The Bharatiya Janata Party is due to seek a fresh mandate this year. When Narendra Modi led it to power with a stunning victory in May 2014, it looked as though he was there for a long haul.
He campaigned hard and brought the BJP to power in State after State and it displaced the Congress as the country’s premier political party. In the process, he acquired an air of invincibility.
Modi’s pet theme was the alleged lack of progress under the Congress which had been in power for most of the seven decades of freedom. His favourite target was the Nehru-Gandhi family, whose members had served as Prime Minister for 47 years, especially Jawaharlal Nehru, who had held the Hindutva forces at bay during the 17 years he was at the helm.
It was the sprawling Hindi region and adjoining Gujarat and Maharashtra that had hoisted the BJP to power at the Centre. The party’s loss of power in three States of the region in the recent Assembly elections shows that the popular mood there is not the same any more. It also showed that the Congress was on the rebound in the region and that Rahul Gandhi can give Modi a run for his money.
The election results encouraged the Opposition to accelerate the efforts to face the BJP unitedly. MK Stalin, leader of Tamil Nadu’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagm, declared Rahul Gandhi the Opposition’s prime ministerial candidate. Stalin made the announcement presumably to stymie the prospects of regional leaders with prime ministerial ambitions. His statement upset many, but no one seriously questioned it.
There were rumblings against Modi from leaders like former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha who had dropped out of the BJP after he seized control of the party. Some who are well regarded in the party like Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also made critical remarks.
Just as leadership claims credit for successes it must own up responsibility for failures, Gadkari said in an allusion to the recent electoral reverses. Some small parties which were the BJP’s partners in the National Democratic Alliance pulled out.
While the Opposition has reason to be happy over the turn of events, it is too early to write off Modi. He may not have risen up to people’s expectations but he is not a spent force.
As the Chief Minister who had presided over the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, Narendra Modi’s name was in the mud when the BJP, at the instance of its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, named him its prime ministerial candidate. He overcame the disability, projecting himself as a votary of development.
Some observers suspect that Nitin Gadkari may be voicing the RSS’s disappointment with Modi’s performance. But there is nothing to indicate that it is ready to dump him and pick someone else.
Early in his prime ministerial days, Modi had conveyed the impression that he was capable of making India a major economic power. However, lack of due diligence in the implementation of key measures, like demonetisation of high-value notes and introduction of goods and services tax, resulted in deceleration of economic growth. Although there is scepticism over official figures, the economy does appear to be back on track. However, it has failed to generate jobs in sufficient numbers.
Lately he has come under widespread criticism over his priorities. Questions have been raised over the huge expenditure on his foreign travels and projects like the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. Modi’s standard practice is to ignore such criticism in campaign speeches and concentrate on running down critics.
Polarisation on communal lines has been a part of the BJP’s poll strategy since long. The raking up of the Ram temple issue and the induction of a Hindutva leader of Gujarat with a dubious record to oversee the campaign in Uttar Pradesh, the State with the largest number of Lok Saba seats, indicate that this strategy remains its mainstay.
A new element in this year’s campaign is a movie based on “The Accidental Prime Minister”, a book on Manmohan Singh, who had headed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for 10 years. Its author, Sanjay Baru, was Singh’s Media Adviser.
The film makes use of Baru’s references to the role played by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to damn the dynasty. The new Congress government of Madhya Pradesh has rejected calls to ban it. The film is unlikely to yield the dividend the BJP is looking for. -- Gulf Today, Janiary 2, 2019. |
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