The latest surveys indicate the Modi team may just scrape through in the polls! That’s not surprising news. The strongest Opposition Congress is weak at the roots. Rahul Gandhi may have improved behaviour, knowledge and skills, but people are not yet ready to see him as Prime Minister.
The age-old party has not been able to come out of the ‘Nehru fold'. Only once, a true master, Narasimha Rao, had taken full command over the party and ran the country with a minority government superbly. He had brought into the fold illustrious Manmohan Singh who saved India from the worst financial disaster in the early 1990s.
Singh has never been a typical career politician but a statesman par excellence. He ruled India for ten long years. But the Congress put Sonia at the top and took her command.
The reason is plain and simple. Congress leaders have always dreaded disintegration if a one single non-charismatic individual was made boss. Somehow or the other there is a perception among the party honchos that for the present no other than the Sonia family has the required amount of charisma fan fan-following to hold them together.
Adversaries cry foul about the Sonia family money which is considered not hard-earned. All the same, the latest developments haven’t worked well for the Congress fold. Priyanka has been roped in only for glamour and glitter that may woo voters to some extent. But the tragic flaw of the Congress is that Priyanka's defamed husband Robert Vadra has lately started following the celebrity girl like a shadow.
The party stalwarts are forced to remain quiet because not one of them has any star power. So, it is obvious that the Congress will gain but not so much as to form government.
During the golden Vajpayee stint, a few silly blunders by the BJP strategists led to the party’s unexpected defeat when all pollsters had forecast 'Vajpayee again'. The five-star hotel party events and the most arrogant 'India Shining' ads irked people who opted for the Congress out of disgust. Vajpayee was gone forever as he did not have the age with him to fight back. Advani, despite being the real master of the saffron fold, never ever gained the support of the cadres he had helped build with care. But as he was a strong-headed master, the younger ambitious guys facilitated the RSS taking over the reins and back the younger tricksters.
Incidentally, Narendra Modi was promoted by Advani to take control of Gujarat around a time when no other important member considered Modi good enough to be Gujarat boss. Modi was known as a good preacher for he talked well.
He was a super smart guy and waiting for just a single break. Once in power, he ganged up just too well with the young ones to form the core group of the saffron fold. He knew that the art and craft of marketing was sure to hold him in good stead for always. So, he picked such guys as would plan the publicity so well as to make him appear much larger than life.
Amit Shah fitted the design perfectly and rest is history. The duo worked together to make things happen in a manner that no one would ever dare challenge their union or capabilities. Both succeeded in making believe the ‘Gujarat Model' of development, which was only an ordinary copy of mostly what was being practised in Kerala for long. Advani, who brought in Modi, was methodically dismissed as a ‘rancid pickle' as late Parrikar was provoked to comment then.
The Modi-Shah duo splurged a fortune on marketing strategies and rose to be adjudged saviour heroes of the saffron community. Each promoted the other. When there was a crisis of a good enough face to be projected as Prime Minister, the youngsters, strategically groomed and brainwashed, screamed 'Modi'. Thus, Modi became the PM. Shah and Modi employed the best of available brains including Prashant Kishore and more to have the desired effect perpetually in place.
The founders and grand masters who gave birth to the BJP were relegated to the remote shadowy corners never to be in public glare again. Advani was gone; Murli Manohar Joshi was erased from the scene; Arun Shourie was portrayed as an ordinary creature; movie stars like Shatrughan Sinha were shown the door.
The Modi-Shah duo had convinced everyone that the oldies would only come in the way of development as they were not techno-savvy and did not understand modern tastes of the masses. Fortunately by this time, the UPA had become defamed due to the usual corrupt practices and Manmohan Singh was shown to be a puppet only and not the PM. The Sonia-soaked Congress sycophants chose to keep mum for self-survival. Thus, the BJP had gained double advantage to come to power.
Modi had entered Parliament with a fantastic manifesto which is nearly impossible to fulfil. But the simple voting souls of India could not figure out what would be happening once Modi occupied the throne.
Article 370, black money in people’s accounts and employment for millions were all hogwash and never became reality simply because they were wildest pipedreams only. Modi achieved highly on his personal front. He took big revenge by being able to roam the world. For long, he had not been given visa by most of the wealthy Western countries for having been embroiled in communal riots and killing of Muslims at Godhra in Gujarat.
Once out on foreign locales, Modi did talk theatrically and hugged all the heads of states and posed to have struck great deals for India, which has never been true. But certainly, he did create an impact by making many of them talk about India and no further.
If only the US had raided the terror training sites in Pakistan just once or forced the hostile neighbour to hand over Dawood Ibrahim, the sane Indians would have hailed Modi as hero. Nothing of the sort has ever happened nor likely to happen even if Modi makes a comeback.
It appears that some of the forecasts about the NDA making a smash hit in the coming polls have been market-managed. Though it is true that the UPA cannot form government, it shall also not be cakewalk for the NDA as the Modi wave is no more in place and some of the most highly revered party founders and stalwarts have been purposefully ignored. The NDA will be bound to seek support of several regional outfits to ensure majority.
The Odisha scenario remains as amusing as ever. The Naveen magic is still in force as voters have not yet expressed any anti-incumbency sentiments. They remain as Naveen-soaked as during the last polls.
Odisha BJP face Dharmendra Pradhan is yet to find a constituency. Aparajita Sarangi is proving to be a better one. The intelligent guy in the fray, Sambit Patra, fielded from Puri has already caused negative murmur by opening up to the electorate with a ‘Hindu' card. People have no respect for any non-secular approach anymore. The information technology is so easily available among the masses that even a shepherd in the so-called hinterlands of the country gets to know what’s right and what’s wrong.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)