To defeat Modi at all costs

NOBODY ACCUSES me of being a member of what Modi had called the “Khan Market Gang”, though I must confess my tenuous link with that costliest of commercial spaces in all of India. For years, I had relied on a haircutting salon tucked away in an obscure corner of the market which, much to the chagrin of its loyal clientele, fell to the greed of its owner who cashed out his tenancy rights, leaving the skilled barbers to their own devices. It was then that several of us old clients began to call one of the barbers home for a haircut. A couple of days ahead of the polling, when I called my freelance barber, he responded by saying that he was in his village in Bihar and would return after the polling. That is when the penny dropped. He had always declined to mention his real name, hiding behind a pseudonym that could make him a Hindu or a Muslim. On his return when I gently prodded him, he weakly mumbled under his breath that he had voted NOTA. Now, nobody goes to one’s faraway village only to vote NOTA. Again, in the tea lounge of the India International Centre, one came across a former news telecaster of a global channel who had flown in from London to vote in a South Delhi colony and then return to London. Also, there were reports of chartered flights from West Asia to Kerala with the sole objective of voting in the General Election. Such commitment to one’s duties as responsible citizens would be admirable but for the fact that their singular objective was to defeat Modi at all costs. It was as if Muslims were summoned by a higher power to vote out BJP. Which is why BJP’s 240 tally seems all the more impressive. It enters the contest with a debit of nearly 20 per cent vote. Unlike the Khan Market Gang, I am convinced that the cause of this mutual antipathy lies in our shared history. Both sides are to blame for the lack of an enduring entente.

Never before has victory looked as defeat and loss as victory. Dejection in the BJP camp on June 4 was in sharp contrast to jubilation in the Congress camp. Though BJP had very nearly won a simple majority for the third successive time while Congress had failed to get into three figures three times on the trot. It is all about expectations, isn’t it? BJP’s ‘400 paar’ slogan did the mischief while Congress cleverly set itself no target, enabling it to gloat in whatever number of seats it won over its 52 in the last Lok Sabha. In the event, it won too few to prevent Modi from being sworn in as prime minister for a consecutive third term. BJP’s 240 seats are bound to work as a bulwark against any attempt to destabilise the Modi government. The Congress hope that it could wean away Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and/or N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP at some stage is unlikely to come true, especially when Modi not only has the support of smaller parties to reach the halfway mark but also because he has the trump card of calling an early election. There is nothing in Modi’s record to suggest that he would be hostage to the allies à la Manmohan Singh in UPA 1 and 2. Expect Modi to retain a strong grip on NDA 3.0. He would rather sit out in Opposition than become a prisoner of allies in government. Besides, allies wouldn’t risk the uncertaintyof a fresh poll.

Meanwhile, the absence of a broad-based decision-making process in BJP may have been a factor in its failure to breach the halfway mark. There ought not be any place in a cadre-based party for anyone to play the arbiter. I am reminded of an interaction with my first editor, the late KR Malkani. A senior member of the RSS-Jana Sangh, he was an integral part of the party’s decision-making forums. On sensing I accorded Vajpayee too much importance, Malkani chided me, “Vajpayee is not the arbiter of the Jana Sangh.” He went on to explain that RSS-Jana Sangh did not believe in the personality cult, taking all decisions collectively. Collegial decision-making—goshti laga kay, as the party faithful say—was the routine till the end of the Vajpayee-Advani era. Failure to keep the state satraps on board was, without doubt, a major cause for losses in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

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