Lucknow cleric: Muslims still fear Modi, but Rajnath is like Vajpayee

Responding to queries about what could happen in a post-poll scenario if potential allies oppose Narendra Modi for prime ministership, the BJP’s leaders have studiously maintained that there is no Plan B, and that the party would find a solution to such a challenge if things came to such a pass.

However, over the past two months, party president Rajnath Singh has been at the forefront of liaisoning with friendly parties, tying up alliances with the TDP, Apna Dal and others, and fire-fighting deftly when the likes of Murli Manohar Joshi brushed off the Modi wave as hype, leading to doubts that some in the BJP may be setting him up as a possible alternative.

Though he has denied it expressly, the question of whether the BJP needs a back-up PM candidate and whether that back-up may be Singh is all set to be reignited now with Muslim clerics suggesting not only that Muslims may be afraid of Modi but also that the BJP president has the acceptability of an Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Rajnath invited criticism when he met Muslim clerics in Lucknow early this week, but certainly left the community leaders impressed.

The Times of India reported that Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, one of the clerics Singh met, said Muslims continue to be afraid of Narendra Modi but that the BJP party president is a leader with wider acceptability, on the lines of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Jawwad reportedly “also made it categorically clear” that no political diktat would be issued to Muslims voters, but that he would present his views to the community.

The cleric’s indication that Modi remains a divisive figure will, no doubt, give more ammunition to his detractors within the party, especially those who have been quietly suggesting that a back-up plan may be necessary in the eventuality that the NDA falls short of its ambitious Mission 272.

To add to it all, Singh himself appeared to play to the galleries, following up his meeting with the clerics with a traditional Muslim cap while offering prayers at a local shrine in Lucknow.

Of course, Modi’s refusal to wear a skullcap offered to him by a Muslim leader during a public event in 2011 has become a sign of his lasting image as a Hindu hardliner. Asked about the episode recently in an interview broadcast just days ago, Modi said he did not feel the need to fool anybody by wearing the cap, and that he respected all religions equally.

The BJP president having chosen to take the path that Modi refused will no doubt be seen as another sign that he may be prepared to step into those shoes, should the occasion arise.