The Hindu Business Line : Modi’s winning formula

Hindutva, divisive politics and whipping up communal hatred to reap a rich harvest of Hindu votes was always the sub-text of Mr Narendra Modi’s election strategy. Not only BJP leaders outside Gujarat, but every politician worth his salt would be salivating at the ability for such brilliant theatrics which attracts such a roaring response from the audience, says RASHEEDA BHAGAT.

Mr Narendra Modi’s convincing victory followed a virtually single-handed campaign.

As predicted in this column last week, the Gujarat strongman, Mr Narendra Modi, has proved all exit polls wrong and returned to power by a thumping, even though slightly reduced majority, compared to the 2002 elections.

Well, not always does being proved right brings happiness. At best, it is resignation, and it is indeed resignation with which many Indians — not all of them Muslims or Christians — have digested the news of Mr Modi’s resounding victory in Gujarat. Study the body language of the victor, his unmasked arrogance and lashing out at the media that the Gujarat Chief Minister loves to hate — the BJP General Secretary Mr Arun Jaitley, however, turns the phrase to charge that Mr Modi is the man the media loves to hate — and not a word or gesture that can reassure the petrified Muslims of Gujarat about a more inclusive growth in the development mantra that he constantly sings. The message is loud and clear: I have hit upon the winning formula and anybody who suggests that I tweak it even a wee bit needs his/her head examined.

Invincible Modi

So what makes Mr Modi such a huge public hero who has become so invincible? The BJP’s spin doctors would have us believe that it is nothing more than a combination of development, integrity, nationalism and securing people’s lives against terrorism. Surely this is a heady mantra.

There is no denying that development has taken place in Gujarat and no scandals or charges of corruption have been associated personally with its Chief Minister. You may try to point out that it is the typical Gujarati’s win-win combo of hard work coupled with an almost genetic business savviness that has contributed to his success anywhere in India — from Mumbai’s Dalal Street to the motels/hotels of the UK and the US. This will be dismissed outright at these heady times where credit is being offered at the altar of only one hero.

We’ve heard sermons on how Mr Modi wanted to fight this election only on the plank of development, reaching water to the thirsty farmers of Kutch, electricity to Gujarat’s villages (brilliantly coined as a slogan of “Jyotigram vs Nandigram”, to effectively attack the BJP’s political rival in the Left parties). But it was the Congress (I) President, Ms Sonia Gandhi’s use of the phrase maut ke saudagar that “compelled” Mr Modi to bring in the Sohrabuddin issue, etc.

And the performance he managed to put forth on the Sohrabuddin/saudagar front has been played out innumerably by various TV channels to people all over the country. Not only BJP leaders outside Gujarat, but every politician worth his salt, would be salivating at the ability for such brilliant theatrics which attract such a roaring response from the audience.

But only hardcore Modi fans and votaries of “willing suspension of disbelief” would buy the argument that Mr Modi had originally intended to combat this election only on the plank of development. Dissect his election speeches prior to the maut ke saudagar speech and you’ll find them laced with the deadly combination of Hindutva and hatred. When he thundered how he would get the Gujarat streets cleared of aaliya, maaliya and kamaliya, the innocent reference might have been to the goondas or the riff-raff, but it would be sacrilege to associate innocence with Mr Modi.

One can concede adjectives such as dynamic, hardworking, savvy, shrewd, non-corrupt to describe the man. He might be a ‘straight-talking’ man while reading out the riot act to party rebels and those who challenge him, but his election speeches, and particularly this expression, were no straight talk, and had a clear underlying meaning.

Even when the talk was of securing Gujarat against terrorist attacks, the sub-text was always against Muslims being terrorists, and in a highly communally polarised region such as Gujarat, the rhetoric was lapped up and did indeed translate into votes, as the results clearly show. So Hindutva, divisive politics and whipping up communal hatred to reap a rich harvest of Hindu votes was always the sub-text of Mr Modi’s election strategy and was clearly reflected in his elections speeches.

Congress state of denial

The state of perpetual denial in which the Congress(I) lives, particularly when it comes to the Nehru-Gandhi family, has surfaced once again. First of all, it had neither credibility nor a record of having worked at the grassroots with the poor and the deprived, or in the riot-torn Gujarat of 2002, or later to bring succour to its victims or even demand justice for them. Add to this, a total absence of a single charismatic Gujarati leader who could take on Mr Modi. For two long years, there was no PCC chief in Gujarat. And this despite the party having done so well in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

You can’t write off a State at the grassroots level for long and expect its people to reward you when you return like an absentee landlord. So all hopes were piled on the magic that Ms Gandhi was expected to wield, never mind there was absolutely nothing at the ground level that she could build upon in terms of the Congress credibility or record. In the Congress’s futile dream of victory in Gujarat, if she fell short by a small margin, it could be made up by Rahul Gandhi. The dismal impact of his campaigning on Congress fortunes in Uttar Pradesh has been rarely mentioned within the party and hence was conveniently forgotten.

It is almost comic to watch the blame game within the party. The most ludicrous statement has come from the Chairman of the Congress Media Committee, Mr Veerappa Moily. He has dubbed Mr Modi’s victory ‘an accident’ and rued how despite Sonia Gandhi’s “well attended rallies” and Rahul Gandhi’s “impressive road shows” the party had failed to convert these into votes!

Chalo Dilli

Mr Modi’s convincing victory following a virtually single-handed campaign will, of course, give sleepless nights to senior BJP leaders. The BJP chief, Mr Rajnath Singh, was heckled by the media on Sunday morning after the results had just come in.

Would Mr Modi now be a prime ministerial candidate; wasn’t it Mr Modi and not the BJP which had won Gujarat, etc. The outraged man had to say angrily that there was no one that was bigger than the party.

One sms circulating after the results is significant. It said: “Aaj Gujarat. Kal Dilli. One country, one people, one leader.” Along with the minorities who have been clearly excluded from this “one people” vision, BJP leaders at the national level are also warned in such messages.

The BJP’s officially anointed leader for the PM’s post in case the NDA returns to power in the next Lok Sabha polls, Mr L. K.Advani, has defined the Gujarat mandate as a “turning point” in national politics. On December 28, when the Himachal verdict is declared and goes in favour of the BJP as expected, the party will get further enthused. Already, Mr Modi is being booked as the star campaigner for States such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh that will go to the polls next year.

No prizes for guessing that for the BJP it would be back with a vengeance to the hard Hindutva plank, Ayodhya and rath politics not only in these State Assembly elections but also for the next General Elections.

If the BJP is scenting power in Delhi, and indeed gets it, it will have the UPA’s listless performance, the Left’s politics of blackmail and the continuing distress in the rural and agri sectors to thank for its turning fortune, rather than Mr Modi’s politics of hate.

In conclusion, a word about the surprisingly tame and lip-locked mediapersons at the first triumphant media appearance Mr Modi made on Sunday afternoon.

Continuing to mock the journalists assembled there, he first gave a victory pose, then thanked the 5.5-crore Gujaratis for his victory. When he was asked an insipid question about whether he would accept Keshubhai’s congrats, he demurred and said he was accepting everybody’s good wishes. “Even the Prime Minister called me a while ago and congratulated me. If you people want to congratulate me, I’ll accept your wishes too. But if you continue to be pained by my victory, I have no medicine to cure your pain.”

Not a single additional question was asked. How come we don’t show such timidity and reverence while facing Lalu Yadav or Mayawati or Kamal Nath?

After the brief conference, the victor marched out with his entourage. Did somebody ask about humility in victory? Well, we might have to wait for the 2012 elections. That is, if Modi is not already in Delhi at that point!

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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