Demonising Modi

DEMONISING MODI

Congress Party is demonizing present PM Narendra Modi since 2002 after the Gujarat riots. They have called Modi by so demeaning words and phrases that initially people started wondering whether he is really such a bad person. They called him ‘Maut Ka Saudagar’ ie Merchant of Death,  Mass Killer, Farcist and what not. As Congress was ruling the country from 2004 to 2014, this type demonizing of Modi helped them to create such a negative image of Modi in the eyes of world that so many countries including USA refuse to grant visa to Narendra Modi, although he was elected Chief Minister of an India state, which was against the unwritten ethics of world politics, but Congress party instead of  telling other countries, this is not done, you can not refuse visa to an elected CM, went on adding fuel to fire and further spoiling Modi’s image. Even with this demonizing campaign , Modi still won three consecutive state elections and remained CM. Even after trying their best, not a single court of law found any conclusive evidence against Modi that he had instigated the riots and he had hand in killings of innocent Muslims, but this did not stop Congress from further demonizing Modi.

When in 2013 Modi was declared BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate for next general elections in 2014.Congress party again started demonizing Modi, he is communal etc etc.  But by this time BJP and their grass root organization built a solid campaign in favour of Modi, about his achievement in developing Gujarat as a model state, not a single communal riots after 2002 and other development and good things which happened in Gujarat. The result was that  Congress lost miserably in 2004 elections and their strength in Lok Sabha  came down to 44 seats only from 200 + seats.

In 2019 general elections, Congress again adopted the same strategy of demonizing Modi and raised slogans like ‘Chokidar Chor Hai’, corruption in Rafale deal, questions on surgical strikes etc, where as BJP’s campaign depended upon the achievements of Modi govt in last 5 years. Although Congress increased their tally of seats from 44 to 52 in Lok Sabha. On the contrary, BJP increased their tally from 282 to 305 seats, and NDA from 336 to 360 seats. This time also demonizing Modi did not work for Congress.

In the last few days some of the senior leaders of Congress ,notably Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor, Abhishek Sanghvi have come out openly and stated that demonization of Narendra Modi does not pay politically. This came after passing of Triple Talaq bill, and J&K state’s conversion to 2 Union Territories bill in the parliament. In the parliament it so happened that many of the political parties who are generally allied  with Congress voted in favour of these bills, which came as shock to Congress. It seems their allies realize and felt the pulse of general public, but Congress top leadership is still living in their, as if they have still right to rule the country. Gandhi family and their chamchas are not happy with the above leaders and their statement.

The other fact is that demonizing of Modi has resulted in BJP demonizing Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, who are icon of the Congress and left liberals, even calling Nehru criminal and author of Kashmir problem.  It is not only individual like Nehru who is BJP’s ‘bete noire’, the party has also been less than kind towards groups it does not like such as the media, whom some of BJP’s members call “presstitutes” in a weak attempt to  be humorous.

Given the fact number of Congressmen, including several bigwigs, have gone over to the BJP, any suggestion of being gentle and accommodative towards the party can raise questions about the real motive of those favouring a gentler, kinder approach. This is the main problem with the Congress party.

The doubts also arise because the Congress at the moment is ideologically at sixes and sevens with Rahul Gandhi’s temple hopping before the last general election (but, significantly, not afterwards), which points to  “soft” Hindutva at the expense of secularism.

Now if the party now suddenly starts to pick and choose to comment on various policies of present govt, it will appear more confuse rather than a clear eyed, impartial arbiter of good and bad.

But reality is that the BJP is the party, which is going to stay in Indian politics for along long time, as this is not a party which is owned by one family. The fact is that the Congress party has to change with new environment in the country, and the statement by the above mentioned leaders should be considered as first step towards the change, but will the Congress High Command change their attitude. Such a change in attitude may be politically rewarding because the average people are bound to appreciate such a gesture. Which may also lead to BJP dropping their anti Nehru/Indira Gandhi stance.

The Congress, therefore, can be generous in praising the Modi govt’s welfare schemes such as housing, electrification, cleanliness, providing cooking gas to the poor, opening bank accounts and so on without feeling that it is conceding too many plus points to its main opponent party. Congress is always hesitant to openly praise measures taken by Modi govt, because these measures have helped Modi to win votes. What Modi did was , that his govt ensured that benefit reaches the deserving people, although Congress also had similar policies but their middlemen looted, and the benefits never reached the deserving.

At the same time, it is possible for a politically savvy party to balance the praise for such populist measures and condemn the BJP’s other electoral card of hyper-nationalism which brands all dissenters as ‘anti-nationals’.

Now it is up to Congress to take the next step, and change the political scenario of the country, which might put BJP on back foot.

What you say my friends.

Awaiting your views/feed backs/comments on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

29^th Aug 2019