Modi imitates Indira in Bihar, hopes to enjoy same success

Forty-three-years after Indira Gandhi successfully invoked “woh kehte hain Indira hatao, main kehti hoon garibi hatao” (They say remove Indira, I say remove poverty), BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi took the same cue in Muzaffarpur to suggest he was the issue against a combined onslaught of rival political formations in coming parliamentary elections. Obviously, he’s hoping that the results will be similar to the one that Indira Gandhi had in 1971.

“Modi kehta hai mehngai ko roko, woh kehte hain Modi ko roko. Modi kehta hai bhrastachar ko roko, who kehte hain Modi ko roko. Modi kehta hai maa behno par atyaachar roko, who kehte hain Modi ko roko. Modi kehta hai anyay ko roko, who kahte hain Modi ko roko. Hamara ek hi agenda hai: vikas, unka ek hi agenda hai Modi ka vinash,” he said. (Modi says stop the price rise, they say stop Modi. Modi says stop corruption, they say stop Modi. Modi says stop atrocities against mothers and sisters, they say stop Modi. Modi says stop injustice against your own people, they say stop Modi. We are driven by the singular agenda of development, they are driven by singular agenda of destroying Modi).

For some time now, Modi’s core group of supporters in the BJP have been comparing his popularity and charisma with Indira Gandhi and the pan-India appeal the two leaders have. This despite them being separated by two generations and the fact they hail from two principally rival parties.

Modi didn’t take Gandhi’s name, but the manner in which he described the Congress and Third Front working in tandem to contain his march to Delhi left little doubt that he certainly has followed Indira emergence as a strong and decisive candidate on her own. He seems to have followed how she handled her campaign in 1971, in the face of a ‘Grand Alliance’ consisting of the Congress (O), Jan Sangh, Swatantra and Samyukta Socialist Parties with a personalised election campaign of “Indira hatao” when she called for early elections.

Katherine Frank’s book ‘Indira the Life of India Nehru Gandhi’ recounts how after Indira Gandhi announced in a broadcast to nation in December 1970 that elections would be held in February 1971. When asked by a Newsweek reporter what the issues would be in the upcoming polls she said, “I am the issue.”

Modi and his principal backers in the BJP knew that he would become the prime issue if declared as the party’s prime ministerial candidate but they still went ahead. They were not afraid of the polarisation of political spectrum. Modi did become an issue, but the results of four assembly elections in north Indian states that followed proved the sceptics wrong and Modi to be right.

However, it was the size and the kind of response which he drew all across the nation, in addition to his image of being a firm and decisive leader that has resulted in his party colleagues comparing him with Indira Gandhi than with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The BJP always cultivated a larger than life image for Vajpayee, but then unlike Modi he is known for his moderation than decisiveness.

“Just like Indira, whose name had reached all parts of the country, urban or rural, even before her posters with Congress’s then symbol of cow and the calf would arrive, Modi’s name has become familiar with people even in areas where BJP does not have a presence and before any kind of BJP campaign material has reached them,” a senior BJP leader told Firstpost.

“There isn’t a great deal of curiosity about Modi but there is a great deal of following for Modi. Him becoming an issue, when he personifies both Hindivata and development, is a huge advantage for us,” he said.

Speaking in Muzaffarpur, Modi said, “Main desh ki samasya ka hal dundh raha hoon, aur mere virodhi Modi ka hal dundh rahe hain." (I am looking for solutions to the problems that the country is facing, but my rivals are looking for a solution to Modi).

He also said his opponents resort to the use of the jadi-booti (ayurvedic balm) of secularism whenever they were questioned about issues like hunger, corruption, unemployment and others.

The recent induction of a host of Dalit leaders – Ramdas Athavale, Dr Uditraj and Ramvilas Paswan into the NDA’s fold has come as a big boost to Modi’s campaign and allows him to taunt the Congress and other political formations. There may still be rumblings of discontent within a section of BJP leaders, to an extent rightly so, but Modi used Paswan’s induction into NDA fold and his presence by his side at the Muzaffarpur rally was to tell the world that he was no longer a political untouchable, as many thought he would be.

The expansion of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), which Modi now calls National Development Alliance, has been a major issue with the BJP leaders. It has been one since 2009 when the Biju Janta Dal left, and only grew after Nitish Kumar exited the coalition and literally threw the BJP out of the Bihar government.

The return of Paswan, who had quit Vajpayee government and the alliance in April 2002 in the aftermath of Gujarat riots, has changed the game for the BJP. The Muzaffarpur was a momentous occasion for Paswan.

Justifying his return, Paswan said, “12 saal me ek yug badal jata hai (a whole era changes after 12 years)”

He also hailed Modi as the leader whose ascendance to seat of power was nationally awaited.

“Till the other day I was so good for Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and the Congress but they are suddenly calling names to me just because I decided not to align with them and go with the BJP,” he said. It couldn’t be more hypocritical, Paswan said.

Paswan’s return, DMK chief Karunanidhi’s overtures, a tie up with MDMK, PMK and potential tie ups with DMDK in Tamil Nadu and TDP in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, talks with AGP in Assam and discussions with others in other states has allowed Modi to claim that there indeed was a wave in his favour.

“NDA is expanding fast. This is going to gain further strength and as a force this is unstoppable. The anxiety of our rivals is increasing in same proportion,” he said in Muzaffarpur.

And beyond the selling the development dream, Modi plays his backward caste background astutely, without earning the casteist tag. He is seeking to build an umbrella social coalition, just like Congress did it it’s hey days, that consists of upper caste, OBCs, Dalits, tribals and Muslims. Modi and BJP will have to live with Muslims’ suspicions and apprehensions towards them. To compensate that numerical loss, Modi is trying to invent a new social coalition of upper dalits, backward groups, tribals, and other socially downtrodden groups. The upper castes are assumed to be with him.

With the assumption of wide spread support, Modi is now playing his ‘one versus many’ card. His supporters definitely believe he will swing these elections just as Indira swung the popular tide in her favour four decades ago.