By attacking Rahul in Guj, Modi, Rajnath make intentions clear

It was Narendra Modi’s show in Gujarat, so it had to be big.

The occasion on Saturday was to celebrate BJP Foundation Day. But its implication was much more than that. By listing the felicitation of party president Rajnath Singh in the official agenda, he sent out a clear message to the rank and file of the party that a strong and meaningful equation was growing between the two of them.

And second, by making Rahul Gandhi their target for the day, they wished to convey that the BJP intended to contest the next parliamentary elections ‘Presidential style’, whether or not the two parties go to the polls with with declared Prime Ministerial candidates. It was with this intent that the Gujarat chief minister made eloquent references to the BJP workers in Kerala and West Bengal where he would hope to get incremental popular votes to open his electoral account.

The event also marked a shift in the BJP’s political strategy.

Senior BJP leaders had so far avoided taking direct pot shots against Rahul Gandhi (Except during the Gujarat poll campaign). That task was mostly left to the tier two or tier three leaders. However on Saturday, Modi and Rajnath not only named him, but also hit out at him.

For once Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were spared. Rahul is now in the BJP’s official line of fire and they think that so far, he is easy pickings.

Also, the extent to which Rajnath Singh chose to dwell on Maut Ka Saudagar and Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi’s Yamraj (Lord of Death) remark is an indicator that the BJP want a polarized nationwide public opinion on the subject. “Come 2014 elections people of India respond to Congress’s Yamraj remark, like people of Gujarat had responded to Maut Ka Saudagar remark”, Rajnath said.

Modi sought to give an emotional tilt to his criticism of Rahul.

The issue that he chose to launch a frontal attack on his principal political rival was incidentally the one on which Rahul had got some positive initial vibes from the public. “I was hurt and pained to hear the person on whom Congress has pinned all its hope for the future. I was pained to realized how could these people think like this. He said to him India was beehive (Madhumakhi ka Chatta). Only Congress party leaders believe in India being a beehive. For us India is like mother. It has been the mother of 100 crore Indians. If you don’t have an understanding of Indian traditions, you should first learn about it. But you don’t have the right to hurt our sentiments.”

Modi knows that Rahul made the beehive reference in a different context but in large parts of India, beehive or Madhumakhi ka chatta, is a colloquial reference to trouble mongering. How far the Maa versus Madhumakhi Ka Chatta debate goes would be interesting to see.

Beyond the Bharat Mata emotional pitch, another hard hitting attack on Rahul came in reference to the way he completely bypasseed a question on India’s water problems, choosing instead to give a long lecture on the devolution of powers to the Pradhan and the need for structural change. “The country has immense water problems and the leader concerned does not even know about it…can’t expect anything better from the Congress.”

The two top BJP leaders also responded to Rahul’s innuendo on Modi, when he referred to “the idea of the man riding on a horse”. Rajnath was more direct by saying that “claiming divine right, making a grand entry, riding elephants and horses were only ingrained in Congress culture, if a leader was to rise to a pedestal he had to sweat it out to prove his worth”.

However Modi played humble sharing credit with his party workers. “I would have been nobody and if all of you had not worked hard. Modi as an individual may have got the fame but its because of the collective work and the credit has to be shared collectively.” This was also perhaps his way to responding to his critics both internal and outside who are wary of individualistic style of functioning.

Modi seems to be an on image makeover exercise.

He repeatedly invoked Atal Bihari Vajpyee, even as he shared a sweet and sour relationship with him, notwithstanding former Prime Minister’s public rebuke of him. While he does not want to dilute his impression as a strong leader on the broader nationalist issue, he is trying to play it easy on personal attacks on him. “Those who are coining new words in the dictionary forget that the more muck you pour on the lotus, it only helps nourish that flower"

The tone and tenor was of an election launch rally. So came his Chetwani (warning) to Delhi in his trademark style. “If you use the CBI and governors to harass the BJP governments, the party would not be cowed down….ln any case Congress’s days of living with arrogance of power in Delhi is going to be over soon.”

The BJP president may officially maintain that it is the party’s parliamentary board’s prerogative to announce the Prime Ministerial candidate, but his lavish praise for Modi made it clear who he would