Which strategy will win, tearing or blowing?

General elections in India must be held by May of next year and Prime Minister Modi has been tearing into Congress. He tore into Congress during the recent no confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. In February he tore into Congress, holding it responsible for the non-performing assets in banks and also for promoting the interests of one family (Nehru-Gandhi family) over the interests of the nation. He tore into Congress in Karnataka in May, accusing it of blocking every avenue of development. "When the Lokyukta in the state is not safe, how can one expect the common people to be safe under the Congress government," he asked. Indeed. But, he forgot to mention that his government has not appointed a Lokpal in 4 years. In a display of shameless time wasting the Attorney General asked the Supreme Court to make it clear what details it wants so that he can file another affidavit. There was more tearing, this time in UP, when he promised to take on, "Those with vested political interests shed crocodile tears regarding welfare of Dalits, backwards and the poor while we are taking measures for their welfare." Not able to stitch up so much tearing Rahul Gandhi has been blowing a bugle for the coming polls. His call to arms forced Modi to sit. "However, when our workers stood up, Modiji was forced to sit in a sea-plane." He practiced blowing his bugle in March when he told a rally that jumla has resulted in the poor living in a 'Modi maya' of crony capitalism. Very profound. Is incumbency going to be an advantage in 2019 or a handicap for Modi? "In the 2014 election, the BJP captured 282 seats out of 428 seats it contested nationally (66%)," wrote M Vaishnav and M Lillehaugen. It won 216 seats out of a total of 273 (nearly 80%) in 8 states, "with just 31% (of votes), it earned 52% of parliamentary seats". "As many as 44% in May 2017 named Modi their preferred prime ministerial choice. One year later, that percentage had declined to 34% -- marginally lower than were it stood in 2014, at 36%." "In May 2017, 45% of respondents intended to vote for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while just 26% sided with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)" but one year later "the NDA's share dropped to 37% while the UPA's share grew to 37%". "History suggests that incumbency tends to hurt ruling party politicians in India more than it helps," but Modi is an indefatigable campaigner, and the choice of candidates and caste will have a big influence. Also, the BJP has more than 4 times as much money as the Congress which will help to buy votes. It is between politicians and the vote bank, we the educated middle class do not matter. Still, it is amusing to watch.