Chanakya’s View: Modi’s one-sided affair with India DC | Pavan K. Varma | March 16, 2014, 04.03 am IST inShare Printer-friendly version Send by email Gujarat CM Narendra Modi | Photo PTI Gujarat CM Narendra Modi | Photo PTI The flight from Delhi to Bhutan, where I had the privilege to be India’s ambassador, provides a breathtaking view of Mount Everest. The plane flies almost at the same level as the world’s highest peak, close enough to make out the details of its majestic profile dominating the sweeping Himalayan range. Every time I have seen the Everest I have been filled with a sense of spiritual elevation, of joy and exhilaration, and of a sense of peace and calm. I was surprised, therefore, when Narendra Modi, the supreme leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, referred to the Everest as a means to measure a person’s arrogance! His allegation, made in a speech at a recent rally in Bihar, was directed at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In the heat and din of the elections in the world’s largest democracy, such a display of bitterness and acrimony is not uncommon. In fact, increasingly, it has become par for the course for our elections. Inflammatory labels are flung around indiscriminately, to settle scores with or publicly humiliate a political opponent. However, once in a while, it is useful to pursue what has been said in order to sift truth from fact, allegation from reality. Arrogance, as a form of behaviour, has to be judged by the actions of political leaders, not by the allegations they make in their speeches. Mr Modi can, therefore, be forgiven for what he said in a public rally about the arrogance of others; but having made the allegation, he must be answerable to a similar charge made against him. Most objective observers would agree that there are disquieting trends in the rise of Mr Modi to supreme leader, and his conduct ever since. Firstly, the manner in which he assumed power was by riding roughshod over many dissenting voices, including, most significantly, in his own party. L.K. Advani’s open letter of protest, and his refusal to go to Goa, is on public record. What is less known, but was reported in the newspapers, is that Mr Advani’s house in Delhi was actually stoned by supporters of Mr Modi, and the same bunch of toughies were seen later, after Mr Modi’s anointment, distributing sweets in the BJP office. Secondly, ever since his declaration as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr Modi has adopted a style of campaigning which is a matter of legitimate concern. Essentially, this consists of holding a series of rallies all across the country where he declaims as a oneway interaction with voters. From the podium, at an elevated but unbridgeable distance from his audience, he makes accusations at will, denounces opponents with all the sarcasm at his command, and lists out his own unverified achievements. Having done so, he hops on to his helicopter or airplane and disappears. A consistent trend is the absence of any interaction either with those he is trying to persuade, or with those who have a legitimate right to question what he has said. He is almost never available to answer questions, or to be interrogated in a press conference, or to be at any forum where he can be directly asked a question. The format is that he should be heard, but never be available to explain or be held accountable for what he has said. To bolster this one sided approach, he has mustered a formidable publicity machine. This machine magnifies a thousand fold what he claims to be his achievements, and lashes out, sometimes in the most obnoxious and vituperative manner, at any one who has the temerity to question them. In addition, a virtual cult is sought to be created around his persona. He alone is extolled in every poster, every placard, every banner, every advertisement and on every tea cup where the faithful carry out conversations about his agenda. The degree to which this cult is visible even to his own party can be gauged by the fact that Mr Advani reportedly expressed concern over it recently and even Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat protested that it is not the business of his organisation to chant NaMo, NaMo. The BJP is a party which came into being on the basis of an ideological platform, and even if one disagrees with its fundamentals, the party itself has always criticised other parties which subordinate ideology to personality cults. Now, for the first time in such a visible manner, the BJP has itself become a prisoner of an unabashed personality cult. Thirdly, there is among Mr Modi and his supporters, a disturbing temperamental opposition to dissent. Observers have seen how Gujarat is run as a one- man show, with all opposition sidelined. The sway of the leader on the party has also presented the public with the rather visible spectacle of many leaders in the top echelons of the BJP having to toe the line or to accept being sidelined. The cleavage is entirely on the basis of an inner circle of trusted operators with all the rest being treated as outsiders or with suspicion. The position of senior leaders on the question of seat distribution has been unfolding before the public in the last few days. The truth is that the collective leadership which the BJP has always valued has been dismantled in response to a new imperative dictated by the demands of its new leader. What is even more disturbing is that his faithful aco-lytes, forever ready to spring to the defence of their leader, are, if anything, even more intolerant, requiring very little provocation to descend to abusive retaliation directed at any detractors. They draw their inspiration from the invocation by the leader of his chest size, nothing less than 56 if he is to be believed. If arrogance is to be measured by what is verifiably at display in the public domain then Mr Modi needs to answer: Who is really arrogant, the accuser or the accused?
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 01:37:07 +0000