UP election results: Decoding Amit Shah, the tremor behind, the 'Modi tsunami'

The Bhartiya Janata Party went hammer and tongs to return to power in UP after 15 years. And they have done it. BJP in its history has not seen a victory like this, and according to analysts, the party has nearly doubled its vote share in Uttar Pradesh.

In Uttar Pradesh, BJP completely decimated its rival parties -- the SP, the BSP and the Congress. While many were quick to confer the victory to Prime Minister Modi (as is the protocol), the man of the hour certainly is Amit Shah, who with a certain sense of pragmatism not only unified the Hindu vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, but also ensured that the Dalits joined the wagon as well.

He understood that the Muslim, Yadav and the OBC vote were bound to incline towards the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party. Hence he need to have a parallel strategy at play - thus came the formidable alliance wherein he went on to bring in the upper class, non-Muslim, non-Yadav and non-Jatav votes. 

Wherever it was needed, Shah ensured that BJP even imported candidates from other parties. BJP gave almost 100 seats to these imported candidates as it knew that they were more likely to win the seats.

Shah went for the jugular when he put even Modi to work. The Modi campaigns were extensive in Varanasi, and some may have feared that the over exposure might negatively affect his popularity but this time it worked. However, at the same time, he put a dozen top leadership to campaign along with the local leaders.

From the start, his formula was simple - it was to win at any cost. Even BJP's election manifesto had this same recipe. 

It was a potent mix of Hindutva and development. Besides, developmental schemes including an AIIMS in the underdeveloped Gorakhpur, Shah in January while announcing the manifesto even revived the call for the building of Ram Mandir. 

He kept this announcement for the last and ended his speech then by promising to work towards the construction of Ram Temple but he was quick to add - "under the provisions of the Constitution."

BJP has won and so has Amit Shah, who now has cemented his position as the real - kingmaker. The tremor that brought the tsunami.

• UP election results
• Narendra Modi
• Amit Shah
• Tsunami
• Uttar Pradesh elections
• UP