In Modi’s regional version, Hindu and Gujarati pride blend with economic prosperity—Bharat Maata is a mere slogan in the beginning. And unlike Advani, Modi has won.

The core of the pan-Indian Hindutva philosophy of the Sangh Parivar is retained—that a united, Hindu upsurge is the necessary and sufficient condition for material progress. Gujarat was touted as “the laboratory of Hindutva.” Many others may have won individual elections, but Narendra Modi showed it as a sustainable philosophy that even withstands anti-incumbency.

“The BJP has been winning Gujarat since 1990 and this is our fifth victory,” Modi said today. But during the campaign, Modi’s reference point was 2002 when he won the election for the first time. “In the last five years has there been a riot? Curfew? Has any terrorist struck Gujarat? Isn’t your business running well? Isn’t your daughter walking on the streets without being harassed?” Modi asked his adulatory audience during the campaign and the point was not easy to miss.

Everyone knew Gujarat’s progress did not start in 2002. But Modi’s voters accepted that things have changed for better since 2002.

Hindutva 2.0 is not driven by trishul-wielding sadhus, but by professionals and the middle class; by farmers who eagerly move on to Bt cotton and are impatient for Narmada waters.

The BJP national leadership or the Sangh Parivar cannot easily concede the fact of an individual reorienting its politics and defying the organization. They are therefore emphasising the party’s role-at least as much as Modi’s. “It is victory of our ideology and we will go ahead with ideology and development issues. Modi was the chief minister there and under his leadership the state government has given development to the state,” Singh said. “He and his government had a clean image and worked for development. Under his leadership, Gujarat has emerged as a model state,” the BJP president said.

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