BRP Bhaskar
When Narendra Modi rode to power on a wave of anger against corruption under the Manmohan Singh government and went on to bring most of the states under his Bharatiya Janata Party, it looked as though the future of the Congress party which had spearheaded the freedom struggle and ruled India for most of the past seven decades was bleak.
Modi had run a vigorous campaign, said to be the largest mass outreach in electoral history. Over a seven-month period, he travelled to 25 of the 28 states (now there are 29 following the bifurcation Andhra Pradesh), logging 300,000 kilometres and addressing more than 5,800 rallies. The BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, deployed about 100,000 cadres at booths in selected states to ensure that its votes are delivered.
Though the BJP secured only 31 per cent of the votes polled, it bagged 282 seats which gave it a simple majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Its partners in the National Democratic Alliance picked up 54 seats, raising the coalition’s tally to 336. The Congress party’s vote was a low 19 per cent and it got just 44 seats, its lowest tally ever.
Modi’s devout followers declared he was in for a long innings. Congressmen were despondent. The lack of a leader who could match Modi’s campaign skills and the poor state of the organisation at the grassroots appeared to inhibit its ability to stage a comeback. Modi’s dream of a Congress-less India appeared to be realisable.
A vibrant social media campaign played a big role in the BJP’s climb to the top. Its cyber force not only boosted Modi’s image as a superman with a 56-inch chest but also ran down Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son and presumptive heir Rahul Gandhi as a dimwit named Pappu. The campaign was so successful that even a regional Congress leader publicly referred to Rahul Gandhi by the nickname.
With Modi’s image rising and Rahul’s tumbling, many presumed the BJP will have a walkover in the parliamentary elections due in 2019. The last few weeks have made them sit up and think. The Congress, waking up from stupor, was seen getting ready to take on the BJP.
It all started with Rahul Gandhi flying out of the country for what appeared to be just another of his periodical foreign jaunts, which draw derisive comments from BJP trolls. A few days later reports came in from Berkeley, USA, of a pleasant interaction between Gandhi and a young audience at the University of California campus there.
Gandhi, who answered a wide range of questions, took Narendra Modi head-on, accusing him of operating a machine with 1,000 guys sitting at computers all day abusing him, saying he is stupid and a reluctant politician.
He responded to a question about dynastic succession in the Congress disarmingly. “Most of the country runs like this, so don’t go after me,” he said and reeled out names of a number of other dynasts – in politics, in business and in cinema.
Gandhi, who is now Vice-President of the party, declared he was ready to take over the presidentship from his mother but this had to be done through organisational elections. For decades the organisation has been run with nominated leaders at various levels. An electoral college to choose the President is expected to be formed in a few days.
Rahul Gandhi said good words about Modi’s Make in India initiative. He also gave him credit for his communication skills. “He knows how to give a message to three or four different groups in a crowd,” he said.
As reports of the Berkeley encounter came in, Smriti Irani who has been assigned to cover Gandhi’s tracks since 2014 when she contested against him and lost, Arun Jaitley and other ministers mounted attacks on him. The BJP’s cyber army also went to work. But he also received words of appreciation from many quarters.
There was a consensus among observers that Gandhi had acquitted himself well and was now ready to lead the Congress charge against the Modi establishment. Some Congressmen viewed the spectacular performance of the party’s student body in the Delhi University Students Union elections, in which the BJP affiliate had the upper hand for decades, to the favourable impression he created on young minds through the Berkeley event.
Last week Rahul Gandhi toured Modi’s home state of Gujarat where the BJP is making a bid for an unprecedented sixth consecutive victory in the Assembly elections. When Modi campaigned in the state subsequently his tone was decidedly defensive and he whipped up parochial feelings.
It will be wrong to see a pro-Congress swing in the changing national mood, which is essentially the result of the growing feeling that Modi has failed to deliver on the promise of 2014. He still has a year and a half to set things right. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, October 24, 2017.
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