Campaign slogans rarely emerge by accident, and “Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai,” meaning “if there’s Modi, it’s possible,” was a deliberately crafted piece of political messaging with a specific origin story. This article explains where it came from and the campaign strategy behind it.
The Slogan’s Origin
“Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” was coined by Piyush Pandey, then Executive Chairman for South Asia and Global Chief Creative Officer at the advertising agency Ogilvy, according to CNBC’s coverage of his role in crafting the slogan, for use in Modi’s 2019 re-election campaign, with the phrase being announced and deployed around April 2019 as the campaign entered its final stretch, according to India TV News’s coverage of BJP’s campaign messaging that election cycle.
Building on the 2014 Formula
The slogan was designed as a direct successor to the 2014 campaign’s signature phrase, “Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar,” meaning “this time, a Modi government,” with Pandey’s own account of the creative rationale, according to CNBC’s reporting, describing a consistent brief across both campaigns: to “lead with the leader” rather than the party’s broader institutional identity, using simple, rhyme-based language specifically designed for mass memorability rather than more conventional policy-heavy campaign messaging.
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Why This Creative Approach Mattered
This consistent leader-centred branding strategy across both major election cycles reflects a broader, deliberate positioning choice in how BJP’s campaigns have been constructed during Modi’s tenure: centring campaign messaging specifically around Modi’s personal leadership and capability, “mumkin hai,” meaning “it’s possible,” directly implying that specific achievements or promises become achievable precisely because of his personal leadership, rather than centring messaging around the BJP as an institution or around specific individual policy promises in isolation, a rhetorical strategy political communication analysts have specifically noted as characteristic of personality-centred campaign branding more broadly.
The Slogan’s Continued Use
Since its original 2019 debut, the “Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” framing has continued appearing across various BJP campaign materials and messaging in subsequent state and national election cycles, functioning less as a slogan tied specifically to the 2019 campaign alone and more as an enduring piece of the party’s broader messaging architecture, reused and adapted for different specific contexts while retaining its core leader-centred, possibility-focused framing.
How This Fits Into Modi’s Broader Personal Branding
This slogan connects directly to the broader pattern covered throughout this category and in our earlier article on how Modi built his image as a development-focused leader, since campaign slogans centred explicitly on his personal name and capability, rather than on the BJP as an institution, reflect a consistent, sustained branding strategy that has run across his entire national political career, from “Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar” in 2014 through “Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” in 2019 and its subsequent continued use, a strategy that has arguably made Modi’s personal political brand more prominent in campaign messaging than the BJP’s own institutional identity across this entire period.
The Broader Advertising Industry Context
Piyush Pandey’s specific involvement in crafting both major slogans also reflects a broader pattern of professional advertising expertise being applied to Indian political campaigns with increasing sophistication during this period, a shift from earlier eras of Indian electoral politics, where campaign messaging was often developed more directly by party functionaries rather than dedicated advertising professionals, toward campaigns constructed with the same creative and strategic rigour typically applied to major commercial brand advertising.
Also read: Modi's Most Viral Quotes and the Context Behind Them
How the Slogan Was Received and Criticised
Not all reception of “Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” was favourable. Opposition commentators and some political analysts criticised the slogan at the time, according to India TV News’s coverage of the campaign period, as an example of excessive personality-centred politics that sidelined the BJP’s own policy record and institutional identity in favour of a single leader’s personal brand, a criticism consistent with broader opposition arguments made throughout the 2019 campaign that BJP’s messaging had become disproportionately centred on Modi individually rather than on collective governance achievements. Supporters countered that leader-centred messaging is a legitimate and common electoral strategy used by parties across the democratic world, not unique to BJP’s approach.
The Slogan’s Successor: “Modi Ki Guarantee”
By the 2024 general election cycle, BJP’s dominant messaging framework had shifted toward a related but distinct formulation, “Modi Ki Guarantee,” meaning “Modi’s guarantee,” a phrase used to brand specific welfare and policy commitments as personally guaranteed by Modi rather than as generic party promises, according to coverage of the 2024 campaign’s messaging architecture. While “Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” emphasised broad possibility and capability, “Modi Ki Guarantee” narrowed the framing toward specific, itemised commitments, illustrating how this leader-centred branding approach has continued evolving in its specific formulation across successive election cycles while retaining its consistent core structure of centring campaign trust directly on Modi’s name.
Bottom Line
“Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” was coined by advertising executive Piyush Pandey of Ogilvy for the 2019 re-election campaign, deliberately designed as a successor to 2014’s “Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar” using the same core creative brief of centring campaign messaging on Modi’s personal leadership rather than the BJP’s institutional identity, a leader-centred branding strategy that has continued appearing across subsequent campaign cycles and reflects the broader, sustained personal-branding approach that has characterised Modi’s national political messaging throughout his tenure.
Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available campaign records and news reports listed below. It is written for general informational purposes and does not represent an official statement from the Bharatiya Janata Party or Ogilvy.
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