Prime Minister Narendra Modi has surprisingly offered an apolitical response to the new political reality in India, probably presuming that the mandate was a result of operational flaws in the campaign rather than voters’ disenchantment with his style of governance.
That his politics will not change was never open to dispute but he, being a shrewd politician, was expected to take swift course correction.
But Modi’s obstinacy betrays an intellectual and political disability to read the mandate correctly and take remedial measures. He probably thought retaining power by keeping some parties in good humour and trying to consolidate his position through his pet stratagem of engineering defections of vulnerable MPs would suffice.
He may succeed in luring away some MPs but these petty tricks are not effective medicine for political transformation that now appears beyond the government’s control. Modi has not yet given any indication of redesigning his approach to meet future challenges, without realising that he was willy-nilly digging a pit for the BJP’s abysmal fall. Modi’s survival tricks may prove to be ruinous for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party.
So far, Modi has defiantly followed the same script; the theme, the subtext, the metaphors, the imagery… nothing has changed. Numerical deficiency hasn’t altered his egomaniac ways, his penchant for propaganda, his self-obsessed yearning for publicity and his itch for running down rivals. He still chose to meet cricketers who won the World Cup and tried to seek legitimacy for his third term through his non-essential visits to Italy and Russia when Rahul Gandhi was in Manipur and Hathras. If Modi thinks Gandhi has always done these things and was doomed to aimlessly wander in the villages and towns of this great country while he was destined to rule like an emperor, he has miserably failed to feel the nation’s pulse. Gandhi is no more the hapless challenger.
It is true that Gandhi did not get the requisite numbers to form the government despite the historic Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra, Manipur-to-Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, a grand coalition and an impressive manifesto.
But the outcome of the elections changed politics in India, setting Modi on a downhill journey and his opponents on the ascendance. What’s cast in stone now is that Modi will find it difficult to bounce back from here. His jaded charisma is like a comical figure that inspires ridicule, not hope. His moves, his decisions and even his language have become predictable.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi and Manipur: the Politics Not of Transaction but of Love
He goes to Russia and tells the Indian diaspora that India was sinking in gloom and disrespect before he arrived. That’s monotonous bunkum, not worth even a giggle. He says he will work with energy three times more than his previous terms. That’s how he advertises his inability to understand the problem. It’s not lack of energy that bedevilled his governance. His shortcomings are linked to lack of morality and accountability. He needs some conscience, not more hours of hard work.
Demonetisation was inflicted upon the nation because of a lack of wisdom. Farm laws were introduced because of ill intent. Manipur was dumped in the well of apathy because of abdication of duty. What India needs from her Prime Minister is sensitivity and sincerity, not verve and vigour.
Modi hasn’t yet shown any capacity for change. Modi can’t be modified. He thrives in his rigidities.
His mind is his 56-inch chest. His insight is his bluster. His future is his past.
The metaphor that comes to his mind in the context of one of the worst massacres of Muslims in India’s history is a dog coming under the wheels. Guilt and responsibility are bogus concepts he doesn’t subscribe to. In fact, his reliance on propaganda is a calculated scheme for systematic erasure of the notions of responsibility and accountability. A responsible leader would have responded to the new situation with humility and creativity; crafting strategies to reignite people’s faith in his abilities to deliver. But he avoided even superficial analysis of the shifting political ground and stuck to the tools that got blunted over the past decade.
What’s blunted is the efficacy of his propaganda. What’s blunted is the saleability of his brand. If he doesn’t discover this truth, there is no scope for transformation.
Gandhi, on the other hand, doesn’t have to change. He has to consolidate and fortify. He was condemned for not being a wily politician. Gandhi probably knew his crusade for justice, his integrity and his ability to identify the real concerns of the masses would be enough to make up for his tactical deficiencies. When a demagogue like Modi vacates political space, the yearning for someone like Rahul who believes in clean, pro-people politics automatically rises. The yearning was manifested in Manipur. The yearning is manifested every now and then among students, farmers, workers and the victims of injustice across the country.
Modi is laying the road for Gandhi with his rigidity. And Gandhi is destroying the road for Modi with his rigidity.
Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.
