Modi, Rahul Gandhi and the ‘charisma’ question in the 2019 Lok Sabha election

A recurring theme of commentary during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign was charisma: whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal appeal would carry the BJP to a second term, and whether Congress president Rahul Gandhi, or his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who formally entered politics that year, could match it.

The argument

One widely read column at the time, by a former editor and Congress member of the Rajya Sabha, argued that charisma is real but neither sufficient nor permanent, and that elections are decided by everyday issues: prices, jobs, caste and community arithmetic, corruption and crime. Its examples came from Indian and world history:

• Indira Gandhi was mocked as a goongi gudiya (“dumb doll”) when she became Prime Minister in 1966, yet within five years, after her break with the party’s old guard and her 1971 “Garibi Hatao” landslide, she was seen as the most commanding leader in the country.
• Winston Churchill led Britain to victory in the Second World War and then lost the 1945 general election.
• In India, figures such as V. P. Singh enjoyed a burst of popularity that faded quickly, which the column took as evidence that office alone does not confer lasting appeal.

The same campaign saw the Election Commission stop the release of a biopic, PM Narendra Modi, until voting was over; it reached cinemas on 24 May 2019, the day after the count.

What the result showed

The BJP did not lose ground, as some commentators had expected. It won 303 seats, up from 282 in 2014, and its campaign was centred on Narendra Modi more than on any local candidate. The Congress won 52. Whether that was charisma, organisation, welfare delivery or national-security messaging after the Pulwama attack and the Balakot strike remained the subject of the same argument, simply with a result to argue over.

See also: Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency and the current Lok Sabha.

Originally published on 15 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026, with the background and what happened next added.

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