The face-off
There are several interpretations about the Congress Party’s decision not to declare Rahul Gandhi as its candidate for prime minister. Among the more popular perceptions is that with the Congress’ prospects at a real low, Sonia Gandhi was only trying to protect her son from having to shoulder the responsibility of an ignominious and almost certain defeat. This is the rationale Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi latched on to in his attack against the “first family” of the Congress on Sunday. The BJP’s prime ministerial nominee’s remarks at the party’s concluding session of the National Council in Delhi were of course far more abrasive. A mother did not want to “sacrifice” her son with defeat staring them so starkly in the face, Modi said, taunting the Congress for sending its workers home with “three gas cylinders” instead of a candidate for prime minister.
The Congress’ official explanation is that this is not a presidential election, and the political tradition has been to have the elected MPs choose their leader. Unofficially though, some Congress leaders thought the move was driven more by political pragmatism than anything else, granted that post the 2014 election, the verdict could produce a very politically fluid scenario. In the event of a fractured verdict, a Congress without a PM candidate would afford the party far more manoeuvrability to accommodate the demands of a satrap from a regional party. Whichever way one looks at the current do-or-die contest for the high stakes of government, there’s no denying this is possibly one of the most personality-driven general election we are headed into, and the faces most likely to dominate the voter’s consciousness are Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Admi Party.
In the ever shifting landscape in the run-up to the polls, Narendra Modi’s Sunday declaration is interesting, not only for the fact that he went beyond the by now predictable slugfest with the Congress, but because he attempted to present a virtual manifesto of promises that encompassed his “idea of India”. The BJP’s man of the moment rolled out a “rainbow strategy” holding out the promise of high growth and equity but without the subsidies, read religion-based quotas. Elections are after all about promises. Governance is about keeping them and going much further, delivering. Going by his Gujarat record, one has no doubt Modi will deliver on “high growth”. But how much of this will be in favour of an unfettered playing field for the well-connected business lobby at the cost of further marginalising the poor, should be a matter of concern to discerning voters.
Mani Shankar Aiyar’s rather tasteless “chaiwala” remark has inadvertently brought into the limelight the fact that Modi also represents the shift within the BJP from a hitherto upper caste leadership. While Modi to most symbolises the hard face of Hindutva politics in this country, he has been scrupulously cautious to keep the saffron agenda off the electoral debate. Does this make the BJP’s poster boy any less saffron or is it just a ploy to entice the non-converted, is a decision millions of Indians will be required to make when they go to vote a few months down the line. But for now, the BJP has come to mean Modi, and given the party’s complete focus on one man, the election will no longer be about corruption or water or growth or even governance. The election is about Narendra Modi. About bringing him to power or trying to stop a leader most Indians still don’t know they can trust.
While Modi to most symbolises the hard face of Hindutva politics in this country, he has been scrupulously cautious to keep the saffron agenda off the electoral debate
