Sometimes events of immediate relevance overshadow issues of potentially wider ramifications. This is true about the events being dealt with in this piece.

To briefly recall the developments.

The popularity of the Modi government and the saffron party has been on the decline since early 2015 as shown by the saffron party’s humiliating defeats in Bihar and Delhi assembly elections and in a number of assembly by-elections.

The downslide sharpened communal polarization of the multilateral and diverse India after the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat declared that India is a Hindu rashtra and its residents are Hindus. It was apparent that the BJP’s “cultural and social” ideological mentor claiming to be a non-political body had unabashedly started delving in politics.

Fearing that slogans like “India is a Hindu rashtra” coupled with the provocative utterances by the Bhagva-robed fringe elements would cause setback to Modi’s attempts to woo minorities, the party changed its strategy -but only symbolically. It made chanting of “Bharat Mata ki jai’ slogan as a test for one’s patriotism. The attempt has, however, proved counter-productive.

Do the saffron party and its ideological mentor believe that those who donot chant “Bharat Mata ki jai’ slogan are traitors? If yes, then an overwhelming majority of Indians, particularly the religious minorities, who wish each other with their respective traditional religious symbol should be ready to face sedition charge by the Sangh Parivar which assumed power in 2014 with only 31 percent of votes!

The debate over Sangh Parivar’s insistence on chanting of “Bharat Mata ki jai’ slogan has prompted even the BJP patriarch LK Advani to describe the controversy over the slogan as “meaningless”.

After the controversies over “India is a Hindu Rashtra” and “Bharat Mata ki jai’ started losing ground, the BJP’s national executive has now declared “nationalism” as its trump card for the coming assembly elections. But none of the saffron party’s stalwarts has defined “nationalism”. Is the Sangh Parivar’s claim that India is a Hindu Rashtra or chanting of “Bharat Mata ki jai” slogan is “nationalism” and a test for one’s commitment to patriotism as BJP national executive has projected? Or, it is commitment to India’s Constitution and its symbols, which constitute nationalism? For their ideological credibility, they need to define what they mean by “nationalism”.

The happenings since the Modi government’s assumption of power 22 months ago remind one what American philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky had said that “Nationalism has a way of oppressing others”.

Apparently realizing that his party has been losing ground and the country’s economy has been on the downslide, Modi has now changed his strategy. He is wooing Dalits and tribals who constitute a huge section of India’s voters. Last Sunday, he declared that reservation and quota policy for Dalits and tribals will not be scrapped or diluted.

One is, however, not sure if his assertion represents a real change of heart or is his governance compulsions. Ostensibly, the declaration indicates his differences on the issue with RSS. In sharp contrast to Modi’s stand, RSS wants economic criteria to be made the basis for reservations and quotas. Modi has also now started reaching out to the minorities. But the outcome of his welcome move will depend on whether he would be able to erase the stigma of his Gujarat days anti-Muslim past and the actions and utterances of Sangh Parwar’s extremists.

Sycophancy, particularly if it is sung by loyalists, is either a sign of desperation or for securing higher offices. One is not sure in which category Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan fall. Moving the political resolution at the BJP’s National Executive last Sunday, Naidu described Narendra Modi as “God’s gift for India”. Not to lag behind during his address at the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha convocation Chauhan described Modi as the “most popular leader in the world(!) He is the God’s divine gift to India”.

Blowing his own trumpet, BJP president Amit Shah recently declared that the saffron party is the world’s largest party (!) with a membership of 11 crore. One presumes that his list of 11 crore members must have included voters of India’s second largest populated state of Bihar and also Delhi both of which had inflicted humiliating defeat on BJP in their last polls!

The situation enumerated above indicates that the coming months will pose major challenges, both political and economic, to the Modi government.

The first major challenge will be the five state assembly elections. If the BJP suffered a setback it would affect Modi government’s stability. The biggest will be checking communal elements, particularly the fringe Sangh Parivar’s whose activities are mainly responsible for communally polarizing Indian society. The third challenge will be on the economic front. There are no signs yet of the Modi’s promised ache din even as burre din continue unabated. Will Modi be able to stem the rot? (IPA Service)