Modi vs BJP

So why has Modi blotted his own copybook at a time when, thanks to his efficient, no-nonsense administration, his generally forward-looking policies and the backing of big business, he had succeeded to some degree in making people forget the stain of 2002? Justifying Sohrabuddin’s death in an encounter and playing to the gallery by twisting Digvijay Singh’s remark to claim that the Congress branded all Hindus as terrorists is vintage Modi demagoguery. Even the Election Commission has taken note of his inflammatory remarks and sent him a notice. Modi’s controversial speeches were meant to assuage the disgruntled members of the Sangh Parivar who have turned against him. A recent pamphlet to leading journalists in Gujarat had pilloried Modi for his anti-Hindu policies, citing detentions and arrests of thousands of Hindus, including VHP workers, for their role in the 2002 riots. He has also been criticised for not supporting the police officers jailed for Sohrabuddin’s killing.

The Congress, which even in 2002 decided to adopt a soft Hindutva line in a communally very divided state, calculated that flogging the chief minister’s sorry communal record was not going to pay electoral dividends this time either. The fact that many accused of complicity in the riots are today with the Congress has, in any case, blurred black and white distinctions between the killers and protectors. The party preferred to focus on exposing Modi’s claims on the development front.

Campaigning on the platform of development is a tricky business, as was demonstrated in 2004 when Vajpayee’s much touted ‘Shining India’ campaign came a cropper. Modi may have made major improvements on the electricity and water supply front, but it is always difficult to satisfy the rising aspirations of voters. Modi is a shrewd strategist, having handled several poll campaigns for his party when he was BJP’s general secretary, including masterminding his rival Keshubhai Patel’s victory. He knows that the traditional anti-incumbency mood will work against him and to counter this has denied tickets to a sizeable number of sitting MLAs. He personally oversees even minor details of the campaign and even writes his own speeches.

All along the campaign, Modi has also been subtly nudging the debate away from his achievements or failures on the development front to himself. In a throwback to Indira Gandhi’s successful campaign to counter the ‘Indira Hatao’ slogan of her rivals, the Gujarat chief minister repeatedly emphasises that the issue in this election is Modi, nothing else. The fight against terror is made synonymous with Modi. He stresses his macho image by pointing to his 56-inch chest. Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders may avoid mentioning his name in their speeches, but Modi’s larger-than-life image continues to dominate the campaign. The Congress, in contrast, tries to direct the contest along party lines and not personalities, in the hope that Modi’s individual popularity may not necessarily translate into votes for his party candidates.

The fact is that the BJP plays a poor second fiddle to Modi. The Gujarat CM is not really bothered whether or not the normal caravan of senior party leaders, cricketers and film stars from Delhi and Mumbai put in an appearance. He knows that it is his oratory and rabble-rousing talents which really draw the crowds. Even L.K. Advani can only hope for second billing. In fact, the contrast between the poor numbers at Advani’s rallies and the cheering mobs at Modi’ s, is striking.

There is an impression in Gujarat that the principal opposition to the chief minister comes, not from his main political rival — the Congress — but from the media. A journalist on an election tour in a village in south Gujarat asked a farmer singing Modi’s praises whom he should speak to get the other point of view. “For that you must go to any TVwallah,” the farmer responded matter-of-factly. In the media the issue remains the mob barbarism against Muslims in 2002, which was carried out with the active support of government machinery and for which there has been no repentance.

While the Congress has been downplaying the communal angle, Modi has himself decided to revert to his earlier avatar, spewing vitriol (Tracking Modi-speak) and heckling the minorities in the last lap of the campaign. But while his latest tirade may or may not win him short-term electoral gains, it has ensured that he is back to being an untouchable in the national mainstream. Which is doing no favour to his party.

coomi_kapoor@yahoo.co.in