(Captain GR Gopinath founded Air Deccan and is considered a pioneer in the low-cost airline sector. He joined Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in January this year.)
Narendra Modi's barn-storming pit-stop in Amethi, scheduled just as campaigning ended in the second round of the elections in UP, was designed to deliver a knock-out punch to the Congress.
It was a brilliant strategy to capture the attention of the rest of the country and in particular that of the other parts of Uttar Pradesh which have yet to vote, including Varanasi, from where Mr Modi is running for parliament.
The timing, the frenzy of the massive crowds, the sea of saffron, the Modi chant, all added to the sound and fury and achieved the desired effect that most say his master strategist Amit Shah had planned and hoped for - a resounding message to the rest of the country that the "Modi Juggernaut " is unstoppable on its road to Delhi
For decades, Amethi has not wavered in its loyalty to the Gandhis, so it would be a huge upset if
Rahul Gandhi is not re-elected for a third term as its MP.
But Modi's visit to Amethi was symbolic. He took on Rahul in his citadel and broke the cosy unwritten code among political parties of not transgressing on the turf of top leaders. It reinforced his image as a bold and decisive leader, especially in comparison to Rahul, who is fronting the Congress campaign and has been unable to shake off the tag of a diffident leader without sharp political instincts.
That impression has only been underscored by his sister,
Priyanka Gandhi, who has been grabbing the headlines with a series of 'Modi attacks'.
The Priyanka-Rahul campaign has emphasised that they come from a family of martyrs. Other than that, they focused largely on trying to warn voters that Mr Modi is a dangerous leader who will try to divide the country on communal lines.
Mr Modi,
in his Amethi speech, was focused on demolishing the credentials of the Gandhis. He blamed them for neither caring for nor developing the area, and said their politics has been permeated with their arrogance and feathering their own nest.
He said he has not come to take revenge but to bring about a change. He appealed to voters to choose
Smriti Irani, the BJP's candidate, and said if they do, in 60 months, a different Amethi will be mapped. He ended his speech invoking the crowd to chant repeatedly ' Development is our Mantra'. (
Watch: Narendra Modi's speech at Amethi rally)
Modi achieved his objective of giving a full-blooded impetus to the last stages of the BJP campaign. Mission Amethi accomplished in typical Modi aplomb .
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