Narendra Modi is now on the retreat. Since becoming the Prime Minister for the third time, the “strong leader” is withering away, bit by bit. And it has not even been three months since he has been leading a coalition.
The latest move to take a U-turn on the controversial “lateral entry” into the government is yet further evidence that Mr Modi is losing his ability to impose his decisions faster than anticipated.It is a shock for admirers and detractors alike that the Prime Minister, hailed by his supporters as the strongest leader India has produced since its Independence, is virtually in free fall.
With a section of the media now “Modi-fied” for diverse reasons, the collapse is not being shown or projected in the proper perspective. But that is not unexpected. In a way, it is better for his opponents. An easy victory makes a man complacent.The fact is that Mr Modi alone is to blame for such a pass as he has not come out of his larger-than-life persona despite the BJP shrinking in the political space and his charisma on the decline, as also the Hindutva card.Neither the rise of the forces of social justice with such vehemence was anticipated by Mr Modi nor the Congress Party taking up the cause with much gusto. The delay in holding Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, as also the 46 byelections, including 10 in Uttar Pradesh and one for the Lok Sabha, does not show the BJP in high spirits. His instant apology over the collapse of the statue of Shivaji Maharaj shows that he has been painted into a corner.Mr Modi has never been a man of consensus. It helped the Modi myth to grow when the going was good. But his philosophy of “my way or the highway” has turned into a bane for the BJP in the era of coalitions. The tragedy is that the world’s largest party understands the problem but is both unable and unempowered to mend the leader who has become bigger than the party. It is a sort of a Greek tragedy unfolding. As a BJP leader said informally, it is Mr Modi who has brought the BJP to power and if he is now squandering it, how can anyone complain?In contrast to this, the “Ek Modi sab pe bhari” syndrome is doing a lot of harm to the ruling establishment as any opinion contrary or divergent to the one taken by the leader is considered a sacrilege. The elders in the party have all been sent to the Margdarshak Mandal, unloved and uncared for. Anyone who is of any standing in the BJP appears to be unconcerned about helping Mr Modi as he has never come across as a leader with empathy.
All the people that Mr Modi has with him are subordinates and not real colleagues, and Mr Modi is not a benevolent boss. “Yes men” are usually known for being competent.
Most of the media had been caged a long time ago in order to help the Modi myth to grow. The recent Budget Session of Parliament showed how the media was kept in a glass cage for a day in the Parliament House complex, which led to a huge controversy. The buoyant Opposition parties have brought to the fore a new narrative, and the media too is now changing a bit to factor in the new reality. The silent burial of the controversial Broadcasting Bill is another signal of the retreat of the strong leader.There is not even a single photo frame over the past ten years in which the Prime Minister was seen in deep discussion with the Opposition on the way ahead for the nation. So much for the “sweet” ties with the PM’s detractors. Opponents were never treated so shabbily as in the past ten years. The Emergency is the lone exception.With Mr Modi publicly showing, day in and day out, that he is still on the “strong leader” trip, the crisis for the BJP is bigger with each passing day. The first stage of course correction is the fact of accepting a change in the political reality. This has not happened.
The party has no independent president to set right the problem and the one it has is known to be a Modi acolyte who is there because of the PM’s blessings. Minus the PM, he is a big zero, and everyone knows it.Finding a full-time party president is itself fraught with danger but Mr Modi will have his man, but it will take its time.Whatever might be the perceptions outside the party, Mr Modi in the past decade has turned the RSS into a sitting duck. The RSS chief is happy that the BJP has grown so much under his watch. Leaving aside the occasional advice he hands out to the political wing, Mohan Bhagwat does not look bothered. The veterinary doctor is pleased with himself. “Apni dukan theek chal rahi hai”.
Rahul Gandhi had opened more than a window of opportunity for the PM. Soon after the general election, he had extended his hand of cooperation to the PM, telling him that the mandate wants you to govern. The mantra of consensus could help everyone along, was the suggestion.Mr Modi is still the “angry young man” and leaves no opportunity to target the grand old party and its “dynastic culture”. Ensuring that the Leader of the Opposition sits in the fifth row during the PM’s address to the nation from Red Fort on Independence Day is the latest example of the PM despising the Opposition.
With the Opposition INDIA grouping getting almost the equal number as the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, Mr Modi is feeling the heat but is showing he is unruffled to protect his “strong leader” narrative vainly.
The Opposition too is enjoying that it was taking down the strong leader, bit by bit.
Now, dissidents in the BJP like Dr Subramanian Swamy are publicly saying that Mr Modi had better quit as the PM. “If Modi does not, as committed to the RSS’ Pracharak Sanskaar, announce his retirement to the Margdarshak Mandal after his 75th birthday on September 17, then he will lose his PM’s chair by other methods”, is the latest that Dr Swamy has said on social media, signalling hard times ahead for the strong leader.
