Modi’s biggest asset is his legion of city-bred, party-circuit opponents

They speak clipped English, sneer at vernacular India, and articulate their anger like Jager Bomb revolutionaries at a pub. They have spent their youth sporting North face jackets and Louis Vuitton bags. Their ultimate expression of defiance is showing the middle finger, literally, on Indian television, not unlike woke protesters facing water cannons on Illinois or Oregon streets. All that is not a problem, unless your horizon of Indian politics stops right there. But whether it is Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Mahua Moitra, KT Rama Rao or the PPO (political process outsourcing) agents of Bollywood, the loudest voices of the Opposition are too elitist to have a wider appeal outside the echo chambers of Twitter and Instagram. Both these platforms are politically relevant, but again, a massive, wide world of the Indian electorate still lives far away from Reels and Spaces. The anti-BJP voices in filmdom — Kamal Haasan, Swara Bhasker, Prakash Raj, Sonam Kapoor and others — seem even more cut-off from day-to-day reality of India than the glitzy crop of ‘young’ politicians. They still are not comfortable with a leader walking while holding hands of women strangers, or a leader mouthing “harami” in Parliament or showing the middle finger on TV. They don’t care about paid celebs holding up political placards in English for the camera. The danger that the Opposition might want to introspect about is that the ordinary Indian voter, both urban and rural, may actually be resenting it. Such a political language most likely mimics what they view at the antics of an unfairly rich, entitled, elitist minority which has ruled and pawed away the cream from the deserving masses for the last 75 years. And that becomes a great source of strength for Narendra Modi. Coupled with the alienating language and gestures is an abiding hypocrisy of the elitists. Every little incident in which a Hindu — especially from the upper castes — is involved is amplified by first the leaders and then Bollywood and pliant media. But egregious violence (the ‘Sar Tann Se Juda’ murders and rioting over Nupur Sharma’s remark, for instance) by Muslims gets a perfunctory condemnation at best. Adani group is attacked for being allegedly close to the ruling party and the PM, while Congress states have received thousands of crores of investment from him and Robert Vadra is seen in photos hobnobbing with the magnate. In short, the attack on Modi ahead of 2024 so far has been just like 2014 and 2019: poorly thought-out, in a language that the masses don’t relate to, and reeking of disdain for Hindus and India. That does exactly the opposite of what it is intended to do. It gives Modi a huge lift in his campaign for a third term. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .