Opinion Vandita Mishra writes: Rewind to PM Modi in Bhopal

To begin with, Modi’s address was notable for its audience — the PM was speaking to booth workers. Not all of what is said and written about the BJP’s much-touted organisational prowess is true — in fact, myth-making about its machine often leads to an under-estimation of its politics.

But it would not be wrong to say that just as Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP has popularised a new style of making promises to the voter, the “guarantee card”, the Modi-Shah BJP has turned the spotlight on the sangathan’s last-mile management — the booth and the booth worker.

Of course, Modi’s interaction was deceptive in its appearance of spontaneous and direct engagement — the questions the workers asked, and the answers he gave, were clearly playing to a script tailored to maximise the PM’s grandstanding opportunity.

And yet, at a time when Opposition leaders are seen in hectic parleys and photo-ops with other Opposition leaders, the Bhopal speech could serve as a reminder of the need and necessity for more conversations, including those within.

After a long period of listlessness and inertia and backroom-only politics, the Congress had made a start, of sorts, with the Bharat Jodo Yatra. But it is still unclear to what extent the yatra was a moveable feast of the leader’s selfies, as opposed to being a journey to the people that takes along the party-worker.

Modi had several messages for the BJP’s booth workers.

His speech was peppered with exhortations to claim larger ideas and spaces — the booth worker, Modi said, must know that he is contributing to nation-building. “Kamal hi hamara ummeedwar hai”, the lotus is both symbol and candidate, but what makes the party different is its “alag sanskar” and “bade sankalp”, different culture and larger resolve. For the BJP, he said, it is “dal se pehle desh”, nation before party.

So far, even as the Opposition struggles to find a counter to the BJP’s Hindutva consolidation, it has lagged behind in acknowledging just how deftly Modi’s party has positioned itself to take ownership of larger ideas and national wholes while labelling its opponents as narrow and self-serving. “Kuch log apne hi dal ke liye jeete hain”, Modi said in Bhopal — there are those who only serve the interests of the party.

He spoke of how the BJP’s boothworker also serves as a samajik karyakarta, or social worker, by do-gooding in the village, while promoting and fulfilling the BJP government’s various schemes.

He spoke more about 2047, when the country completes 100 years of Independence, than about 2024, the year of the next Lok Sabha election. The attempt was to paint a larger canvas, constantly.

On the other side, said Modi, Opposition unity is no more than “jugalbandi” or a political duet by those who can see “jail ki salaakhein (the spectre of imprisonment)”. It is born of “unki chatpatahat”, “unki majboori” — a desperate and self-serving joining of hands by dynasts and the corrupt.

Modi spoke of the BJP government’s creation of a new class of citizenship, “labharthion ka varg (those who have benefited from government schemes)”. He spoke of Muslims, too, as beneficiaries. And of backward or Pasmanda Muslims and Muslim women, as victims of inequality within their own community. Because of measures like triple talaq, he said, “Muslim behenen aur betiyan” stand with the BJP.

The BJP, he said, reaches out to those left out of the “vote bank politics” of “samajik nyay” or social justice. For Modi, the BJP’s politics of “santushtikaran” is opposed to the Opposition parties’ politics of “tushtikaran” — fulfilment of all vs the appeasement of some.

Among the takeaways for the Opposition from Modi’s speech: A strategy of mounting a joint challenge, as the sum of its separate parts, could prove to be inadequate. To counter the BJP’s appropriation of “desh” and more generally its occupation of the big idea space, what is needed is other big ideas, not the arithmetic addition of political platforms and things.

In times of BJP dominance, the Opposition must also prove that it is acting for reasons larger than caste, community, party, family. And corruption. The onus of proving its innocence is still on it.

This is notwithstanding the all-too-frequent reality checks from the ground. The BJP’s attempt to mount the high ground on corruption, for instance, is shown up by the “tainted” cross-overs into its fold, such as the latest one in Maharashtra — NCP’s Ajit Pawar, till recently targeted by the BJP for corruption, has just joined the party.

The BJP, the Opposition must also know, is not going to observe the lines it has itself drawn — it will not stay on its side of the fence. It will make attempts to wean away sections of the Muslim vote by addressing the cleavages and faultlines within.

The Opposition must also find the political resources to counter the BJP’s powerful labharthi mobilisation which attempts to reap electoral benefit not just from what it has delivered, but also from the expertly packaged promise of delivery.

“You must go to the people to ensure 100 per cent saturation of schemes. If someone has got a house under the PM’s Awas Yojana, can they now get a Mudra loan? Ask them if they have got the Ayushman Bharat card. And if not, tell them that it is on its way, it has reached others in the neighbouring village”, said the PM to the boothworkers.

The scale of the Opposition’s formidable challenge was mapped out in Bhopal.

Till next week,

Vandita

Must Read Opinions From the Week:

– Editorial, “Fraying the fabric”, July 1

– Tahir Mahmood, “Justice, not uniformity”, July 1

– Pratap Bhanu Mehta, “The UCC moment”, June 30

– Ashutosh Varshney, “In a sweet spot”, June 27

– Madan B Lokur, “Out of line”, June 28