The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

The Rise of Personality Politics in India

Criticism of the government is interpreted as criticism of a beloved leader. Elections risk turning into emotional plebiscites on leaders rather than informed debates on policy.

A man wears a mask of Narendra Modi at an election rally in Gujarat, India, on May 7, 2014.

Indian elections are no longer just battles between political parties. They are becoming contests between larger-than-life personalities — and no leader has reshaped this political culture more profoundly than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Over the past decade, Modi has fundamentally altered the grammar of Indian electioneering. Parliamentary elections, assembly elections, and even municipal contests are increasingly framed around his personality, credibility, and leadership rather than around party organization or ideological debate. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaigns today are rarely fought in the name of local candidates alone; they are fought as referendums on Modi himself.

The recent assembly elections, especially in West Bengal, once again demonstrated this phenomenon. Throughout the campaign, it often appeared that Modi himself was contesting the elections. Posters carried his image more prominently than state leaders. Speeches revolved around “Modi ki guarantee” (Modi’s guarantee). Welfare schemes were projected not as institutional state interventions but as personal assurances from the Prime Minister.

In effect, Modi has presidentialized Indian politics without formally changing the Constitution.

Political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta has argued that the rise of personality-centric politics represents one of the defining transformations of contemporary Indian democracy. According to Mehta, the BJP under Modi has perfected a model where political legitimacy increasingly revolves around a single charismatic leader, turning politics into an emotionally charged civilizational project rather than a conventional ideological contest.

This is not merely a campaign strategy. It reflects a deeper structural shift in Indian democracy itself.

There was a time when Indian politics was driven primarily by ideology and organization. The Congress represented secular nationalism, the Left mobilized around class politics, and the BJP expanded through cadre-based Hindutva. Elections were contests of competing political visions.

Today, that landscape is changing rapidly.

India remains constitutionally parliamentary, but electorally it increasingly resembles a presidential democracy. Voters are no longer simply choosing legislators or parties; they are choosing personalities who symbolize aspiration, nationalism, welfare, governance, or regional identity.

The BJP under Modi has mastered this model more effectively than any political party in contemporary India. Through centralized branding, direct communication, mass rallies, social media dominance, and welfare personalization, Modi has become larger than the party itself. Many voters distinguish between the BJP organization and Modi as an individual political force.

Yet the BJP is not alone in this transformation.

In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has transformed the Trinamool Congress into an extension of her own political identity. “Didi” (sister) is not merely a political slogan but an emotional symbol of Bengali sub-nationalism and welfare politics.

In Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma has personalized governance around administrative authority and strongman leadership. In Delhi and Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal became synonymous with the Aam Aadmi Party itself, presenting governance through the prism of one........

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