Modi vs. Modi

Look at what he said during his election campaign and how they could come back to haunt him. He said he was not biologically born but sent by God to do God’s work, gifted with a divine energy. These are remarks that will now be thrown at his face repeatedly as God seems to have disowned his alleged messenger and turned his back on Narendra Modi. How will Modi handle these taunts flying around for the next four years? He’s now collapsed to the lowest point in his prime ministerial career in terms of numbers. About the taunts thrown at his face, he will no longer be the God who could dictate terms to others and to whom people will look up with reverence.

Modi once said, ‘I sometimes feel that I have come back to the material world.’

This particular quote was picked up by Christophe Jaffrelot in his book on Modi’s Gujarat. Now, the second controversial statement made by Modi during the campaign was to call Muslims ‘ghusbatiyo’ (intruders) and that they are people who have more children than the rest of us. He also repeatedly said Muslims would benefit from reservations snatched from OBCs, SCs, and STs, thus deliberately demonizing Muslims in Hindu eyes. Is he capable of changing his rhetoric towards Muslims, or will the past rhetoric trap him?

Whether he can present a new Modi is difficult to answer. The need for a new Modi is the challenge the old Modi faces.

We don’t think he will ever be able to get out of this because this has been his second nature from the beginning. From the time that he was the Gujarat Chief Minister and the Gujarat riots happened, he became the electorally dominant leader of Gujarat primarily only because of the Gujarat riots. From that time onwards, he has always resorted to Islamophobic speeches. Even in the 2002 elections, he referred to the riot relief camps set up for Muslims as ‘baby-producing factories.’ Throughout the 2014 election, he kept referring to Rahul Gandhi as Shahzada, which was also repeated in the 2024 election. He also referred to the UPA government as the ‘Delhi Sultanate.’ So, it is second nature to him using Islamophobic phrases.

The deliberate communalisation of his election campaign has backfired in states like UP and Bengal, which have a sizable Muslim population. In 1971, Modi cut his teeth in the RSS, and now he has spent half a century in this communal rhetoric, looking at the minorities as not the real Indian citizens unless they are willing to accept that they too are Hindus, which the RSS keeps on saying that everybody in India is a Hindu. You can be a follower of Islam, but you have to accept the fact that, culturally, you are a Hindu. That is the entire framework of cultural nationalism, the ideology of the RSS. Since 2014, there have been many instances where communal polarization has not worked. However, Modi tries to polarize the voters communally whenever there is an election.

One of the critical characteristics of Modi’s rhetoric, particularly during the 2024 election campaign, was his attack on the opposition. He called them casteist, communal, and corrupt. Within this, he was particularly personal and nasty about the Gandhi family. It’s been more than two decades that he’s used such language. In the 2002 elections, he said, ‘Soniya Behen is a Jersey cow, and Rahul is a hybrid calf.’ He repeated it later on.
When it comes to Modi’s attitude to key autonomous institutions like parliament, the judiciary, and the media, he has often ignored parliament during the last 10 years. He’s held up judicial appointments and been dismissive of the media.

The marginalization of the media started right from his Gujarat days. Let us not forget the fact that in Gujarat, there was a tradition started by Keshubhai Patel where journalists in Ahmedabad would gather every morning at a place at a government office and be taken in a government bus to Gandhinagar, which is about 20 odd kilometres. They would do their work throughout the day, and in the evening, at a designated time, they would all be brought back to Ahmedabad.

That was the facility that was granted to journalists. That was Modi’s first stop after becoming the chief minister in 2001. So, the idea that the media is not an adversary is necessary in a democracy, but that idea does not sit well in Modi’s mind. Earlier, he had problems with the judiciary and also undermined parliamentary procedures. There has been minimal scrutiny of bills tabled by the government or the standing committees. All those practices have entirely come to a stop. Modi also inaugurated the parliament building and laid the foundation for the new parliament building. Under the constitution, the prime minister’s office has no role to play in the functioning of parliament. So, his desire to be everywhere and the only face of government is proven by the number of inaugurations he’s done multiple times. It shows that is essentially what Mr. Advani had said: Modi is an excellent event manager, and the fact will also haunt him. The talk of a new India would go in the background, and we will see the necessity of having a new Modi. Will he be able to present a new Modi? The need for a new Modi is the challenge the old Modi faces.