The interest reduction announcement could cause serious political damage to the BJP’s electoral prospects as lower classes of Bengal contribute to small saving with nearly Rs. 90,000 crore a year to occupy top position in small savings contribution. Though she termed the announcement by her department on the last day of March 2021 as an inadvertent mistake, it is not conceivable that seasoned officials of her department would dare to put their heads on a guillotine slab by unclear disclosure or unless she specifically directed. The bureaucrats are seasoned to know the timing, particularly the election times. They also read media flashes to know the stakes of the prime minister involved in election.

The inadvertent error is similar in nature and timing as was the demand by the Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat for review of reservations policy for the OBCs and Dalits in November 2015. The state assembly election was an ongoing process then. Bhagwat had withdrawn his demand three days before the voting. Seetharaman blundered two days after the voting in 30 of 270 seats of the Bengal assembly.

The finance minister has come from the world of business and academics. Seven years in different ministries as the minister were enough to convert her to be a seasoned politician. It ought to have instinctively warned her of inherent dangers in displaying initiatives. Everyone in the party was aware of the consequence of inadvertent mistake by Bhagwat in 2015. It was a deliberate memory loss to damage the Prime Minister and force him to abandon his enthusiasm to keep his electoral promise. As the finance minister Nirmala Seetharaman and her team of bureaucrats must have been aware that NaMo was engaged in the most important electoral fight of his life. He continued to be in his office for more than year after Bhagwat had publicly denounced him by disassociating the Sangh with the NaMo regime only. NaMo continues in his office only due to the lock down in two weeks after the denouement by Bhagwat.

The finance minister continues in her ministry even after causing such serious damage to the party prospects in polls in four states and Pondicherry Union Territory. She has served the interests and political games within without worrying of damage to NaMo. Protection to her from powerful forces is apparent due to her continuation in office even after a serious blunder. She has apparently served the right forces at the cost to the Prime Minister and assumed a complete protection and her continuation in the power position. It displays the existence of power distribution within to make NaMo a helpless to assert his supremacy,

Many inside and outside the ruling party suspected the Prime Minister consolidating his vote bank among the classes outside the traditional vote bank of the party ever since the 2014 election. It indicated the Modi wave had swept away hold of two state level parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, that had dominant role in power politics of both the states. He was actually playing the political game of consolidation of OBCs.His bank account scheme, originally linked to social security insurance was suspected to be his way of consolidating his vote bank.. He had not shown a concern for the health and survival of the banking sector that had been serving the middle class needs even before independence. He placed burden of maintenance of few hundred million bank accounts without providing for maintenance expenditure. Most public sector banks that had to bear the burden were in red within a year. Instead of providing the healthy solution for recovery they were directed to recover their lent money to industrial and business units. Banks were not given option for their incomes to survive.

Many did not attribute his evil intents to his moves but they were also presenting a picture of the man strayed far away from the party past and its objectives. In either case, he was not the real party man was the presentation about him. Even otherwise from his birth outside the socially acceptable class, he could not be acceptable real party man. His initiatives had merely confirmed the prevalent views and the class prejudices. Though no one had courage to express it, their behaviour and their responses to anti Modi message were enough to reflect their prejudices.

It leads to the question whether the oversight leading to inadvertent error in publication of the directed slashing of returns on small savings was a message to the deprived sections all over. Its hasty withdrawal drew more attention all over India to project that the Modi regime was working to deprive the deprived class of returns on their small savings. The hasty withdrawal drew more attention to enable media to reveal that the proposal was under consideration for more than a year. Its implementation is merely differed and not abandoned.

This election to five assemblies is the second round in Modi era. It had not won the elections to assemblies except in Assam in the previous round. The failure to score in this round will merely reflect the limits of the NaMo influence. But the real achievement is in conveying the message to the deprived classes in other states that NaMo may pretend but he is not their benefactor friend. Though the party since the establishment in 1980 nursed only the middle classes it remained outside the power structure due to failure to impress the deprived classes. It did gain 172 eats only in 1999 though short by 101 seats requisite to enable to form its government. NaMo proved in 2014 it possible to win a clear mandate. He proved again in 2019 though he had no credits on his slate. His second success became the turning point.

Three names under speculative debate in the party circles as possible successor to NaMO Amit Shah, union home minister, Nitin Gadkari another minister in the NaMo team and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister are men of upper castes. That is why presenting NaMo is not benefactor for the deprived classes as important than to worry over the impact on the assembly polls in four states.