Two years on, Modi as an idea is over
Partly, and only just, due to technology, no other prime minister of India after Indira Gandhi between 1971 and 1973 - this too relatively - has occupied the amount of mind space Narendra Modi has done in the first two years of his regime. The rest of it is his doing and consciously so.
Rajiv Gandhi too made an attempt from 1984 to the end of 1986 but unlike the other two he ended up sharing the spotlight with the babalog. For both Indira and her son, the two years under the arc light was followed by downward slide.
Politicians must identify the peak they wish to scale and after ascending it, they must be aware of the downhill journey that awaits them. Both Indira and Rajiv chose to make 1971 and 1984 their own summits and slipped on the slush fell.
Two years after his unprecedented victory, it is still unclear if Modi has visions of a peak higher than the one he scaled. If he has, its route is still hazy. This was all the more so during Year Two.
Year One at least witnessed the single-minded pursuit of being a selfie-prime minister who brooked no restraint and wore a suit with his own name monogrammed while cha-ing with the most powerful man on earth.
He may not have been from the kind of poverty-stricken background that has been projected but he surely was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. So was the case with Manmohan Singh but he was no showman his successor was.
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| Narendra Modi at One at least witnessed the single-minded pursuit of being a selfie-prime minister. (PTI) |
In contrast, Year Two has seen a more circumspect Modi. He tripped badly in the electoral arena in Bihar and though much has been made of the triumph in Assam, Modi knows that this is the Parivar's victory as much as 2014 was the result of his personal charge.
Even amateur trackers of the saffron brigade know that last September's Samanvaya Baithak at which ministers queued to with detailed activity reports on activities of their ministries to the assembled RSS functionaries, was evidence of a subtle alteration in the power equation between Modi and the Sangh.
In recent weeks, another evidence of this transition has come in the form of the Rajya Sabha nomination to Subramanian Swamy, the man who no prime minister would want in his backyard. But unless Modi tests this arrangement, expect no fireworks. Yet, rest assured, someone in Lutyens' Delhi has slept uneasily ever since the pugnacious don became an Elder again.
Year Two witnessed the third attempt at tampering with our enlightened education system that more than anything else fosters the spirit of enquiry and does not preach that our ancestors were experts in reproductive genetics. The first effort was made in the Janata regime when a weak education minister, PC Chunder was influenced to change and alter curricula and textbooks; the second crack was taken during with Vajpayee the helm and Murli Manohar Joshi as his matador in HRD.
But make no mistake; the third short will have the most lasting impact because the targets are not just the institutions and curricula but the objective is to alter the social discourse. The Modi regime used events in Jawaharlal Nehru University in February to enforce a new social lexicon of patriotism.
The success of this strategy was reflected in Assam where the new model of Hybrid Hindutva got the nod of the electorate. To understand this idea, one has to unravel one of the latest offering from the Kejriwal-bitten auto industry - the hybrid car which uses two distinct modes for powering the vehicle.
In Assam, the post-JNU discourse on ultra-nationalism was the contribution of the Modi campaign machinery. The other dimension of the campaign - traditional Hindutva - was moulded by the Sangh. It was the result of a sustained campaign spread over three and a half decades. What began as an agitation against non-Assamese migrants faded into oblivion with the co-option of the Asom Gana Parishad into an essentially anti-minority polity.
Year Two ends on this sour note for Modi. His Midas touch is clearly gone. He alone cannot win polls for the Sangh anymore but has to rely on it for victories - both small and big. But will it be able to perform an encore in the far more essential Uttar Pradesh next year?
Modi as an idea is over. Two magical words which contributed immensely to propel him to 7 RCR is no longer even talked about: vikas and badlav. Nothing changed. Nothing ever will. The outsider of yesterday is a comfortable well-ensconced insider. Mediocrity and vacuum of talent has become this regime's signature.
In Year One, Modi's problem was his majority. He couldn't blame unruly coalition partners for tasks undone. In Year Two, he found a solution to his problem: blame the Opposition for derailing governance by disallowing Rajya Sabha from functioning. The compulsive obsession with the Nehru-Gandhi family has almost become a terminal disorder.
What survives is a public affairs and electoral machinery. Over the next three years it will be tasked with selling a pedestrian regime. Worshipping is the answer to all ills. Worship the nation, the Ganga, other rivers, the cow and of course, Modi!
In Year Two, hyperventilating Bhakts managing multiple Twitter handles perforce emerged as main defenders after ardent-supporters of yore lost heart and abandoned dugouts. These PTs, as @Swamy39 calls them, are not part of that stream which Tagore referred - where "reason has not lost its way". Who in any case is this Tagore chap and what did he mean by titling his lines - "Where The Mind Is Without Fear"?
But how can one not fear the vigilante groups?
And, haven't we already heard the good news: a Gulag for the independent mind is already under construction. We will get to hear more progress on this next year!