You know who

The name on everybodys lips may be Modi but they seem curiously bashful about uttering it. Nitish,for one,has long perfected the art of referring to Modi by describing who he is not a leader like Vajpayee who could carry everyone along,someone with high secular credentials,someone who would wear a skull cap for communal peace. The Congress shares this coyness. Campaigning in Gujarat before the 2012 assembly polls,the PM spoke abstractly of liberating the state from divisive politics,while Sonia Gandhi wondered aloud how Central funds sent to Gujarat were spent. Even senior BJP leader L.K. Advani,during his recent shortlived revolt after the Goa meet,spoke of lost ideals and the new direction that the party had taken,rather than a pesky former protégé.

By casting him as he-who-must-not-be-named,Modis opponents have lent him a dark fascination. Invoked,never named,the image of the leader has acquired mythic proportions. In peoples imaginations,he makes a picturesque advance towards Delhi,complete with chappan inch ki chhati and a fearsome hoonkar. His opponents would be much better off naming him. Modi the mortal is easier to fight than Modi the Goliath-like spectre.