Opinion A package deal

Yes,we the middle class ,with aspiration and attitude,do have the vote,and we know exactly how to use it this time. Vote for the Congress party: you think we are mad? Vote for the Third Front: you must be joking! We were silent but now our votes will speak.

But… Oh no,NaMo! Look at how you have blown it all,rendered so many of us,your silent and not-so-silent admirers,red-faced and speechless! How could you botch such a transparently pre-scripted interview,no follow-up questions asked or allowed?

How could you liken the accidental death of a “kutte ka bachcha” with what human rights organisations nationally and globally believe to have been a state-complicit,if not state-sponsored,“massacre of Muslims” under your watch? Now,only days after the Reuters interview,you speak of secularism and burqa in the same breath at a public rally. Is this inclusive politics? Why this harakiri,such reckless drilling of holes in your own dream-boat and ours?

Hey,wait a minute. How could an accomplished communicator like Narendra Modi commit blunder after blunder? Could it be that it’s not him,but we the middle class that needs to rethink? Could it be that both his puppy analogy and the burqa reference are carefully calibrated,fully premeditated? As one writer gleefully argued in a recent column in these pages,communal polarisation will help the BJP and its prime ministerial aspirant-in-chief. Could that be the clue to how Modi’s googly must be read?

Listen,Mr and Ms Middle Class: Modi is smarter than you think. He is of course counting on your being his bonded voter now,but the “Hindu nationalist” is well aware of where his “core constituency” lies. You might like him because you believe he has delivered since 2002 — development,decisive leadership,good governance. His core constituency worships him for turning Gujarat into the first successful “laboratory of Hindutva” in 2002 and obstructing the judicial process to shield the perpetrators of the carnage and police officers guilty of gross dereliction of duty. You are now the new bird in his hands,but don’t expect him to let go of his bird-catchers,who will hopefully bring entire flocks to the booths.

So expect him to don the “inclusive politics” mask every now and then. But also know that the occasional sweet sounds are not to entice Muslims,but you: to put your conscience to sleep,help you forget,“move on”. Modi cannot but recall that neither the taleem (education),tanzeem (organisation),tijarat (employment) and “riot-free India” carrot dangled by the BJP’s then top gun,L.K. Advani,in 1995,nor the emotionally charged “Muslims are the flesh of our flesh,the blood of our blood” proclamation of then party president Bangaru Laxman in 2000,was any help in melting Muslim hearts. He also knows that actions speak louder than words.

If Modi remembers all this,how can Muslims forget? If he did “absolutely the right thing in 2002”,why did so many top ministers in the NDA government — Jaswant Singh,Pramod Mahajan,Arun Shourie,among others — concur with the then prime minister,Atal Bihari Vajpayee,that Modi must be sacked,but were outmanoeuvred by the hawks in the Sangh Parivar?

Modi misled Reuters by resorting to a half-truth,claiming that the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has given him a “clean chit”. He deliberately kept mum on the conclusion of the amicus curiae appointed by the same court,Raju Ramachandran,that there was enough in the SIT’s findings to prosecute Modi.

What does one make of his curious remark in the same interview: “Up till now,we feel that we… (did)… the right thing”. Up till now? Might “feel” differently tomorrow? Through his puppy analogy,Modi obliquely suggests that in any case,he was not in the driver’s seat in 2002. So who was? Only his former cabinet colleague Maya Kodnani and the notorious Bajrang Dal leader,Babu Bajrangi,both of whom are serving life sentences for their role in the Naroda Patiya massacre? Or was there a much larger conspiracy,as is right now being argued by the lawyers of Zakia Jafri in a magistrate’s court in Ahmedabad?

The Indian middle class yearns for a right-of-centre party with an unabashed neocon economic agenda. Modi has the right credentials. But if you love him,you must love his parivar too. He may choose not to grace a Dharam Sansad at Haridwar or personally visit Ayodhya. But make no mistake,he will continue to speak with a forked tongue,will send his lieutenant-in-chief,the chargesheeted Amit Shah,to Ayodhya to rekindle the Ram Mandir fire. Modi can only offer you a package deal: take it or leave it.

The writer is co-editor,‘Communalism Combat’,

and general secretary,Muslims for Secular Democracy