Newly tested in his Gujarat lab: Hindutva 2.0

8226; A banner outside the BJP office in Delhi screamed, 8220;Jo Hindu hit ki baat karega, wohi desh par raj karega.8221; On the freshly printed banner, Narendra Modi gleamed life-size and the party president, Rajnath Singh, was stamp-size. The original poster boy of Hindutva, L K Advani did not find a place at all.

The signals after the results left little room for ambiguity. So while Rajnath Singh told Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who called at 12.20 pm that 8220;You8217;ve done it,8221; and L K Advani heaped praises on 8220;Gujarat8217;s dynamic and highly popular8221; leader, the BJP leadership was trying not to over-emphasise Modi8217;s role in the Gujarat victory. Spokesmen in Ahmedabad and Delhi spoke about a 8220;team effort8221; with Modi as the man of the match.

8220;Nobody is bigger than the party,8221; said Singh. 8220;Modi will remain chief minister of Gujarat and Advaniji will lead the party in the Lok Sabha elections,8221; said Arun Jaitley, BJP general secretary in-charge of the elections.

But Sunday8217;s win announced loudly that Narendra Modi has arrived on the national scene. So has Hindutva 2.0. Advani8217;s original Rath Yatra started from Gujarat and spread the message of Hindu pride and cultural nationalism. Advani tried to link suraj 8212; good governance 8212; to Hindutva in 2004, but failed.

In Modi8217;s regional version, Hindu and Gujarati pride blend with economic prosperity8212;Bharat Maata is a mere slogan in the beginning. And unlike Advani, Modi has won.

The core of the pan-Indian Hindutva philosophy of the Sangh Parivar is retained8212;that a united, Hindu upsurge is the necessary and sufficient condition for material progress. Gujarat was touted as 8220;the laboratory of Hindutva.8221; Many others may have won individual elections, but Narendra Modi showed it as a sustainable philosophy that even withstands anti-incumbency.

8220;The BJP has been winning Gujarat since 1990 and this is our fifth victory,8221; Modi said today. But during the campaign, Modi8217;s reference point was 2002 when he won the election for the first time. 8220;In the last five years has there been a riot? Curfew? Has any terrorist struck Gujarat? Isn8217;t your business running well? Isn8217;t your daughter walking on the streets without being harassed?8221; Modi asked his adulatory audience during the campaign and the point was not easy to miss.

Everyone knew Gujarat8217;s progress did not start in 2002. But Modi8217;s voters accepted that things have changed for better since 2002.

Hindutva 2.0 is not driven by trishul-wielding sadhus, but by professionals and the middle class; by farmers who eagerly move on to Bt cotton and are impatient for Narmada waters.

The BJP national leadership or the Sangh Parivar cannot easily concede the fact of an individual reorienting its politics and defying the organization. They are therefore emphasising the party8217;s role-at least as much as Modi8217;s. 8220;It is victory of our ideology and we will go ahead with ideology and development issues. Modi was the chief minister there and under his leadership the state government has given development to the state,8221; Singh said. 8220;He and his government had a clean image and worked for development. Under his leadership, Gujarat has emerged as a model state,8221; the BJP president said.

8220;My party has conclusively shown that the people of Gujarat have voted for good governance, development and a leadership that delivers,8221; said BJP prime ministerial candidate L K Advani.

There is no other leader in the BJP who can single-handedly win a state, and other leaders naturally feel insecure. Rajnath Singh had insured himself, by actively facilitating the declaration of L K Advani as the prime ministerial candidate. Modi and Arun Jaitely are trying to ward off any conflict. Modi thanked the 8220;guidance of the national leadership,8217; and congratulated Rajanth Singh for the victory. Jaitley said 8220;Modi is a disciplined BJP worker and will remain in Gujarat.8221;

It is difficult for the BJP to replicate the Gujarat experiment in other states given the vast difference between the 8220;laboratory8221; and the real world. But every BJP leader will now secretly aspire to do a Modi in his or her respective states. However, in the days to come, Narendra Modi will have more true enemies and more false friends in the Parivar.