Cause for worry: People believe in Modi, not his ability to control the rabid right

The right wing groups that were the BJP’s strength going into the elections now threaten to derail the implementation of promises made by Narendra Modi and effectively imperil his tenure as prime minister. Of late, not only fringe elements but even key organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad embarrassed the government with a string of alleged forced conversions and ghar wapsi events. Add to that BJP lawmakers like Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who have been loose cannons pushing their own government into awkward positions. A survey conducted by IPSOS in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad for the Times of India found that recent statements and activities of a re-energized Sangh Parivar is now raising questions among people on whether the Modi government is really acting on ensuring the development it had promised before the polls. Some of the findings should jolt the government into action. A whopping 95 percent of the respondents in Bangalore felt the Sangh Parivar is disturbing the development agenda of the government. The number isn’t much lower in other metros with 65 percent in Delhi and 75 percent in Chennai sharing similar views. In Hyderabad and Kolkata, 59 percent said they agreed while even in Ahmedabad, in Modi’s home state, those agreeing with this view were 64 percent. Only Mumbai chose to think differently with 47 percent saying that the Parivar has affected the development programme while 37 percent thought to the contrary. [caption id=“attachment_2026147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] There is every reason for the government to worry about the findings of the survey. Not all of the cities surveyed believe that the government is doing enough to prevent the high-handedness of the Hindutva groups. In cities like Chennai and Hyderabad 65 percent and 53 percent of the respondents felt that the Centre encouraged these groups to go about their business without fear. In Bangalore, 49 percent believed the same. However, the opinion isn’t shared all over the country yet with respondents in Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune saying they believe the government is taking steps to keep these groups under control. The only relief for the government from the survey is that a high percentage of respondents in all the cities still have faith in the Modi government for now. But their support also hinges on the fact that the government doesn’t divert from the development agenda it promised. However, the controversies involving these groups have already begun to take a toll on the government. It was obvious that in the later part of the Winter Session in Parliament in 2014, that these avoidable issues took centre stage forcing the government to take the ordinance route on key bills like the Land Acquisition Act and the Insurance Act. Prime Minister Modi perhaps knows well that if these groups are not brought under control quickly, the goodwill of the people he enjoyed could quickly evaporate. The urgency of the matter could be gauged from the fact that Modi even threatened to quit if these these groups do not exercise self-restraint. The manner in which these elements have been trying to assert themselves has also largely disenchanted many who advocated the rise of Modi and the BJP. “Why is the Prime Minister allowing the RSS to steal his mandate? I ask this question wherever I go these days and frankly I have no answer?” wrote columnist Tavleen Singh  recently. Columnist Pratap Bhanu Mehta also refuses to believe that the Hindutva firebrands are just fringe elements. Senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta observed that Prime Minister Modi needs to keep “hotheads in check” and “shift the political centre of gravity in the BJP towards development and governance” while  political commentator Gurcharan Das made the most telling observation when he said that “for a brief moment, ‘strong’ Modi resembled ‘weak’ Manmohan Singh”. Realising that the image of the government has taken a big hit due to these unexpected turn of events, the Centre is planning a public relations blitzkrieg with the help of megastar Amitabh Bachchan. “While Minister of State, Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is set to tour areas which have a high minority population, actor Amitabh Bachchan has been roped in for an ad film that stresses the need to rise above religion and caste for inclusive development. The film is a brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who personally called up Bachchan."— a report in The Indian Express said. Whether these efforts will restrain the VHP and other little known Hindutva groups, and help the government undergo an image makeover will be closely watched as 2015 progresses. The next such survey will perhaps be a measure of how successful the Prime Minister and his government will have been.