Can Modi challenge orthodoxy of Sangh

The BJP’s birthday bash after two years of rule of the party-led government at the Centre — it was too impatient to wait for the traditional halfway mark — had an underlying theme: the “Xiification” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The personality cult honed by China’s President Xi Jinping was in full flow and Mr Modi’s ministers and supporters sought journalists to broadcast their achievements, with the principal then appearing after Bollywood actors had done their bit interspersed by the sound and dance routine against the backdrop of India Gate. And Mr Modi used the occasion to attack the Congress.

The country has become used to the use of modern technology so effectively employed by Mr Modi during the 2014 general election campaign. But this was more in the nature of a coronation, with the bearded visage dominating lavish advertisements in the national and regional press and private television channels portraying the presiding deity as the centre of all government-funded or -initiated programmes. Both India Gate — remember Mr Modi’s inauguration of the World Yoga Day last year — and reverential references to the Prime Minister by his ministers were essential features of the theme.

Coming as the second anniversary did after BJP’s notable election victory in the Assam Assembly election and breaking ground in Kerala, it was something of a double celebration. But the projection of Mr Modi as the leader with a magic charm was unmistakable. As has now become customary, the Prime Minister is no respecter of norms and lustily campaigns for his party in Assembly elections and promises to do more of the same.

As Mr Modi faces three years of his remaining term, how do the pluses and minuses stack up Undoubtedly, after the lacklustre last years of the United Progressive Alliance government, the BJP leader has given a new direction and thrust. The last Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, was hobbled by the dual-key arrangement at the top — the other, perhaps main, key was with Congress president Sonia Gandhi — but was also forced to tolerate dubious ministers of his allied parties’ choice. Although the UPA government was able to initiate major initiatives such as Aadhaar, the minimum work scheme and other support programmes for the poor and needy farmers and the landmark nuclear agreement with the United States, a series of scams and inertia got the better of it.

It was Mr Modi’s good luck that he took office at a time the world’s oil prices were in precipitous fall giving energy-dependent India a shot in the arm. Besides, his National Democratic Alliance government demonstrated that it would try unorthodox policies if necessary to achieve the goal of fast development. He had some success in cutting out deadwood and launching new schemes — the benefits of a new broom. Notably, he was viewed as his own boss.

On the debit side, two themes have consistently hung around the NDA’s neck in two years of office: the centrality of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’) relationship with the BJP and the Hindutva agenda of the combine in running the country, often expressed in trivialities such as directing individuals’ eating habits and forcing them to chant a particular formula of nationalism.

The mentor status of the RSS in relation to the BJP is well known. Many of the principals and party functionaries are primarily RSS men and women. Nor is it a secret that the RSS’ goal is to create Hindutva, best defined as its desire to create an ideal Hindu society. The problem arises in two forms. After India’s experiment in secularism led by the Congress and movement for 60-plus years in Independent India, imposing the idea of a Hindu India flies in the face of the country’s mixed population compromising 14 per cent Muslims and other important minorities such as Sikhs and Christians. The second problem is the rewriting of history with the goal of elevating ancient India as the great age of civilisation and learning not only in segments of Hindu rule, but by obliterating the period of Muslim rule although tolerating two centuries of British rule because of its proximity.

It is a rule that most ideologues lack a sense of humour. Mr Modi himself has waxed eloquent on planes flying in ancient India, head transplants being a common practice and the existence of other marvels of modern science in India’s ancient world. Therefore, it is not so absurd for his supporters to brandish their Hinduness in the face of the minorities, spreading disquiet among the population.

The divisive nature of this discourse is plain to see. Add to it is the ambiguity of Mr Modi’s own beliefs — he was reared in the RSS laboratory. How far is he prepared to challenge his mentor in pursuing pragmatic policies For instance, he has had no problem in bestowing the education and human development portfolio to Smriti Irani, a school leaver, because the RSS’ priority is to mould the minds of the young. We have had many pearls of wisdom from her in the direction of taking education to new, untried paths.

As Mr Modi has made it clear through his forays in campaigning, he is a street fighter when occasion demands. But his extravagant Opposition-bashing rhetoric sits ill with the task of governing the nation. Was it appropriate that he should celebrate two years in office by going after the Congress, which is facing its own crisis Sometimes, it would seem that he forgets that he is the leader of the country, rather than merely of one party.

The disadvantage of building a personality cult is that he can bask in glory if things go right, but he would have to bear the largest share of blame if things go wrong. If his ministers and supporters raise him to the level of a demi-god, they might be seeking to cash in on his patronage but are doing harm to the country. We are humans, not celestial beings.