India, April 2 -- Before the 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had then been in the opposition for 10 years, began to explore ways of changing the party's response to political developments and governance issues. Backed by its ideological beacon, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a section of BJP leaders pushed for setting the narrative and coercing the opposition to respond.

In the past decade, this policy of setting the narrative and pursuing it aggressively has helped the party emerge as a hegemon in the politically crucial 'Hindi belt' and helped force its way into the political discourse in regions where it has tasted little or no electoral success, for instance Southern India.

Except Karnataka, where i...