Arun Shourie is now the new Kejriwal in attacking Modi

Journalist-turned-politician Arun Shourie has launched the most scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi so far – worse even than the “coward” and “psychopath” remarks made by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in December, 2015.

In an exclusive interview with India Today TV's Karan Thapar, Shourie, who set the benchmark as an incisive editor of The Indian Express, and excelled as an efficient and honest Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, made a long list of remarks against Modi.

According to him, the prime minister possesses the three personality traits that make the "dark triad" – he is narcissist, Machiavellian and remorseless. Shourie accused Modi of running a “one-man”, “presidential" government and expressed fears that over the next three years there would be “a more systematic attempt to curb civil liberties” and an increase in “decentralised intimidation” besides “choking” of “inconvenient voices”.

Also read: No sour grapes, Arun Shourie’s critique of Modi is political truth-telling

Going by Shourie’s diatribe against Modi, one could say that they were only rants of a frustrated, desperate person, and these are the reasons why:

Timing

Shourie’s comments can be compared only with those of Kejriwal’s. While the nation discusses and is preoccupied with the Rs 3,600crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, the former Union minister is making personal and exaggerated remarks against the prime minister to divert the nation's attention.

It is just like Kejriwal who is busy scouting for Modi’s graduation degree when the biggest scam after Bofors involving a defence deal has hit the nation.

Both Shourie and Kejriwal can be accused of trying all means to shift the focus away from the chopper scam, which is pointing needles of suspicion at top Congress leaders like its president Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel. Or, it may also be because of Shourie and Kejriwal's personal and strong dislike for Modi.

Also read: Why I am disappointed with Arun Shourie

Allegations

We will discuss here, one by one, the charges Shourie has levelled against the prime minister in order to evaluate their validity:

A. Narcissist

The former editor accused Modi of suffering from “self-love to an exaggerated extent, and insecurity”.

He compared Modi to a “casanova” who, according to him, “has to reassure himself every night he can still conquer”.

He claimed that the prime minister likes to have people around him who are inferior to him. Moreover, he does not believe in maintaining long-term relationship with them, Shourie accused. Now, coming to the facts, does Modi need to feel insecure? A big “no”.

Why should he suffer from a sense of insecurity? He does not run a minority government. The BJP alone has more than 272 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Modi is presiding over a government which is running as a coalition by choice, not under compulsion.

Hence, Modi is presiding quite confidently over a majority government, after 30 years. Moreover, the leaders considered close to him, such as BJP president Amit Shah and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley have been associated with him for a long time.

B. Machiavellian

Shourie said Modi “exploits events to his benefit” and that “his attitude to people is to use and throw them. He treats them like paper napkins”. He gave the example of the devastating June 2013 Uttarakhand floods and said, as Gujarat chief minister at that point in time, Modi had rescued 15,000 people from his state in one-and-a-half days.

Basically, Shourie was quoting a news report which had made such a claim about Modi's “Rambo” act.

However, he conveniently skipped the crucial part of the episode in which the news report was repudiated by the BJP (by none other than the then party president Rajnath Singh and Modi himself). Hence, such a selective narration raises serious questions over Shourie’s motive.

C. Remorseless

The former Union minister said this “means never saying sorry for what happens as a consequence of what you do” and it involves “defence of ego” and ignoring “collateral damage” while striving for a “higher cause”. Shourie is clearly picking on Modi by making these allegations.

As prime minister, Modi did express remorse over the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri over the controversial issue of beef consumption. He also expressed regret over the suicide of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula.

Hence, on this count too, Shourie is making a frontal and unfounded attack on Modi.

D. One-man presidential government

Shourie accused Modi of running a one-man presidential government and that too “without the checks and balances” which are there in the US. He called it a “dangerous situation”. Isn’t the former editor making an unfounded charge?

The prime minister follows all democratic traditions. All decisions are taken in the cabinet and all the legislations are made in Parliament. The Congress leadership is itself to blame if its MLAs rebelled in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand forcing the imposition of President’s Rule in both the states.

The BJP has not joined the government in Arunachal Pradesh and has desisted from forming its own government with the help of the rebel MLAs in Uttarakhand. On the contrary, it as allowed the legal process to take its course as the matter is sub judice in the Supreme Court.

Modi has given a free hand to all his ministerial colleagues. He praises them for their good work and keeps encouraging them. The other day, he lauded defence minister Manohar Parrikar for his speech in the Rajya Sabha on the AgustaWestland scam.

He has appreciated the works of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her junior minister General VK Singh on several occasions – one being the evacuation of Indians from trouble-torn Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Modi does not interfere in the works of any of the constitutional bodies.

E. Corruption

Shourie admitted that there was no allegation of corruption against the Centre in the last two years. However, he referred to the Vyapam scam, Lalit Modi-related issues and the Saradha scam and sought to associate them with Modi. Here too, the former minister is being more than harsh with Modi.

While the Vyapam scam is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the monitoring of the Supreme Court, Lalit Modi had left the country during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. The Saradha scam is also being investigated upon.

Instead of casting aspersions on the prime minister, Shourie should have lauded him for not interfering in the functioning of the investigating agencies. What Shourie seems to be doing is to make sweeping statements against the prime minister.

Modi’s friend-turned-foe seems to be furious at him. And the only plausible reason is that Modi did not include him in his cabinet despite Shourie behaving like the shadow finance minister in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.