out several shortcomings in Indian politics and how political parties rely on the game of perceptions.
Negatives: It seems that the author of the book was a discontented person who was expressing his frustration towards Modi and BJP. After the 2014 elections, the author was anticipating significant roles in BJP, but he and Prashant Kishor were not given any such roles. This led to a change in the author’s mindset against Modi. The tone of the book can be discerned right from the beginning.
He was pretty straightforward in calling BJP supporters anti-Muslims. He said that the people who supported Modi in the last two terms were those people who did not like Muslims, and wanted them out of India. He failed to mention all the actions taken by the BJP for Muslims, and how they did not discriminate Muslims. He did not say that even BJP supporters often criticize Modi for being too pro-Muslim instead of being pro-Hindu.
Shivam appeared to be a supporter of “Alt News Fact Check Agency” and praised their work. However, Shivam failed to acknowledge the fake news and propaganda spread by Alt News and Md. Zubair. Additionally, Shivam did not mention Md. Zubair’s derogatory remarks about Hindu gods and culture in his anti-Hindu post. While he called out BJP for sharing fake news, he neglected to mention other political parties and platforms that engage in the same behavior.
Shivam also voiced his support for Umer Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar and claimed that BJP was wrongly behind them, but forgot to mention that there were several proofs against them online, and it was the court who denied bail to Umer Khalid due to strong evidence against him. Shivam targeted several media outlets that spread fake news and propaganda against anti-BJP parties, but again failed to talk about media outlets who openly give hate speech against BJP.
Shivam expressed his support for AAP and commended their political ideology. However, he failed to acknowledge the numerous corruption allegations against them. He also spoke highly of Ravish Kumar, describing him as an impartial journalist. However, it’s worth noting that Ravish Kumar only criticizes BJP and Modi, and never covers issues related to his home state of Bihar or Bengal.
Conclusion: Before beginning to read this book, I had hoped to find a balanced perspective. However, I was disappointed to discover that the narrative presented in the book was extremely one-sided. The author selectively used news articles and stories to support their point of view, without considering the other side of the story. In my opinion, this book is more of a rant than an intelligent read. It seems to appeal only to readers who have a strong bias for or against the BJP. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is genuinely interested in learning about Indian politics.
Devendra Rajpurohit 