That said, the Congress was enjoying the spectacle of Modi stranded. Somebody from the party tweeted ‘How’s the Josh?’ while another 140-letters characterized, “They were waiting for you at the Chauraha!” which is another description for “lynching”. Clearly, lynching is going places, and people.

Which is what must have made Prime Minister Narendra Modi quip at Bhatinda airport “tell CM Channi thank you, I returned alive.” Channi failed to catch the sarcasm though Navjot Singh Sidhu is a master at it. But for the first time in weeks, Sidhu managed to stay away from the glare and goof-ups—Channi took the brunt.

But, then, who knew farmers would resurrect in such a manner—right when Modi’s cavalcade mounted the flyover, and “10 km short of the border with Pakistan.” The BJP said it was a breach of the Prime Minister’s security—unpardonable. Channi returned with “no way, the Prime Minister’s life was never in danger.”

The BJP wants “consequences.” An All India Trinamool Congress spokesperson laughed, saying, “The Prime Minister of India’s security was breached, but not that of Narendra Modi, the politician.” Let’s not forget, the anti-Modi-ism that we see today underwent its initiation rites in the TMC stronghold of West Bengal.

So, there is nothing to be surprised about—political hatred has breached unparalleled heights at this particular point in time. The BJP hates the Congress which hates the BJP which hates the TMC which returns the favour and is not in love with the Congress…

And everybody hates Narendra Modi, says the Congress and the TMC and the Samajwadi Party. Ditto the people of Lakhimpur-Kheri, and the people of Punjab to the people in Lakshadweep and so on and so forth—across the length and breadth of India.

At least that is what Congress politicians were hinting at after Modi’s black and white cavalcade, including his SPG security detail, was forced-to-a-strand at the curving top of a vulnerable flyover in Punjab.

Left and right, front and back Modi’s bulletproof idled with Modi in the front seat. Exposed to the elements, and exposed to unknown elements. “What if the ISI…,” some media asked in ominous suspense, the anchors deadpan, sure that Modi had escaped what could have been an assassination attempt.

Of course, the brief stall-over atop the flyover had taken a political turn. Not least because the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office allegedly refused to take calls from the stranded Prime Minister’s security detail, which was taken as "Channi is deliberately doing it.”

Chief Minister Channi made it worse when he chose to “embrace the excuse” that he had been exposed to Covid-19 positive individuals and, therefore, couldn’t take the telephone calls. He said he tried his level best to convince the farmers the “night before” but that they had refused to relent, adamant they would confront Modi.

But Channi’s excuses were flimsy. He spoke of Covid-19 and self-isolation, but was seen holding a presser without mask and social distancing. Channi’s defence was punched with holes and it leaked. The suspicions strengthened when somebody quoted Sidhu and said that Rahul Gandhi was “in a secret meeting” in Italy.

True or false, it fit in neatly with the heresy and blasphemy that currently scripts the Punjab narrative. Politically, Punjab is sitting on a time-bomb. Pakistan pilfers its way into every Punjab narrative. The Punjab voter is still sane on his feet, but can lose it all at the drop of a turban—he is so nervously strung by the shenanigans being played out.

Into such a scenario steps in somebody like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, somebody who certain mentalities love to hate. It is a subject for a doctoral thesis “Why big numbers of voters love to hate Modi?” Yup, whoever gets his head around this topic will be read from Kashmir to Kavaratti.

The message from the flyover is that the farmers hate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Months ago, one of Modi’s party-mates was roughed up by farmers in Punjab, his dignity in tatters. Months later, here’s the ‘Prime Minister Stranded on the Flyover’, raindrops pattering on the black bullet-proof with the country’s most powerful politician cowering inside—stripped of his dignity. The way things are panning out, by 2024 there wouldn’t even be the tatters to string up a Modi narrative. The farmers, called "paid mercenaries" by a BJP spokesperson, could not have made a more explosive return to centre-stage than by halting a Prime Minister at the top of a flyover. It has set an unprecedented precedent. (IPA Service)