Why PM Narendra Modi wants course correction: Aggression, raids prove counterproductive for BJP, govt

Within minutes of the CBI raid on the Delhi secretariat on 15 December, top government functionaries — those sitting in North Block and South Block — spoke with one another to find out whether the raid had the prior approval of any of them. None of them had any inkling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi displayed ignorance while Home Minister Rajnath Singh was not in the loop either. The Ministry of Home Affairs asked CBI director Anil Sinha and he justified the raids on procedural and legal grounds. The collateral damage from the raids was colossal in political terms. The carefully cultivated image of Modi as a leader who believes in the consensual approach lay shattered as the Opposition attacked his government for being “vindictive” against rivals. As expected, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal used this opportunity to launch one of the worst vituperative attacks on the prime minister and subsequently on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. This development is one among many instances which indicate that the Modi government and the BJP may be losing control of the political narrative more often than not because of factors beyond their control. [caption id=“attachment_2553212” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of PM Narendra Modi. AFP[/caption] The top leaders are acutely aware of this. Many in the government and the party are also coming to terms with the realisation that the BJP’s assurance of “acche din (good days)” is evoking more cynical derision than hope these days, and that the euphoria around Modi is tapering off. With crucial Assembly elections to be held shortly, time seems to be running out for the party. And those who matter now openly acknowledge that the top leadership in the government and the party are apparently rattled over the recent developments. The situation has finally forced the party to make a serious bid for course correction. The prime minister called a meeting of his council of ministers on Thursday and advised them to be accessible to people and convey the “good work” done by the government. This otherwise routine meeting would not have assumed significance had it not be preceded by similar exercises within the party’s top echelons to meet groups of MPs and discuss their problems. Hemmed in by attacks on many fronts barely 18 months into power, the BJP indeed has reason to get serious. Leave alone developments beyond its control, the others are of the party’s own making. The combination of hubris and overconfidence is proving to be its undoing. The government, and by logical extension, the party, has opened too many fronts too soon. Look at the manner in which BJP president Amit Shah chose to ride roughshod over one of the most trusted Hindutva allies in Maharashtra — the Shiv Sena. Of course, the Sena’s tantrums are often unbearable, yet it belonged to the same ideological brotherhood. Insiders say that even top leaders were averse to making the Shiv Sena expendable at the altar of hubris. The election result may have turned in favour of the BJP, but it also made the Sena a permanent thorn in the BJP’s flesh. Buoyed by their success in Maharashtra, the BJP leadership made the cardinal mistake of ignoring the necessity of coalition. The electoral outcomes in Haryana and Jharkhand, in which the BJP emerged victorious, fed the party’s delusion of being ‘invincible’. Though the Delhi election delivered a rude jolt, the party refused to learn any lessons from it. In Bihar, it was humiliated again. In less than two years, the BJP finds itself in ‘splendid isolation’, which has grossly undermined the image of the government. To make matters worse, the government has pushed critical constitutional institutions into an adversarial role. Take for instance the government’s run in with Supreme Court over the appointment of Gopal Subramanian as the judge. Though the CJI was made to eat humble pie, the SC struck back by abrogating the unanimously-passed constitutional amendment on the National Judicial Appointment Committee (NJAC). During the argument on NJAC in the apex court, the government, through Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, often displayed belligerence uncharacteristic of the executive. As of now, it would be naïve to ignore the stress on the delicate relationship between the judiciary and the executive. Similarly, the government has found itself in an adversarial position on several issues within Parliament. For instance, the manner in which the amendment to the Land Acquisition Bill was sought to be pushed through in Parliament was reflective of the arrogance of the majority. Crisis managers of the government created an impression that they would resort to a joint session in order to get their bills passed. In Rajya Sabha, the entire Opposition stood up as one to call the government’s bluff and stalled the House on every pretext. Even Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who is the ex-officio chairman of Rajya Sabha, took objection to the government’s attempt at camouflaging ordinary bills as money bills. Insiders in the government believe that the government’s hectoring in Parliament has cemented the otherwise fragile index of Opposition unity and created a situation which is being readily exploited by the Congress. There is hardly anything common between Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal. Yet the government’s actions and the BJP’s disdain for “others” have often driven them to one camp. The clumsy manner in which the CBI raided the Delhi secretariat has given the impression that the investigative agency is being used as tool to harass political opponents. This impression was further reinforced by the raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on firms owned by Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidamabaram. Though the investigative agencies may have enough legal ground to take action in both the cases, the manner of the raids and the timing proved to be counter-productive in political terms for the government. While the government has placed itself in an adversarial position in Parliament and with the judiciary, another spin-off is the confused message that’s being transmitted to the lower bureaucracy. It has started creating its own hurdles in the government’s agenda. There is reason to believe that Modi has sensed these stirrings of disquiet in his party. The exercises of meeting ministers and MPs, it is said, is a precursor to a larger course correction.