Indira hatao. Desh bachao.” Remove Indira Gandhi. Save India. The lines were among frantic slogans Narendra Modi’s forebears coined to remove Indira Gandhi from power. She used democracy to become powerful and then subverted it. Indira cited Hindutva as a right-wing threat to India. She was prescient in her observation but her method of redress became her undoing. Indira’s rivals in Parliament sent her to prison. They divested her of the Lok Sabha membership after she won a mid-term poll from a southern constituency where they worshipped her. When she won again from Chikmaglur in the south, her recharged supporters coined a telling slogan. “Ek sherni, sau langoor. Chikmaglur bhai Chikmaglur.” A tigress against a bunch of monkeys, that was Chikmaglur.
It is not uncommon in democracies for people in the streets to demand the exit of a leader even if the leaders have the numbers. Nixon was shown the door when people felt insulted by some of the things he did. Bill Clinton survived similar scrutiny. Call it the devil’s luck. In India, there are useful non-parliamentary routes too to bring down an erring leader. Before the people could take a view about her waywardness, an HC judge unseated Indira Gandhi for using government money to build a podium to address an election rally. That’s a far cry from charges of mass murder. The benchmark for probity has changed. Indira survived by disregarding the judgement and suspending democracy itself. That fear lurks and, with Mr Modi, it may have deepened. The ding-dong battle between power and people keeping an eye out for its fair use is life-giving. If the battle stops, democracy ceases.
In this regard, a growing brouhaha is threatening to overshadow Parliament’s winter session. Mani Shankar Aiyar’s acid views on Mr Modi are well known. As a passionate critic of Hindutva, Mr Aiyar is withering with Mr Modi. On this occasion, so the charge goes, the Congress’ outspoken lefty has expressed his sharp opinion to a Pakistani TV channel. One has to remove Mr Modi from the equation before India-Pakistan talks can resume, Mr Aiyar said. What he said could pass for the parable of marooned men desperate to open a sardine can on a desolate island. They had a few cans of food left, but no tool to prise one open. “Let’s assume there is an opener,” the economist among them said profoundly, still gazing hard at the problem. That’s what Mr Aiyar was saying. Let’s assume Mr Modi doesn’t exist. In other words, he was stating the obvious. The bottom line is there is no way to open the can of peace talks with Mr Modi in charge.
When it comes to pouring vitriol on rivals, the Hindutva’s lung power is unmatched. One person though could stand up to Mr Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in the recent Bihar elections. He was Lalu Yadav. His videos mimicking the Hindutva duo have gone viral on the web. Remember when Sonia Gandhi was reportedly planning to take the oath as PM some years ago Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharti of the BJP came out on the streets, threatening to tonsure their hair at the head of right-wing protests across India. Dark rumours circulated that Mrs Sonia Gandhi could be assassinated like her mother-in-law if she ignored her bitter foes or dared to take the PM’s oath. In other words, even if Mrs Sonia Gandhi had the numbers, as Mr Modi won last year, she could not claim the top job.
More than Mr Aiyar’s barbs, a really worrying headache for Mr Modi comes from friendly fire by his own Hindutva peers. With a sense of timing after the Bihar debacle, L.K. Advani raised Cain together with other senior leaders of the BJP who are opposed to Mr Modi. They had never wanted him to be their leader, much less to become PM. In this limited way, they seemed to agree with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s pre-poll assessment that Mr Modi as Prime Minister would be disastrous for India. Mr Advani is since said to have fallen in line. He could be the BJP’s candidate for India’s President.
It would be unusual for Mr Aiyar to agree with India’s business cliques but they agree with him today. If a former BJP minister of industry is to be believed some of the business captains, possibly most, have become restless with Mr Modi. “The industrialists who meet the Prime Minister don’t speak the whole truth,” former BJP minister Arun Shourie was quoted as saying. “After meeting Prime Minister, they wonder what is happening and say ‘please do something’. And in front of media they give the government nine out of 10.”
Everybody seems to be looking for the elusive can opener.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi
By arrangement with Dawn
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