Narendra Modi must now take everyone along
Mr Narendra Modi's critics may claim that the Gujarat Chief Minister's elevation as the chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Election Campaign Committee in the run-up to the lok Sabha and key Assembly elections does not have the whole-hearted endorsement of many senior leaders of the party. But they cannot deny that Mr Modi has the complete support of the rank and file of the BJP, including the party's vast cadre spread across the country. It's the mood of the party workers that matters the most, because these workers make a difference between victory and defeat at the ground level; if they are enthused and charged, half the battle is considered won. In any case, from all accounts many so-called dissidents have actually welcomed Mr Modi's appointment, and the Congress and Modi-baiters must accept the futility of entertaining the fond hope that the ‘disgruntled' leaders will in the months to come sabotage the campaign panel's new chief's attempts to course the party to victory in the coming elections. The heated activity that we all witnessed within the party in the days that preceded Mr Modi's appointment was only to be expected in the BJP which prides itself on inner-party democracy. It could not have happened in the Congress which is ruled by a dynasty whose word is final and sacred, and where promotions of individuals are based on the surnames they flaunt and on the extent of their loyalty to the party's First Family.
Having said that, it is unnecessary to keep looking back and indulge in hair-splitting. For senior leaders of the BJP and the party's workers, it's time to move ahead and unitedly face the challenge of ousting the Congress-led UPA from power at the Centre. Mr Modi wasted no time in sending across this message. Soon after the appointment, he called upon party workers to give the people a Congress-mukt (Congress-free) nation. It's a call that every BJP leader and worker ardently believes in and will work for. But Mr Modi knows that slogans alone do not work; they have to be followed up with a focussed campaign drive and, more importantly, be taken seriously enough by the voters to cast their lot in favour of the BJP. Mr Modi, therefore, now has a new challenge. Although he has had a pan-India appeal, until now he had the occasion to work his charm within the confines of Gujarat — and he has done a wonderful job of that. He knows well that the dynamics are different on a national scale, and that his appeal will yield result only if he is able to successfully address them. He will need to work with humility and in close coordination with senior leaders of the party who have greater experience than him in managing the national canvas and can effectively guide him. He also needs to build rapport with those leaders with whom he has reportedly had a somewhat frosty relationship in the recent past for various reasons.
Meanwhile, given the petty manner in which various Congress leaders have been reacting to Mr Modi's elevation, it's possible that they will make his task easier through the self-goals which they score. The Congress is confused on how it must react; some leaders have sought to brush aside the development as ‘inconsequential' while others have taken pains to explain why Mr Modi will fail. The fact is that the Congress is now firmly placed in a confrontation that it has tried to avoid with the Gujarat Chief Minister on the national stage.