Diwali Bomb : Advani leads revolt against Modi-Shah

Anil Narendra

When Narendra Modi took oath of the post of the 15^th Prime Minister of the country on 26^th May 2014 he ushered in a new hope, a new dawn in India.  People gave him an unprecedented mandate (I included) with a hope that he would change India’s destiny.  The millions voted for him expecting a quality change in their life, employment for the youth, protection from exploitation etc.  But their dreams were shattered within 18 months of Modi’s coming to power. 

No doubt his popularity is still intact as was exhibited in his recent visit to the United Kingdom and the rallies he has had in this country but his party’s defeat in Bihar has come as a big blow to Modi.  It is a verdict against the PM’s style of working and his failure to deliver.  The country did not vote for Amit Shah or for that matter Arun Jaitley.  Modi has been concentrating only on his foreign tours and has left the running of the country and his party to Shah and the country to Jaitley. 

Elections come and go, state elections are not an indicator of the central governments popularity but it does reflect what the mood of the people is.  Mr. George Bush (senior) once came to New Delhi for a very brief visit.  I was also invited to American Embassy to meet him.  After his speech I went up to him and said ‘Sir, you were very popular in the U.S.  The American prestige was sky high after you led the country through operation Desert Storm, then why did you lose the next Presidential Elections?  Bush replied “I guess I was looking more outward than inwards”.  This is precisely what Mr. Modi is doing. 

Delhi assembly elections were a wake-up call but Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley instead of changing their arrogant and aristocratic style of working brushed the defeat under the carpet and went on to repeat the same mistakes in Bihar.  I don’t blame Modi for the defeat as much as Shah-Jaitley duo.  The revolt in the party was brewing up for sometime but the lid was finally lifted after the crushing defeat of BJP in Bihar.  Knives were out in BJP when veteran leaders L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar raised a banner of revolt against the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and Party President Amit Shah in the wake of Bihar debacle. 

This is the first, direct and biggest internal challenge to Modi and his confidents Shah and Jaitley.  Arun Shourie’s open statement against Modi was a clear indication that something was brewing in the party.  It is because of the knowledge of this brewing revolt that Modi made it a point to visit Advani’s house on counting day, also the octogenarian’s birthday to wish him.  Modi and Shah were clearly anticipating trouble of the Bihar elections bombed and bombed it did.  The results were not just bad, but terrible.  The statement, which named no names, was clearly directed at the Prime Minister and BJP President.  The veteran party stalwarts came out openly against the BJP leadership calling for a ‘thorough review’ of the influence being wielded by what they called ‘a handful’.

To say that everyone is responsible for the defeat in Bihar is to ensure that no one is held responsible.  “It shows those who would have appropriated credit if the party had won are bent on shrugging off responsibility for the disastrous showing in Bihar,” the four leaders said.  “The main reason for Bihar drubbing is the way the party has been emasculated in the last year.”  “A thorough review must be done of the reasons of the defeat as well as of the way the party is being forced to kowtow to a handful, and how its consensual character has been destroyed said Advani & Co. 

Let’s talk of some of the mistakes committed by Amit Shah due to his arrogant attitude in the elections.  Instead of relying on local BJP leaders to fight the election on local issues, Modi was advised to take personal control of the campaign in the hope that his reputation and popularity would seal the victory.  From polarization to development Shah tried every trick in the book to win, R.S.S. Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s controversial remark on reservations, failure of NDA partners, LJP, HAM and RLSP to transfer their votes to BJP candidates, the failed attempt of polarizing the votes, wrong distributors of tickets including giving it to the wrong caste, too much reliance on central leadership in running the campaigning was the planning and execution has been attributed to Party President Amit Shah.  BJP’s campaign went haywire as it switched from making development the main plank by playing the caste card and then attempting to polarize the elections.

BJP’s attack on Lalu’s jungle Raj further alienated the Yadav’s.  BJP Chief Amit Shah’s attempt to polarize the elections with his “crackers will be burst in Pakistan if BJP loses also backfired as did the beef eating controversy.  Nitish and Lalu used PM’s DNA remarks to win sympathy of the Bihar votes.  It is thus clear that this fight within BJP IS A FIGHT TO THE FINISH.  The veterans are obviously going to push things and I doubt that they will stop now till matters are taken to the logical conclusions. 

Eighteen months in power, and Modi and the BJP are already at the crossroads.  The PM needs to regain the initiative and this can only be done by accepting his and his lieutenant’s shortcomings.  The Bihar results are a big blow to Modi’s momentum.  His future now depends on how he responds.  If he uses this verdict as a wakeup call and cleans his ugly side, he could turn it around.  But if he decides to crush dissidence it could be a disaster.