National

Changed Pinstripes

A more humble, inclusive Narendra Modi? In words, yes. In action?

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Changed Pinstripes
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Change Of Colours?

  • Since the battering over his suit, Modi has shifted to more muted kurtas
  • Obama’s slap and Delhi defeat prompts conciliatory speech on religion 
  • BJP ministers show indications of cooperating with Arvind Kejriwal
  • Modi calls Pak PM for World Cup match, foreign secy on SAARC yatra
  • BJP trying to mend fences with SAD; praises Sharad Pawar on home turf
  • Signs that government not amused with censor board chief
  • VHP tells cadres to give Modi a break on its pet themes
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On January 30, two days after US President Barack Obama left India, this correspondent got a call from a minority cell member of the BJP. The cell had been inactive because Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the regime had shown no inclination to interact with minorities since coming to power. However, the day after Obama left (with a parting speech that invoked Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which gives every citizen the right to propagate their religion, and warned against efforts to divide society on ‘sectarian lines’), there was a request for a meeting of Muslim ‘intellectuals’ with the home minister that could eventually lead to a similar meeting with the prime minister. “We request you to join please, Madam,” the gentleman said. “It’s not the clerics we’re invi­ting.” Since the meeting invol­ved going as a repres­entative of a community, not a journalist, I declined. But the next morning, Rajnath Singh met 14 individuals at 11 am. They ranged from former information commissioner M.M. Ansari, UNESCO’s Huma Masood, Minor­ities Educati­onal Institu­tions chairman Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui to Islam Hussain, president of a network of ngos.

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It took the remarks of an American president to drive the BJP into a conversa­tion with India’s largest minority! That warning came from an individual who is arguably the world’s most powerful man. The second warning came from Delhi­zens, who gave the BJP a drubbing in an election in the run-up to which there had been attempts to create riots in four parts of the city, besides an MP of the ruling party describing those who did not vote for the party of Ram as ‘haramzade’.

In the aftermath of that defeat and on the eve of another session of Parliament, the prime minister, it seems, has decided to change his pinstripes. It is cause for celebration. Modi has finally found it politically sensible to speak up for religi­ous freedom and crack down on those who incite communal hatred. He spoke strongly, persuasively and without any ambiguity at a ceremony of the Syro-Malabar Church in Delhi last week. Better late than never, but given the nature of the regime and events of  recent months, the speech can only be seen as a statement of intent.

AAP’s victory has apparently driven the prime minister to a course correction: less arrogance, more secularism (or at least lip service to it)! The infamous suit with his name woven in pinstripes is on auction, and at the time of writing, the bids were going upward of a crore as the PM’s fans described the garment as a ‘national treasure’. Modi also tweeted about being ‘appalled’ to hear that his followers had built a temple to him.

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Is this therefore the beginning of the second phase of the prime ministership of Narendra Modi, where he tries to show humility, reclaim the chaiwala gro­und, and at least attempt to appear more inclusive? The only way Modi can manage this is if he cracks down on his own Sangh parivar. They see his prime ministership as a great opportunity to settle scores with ‘secularists’, rewrite history, push minorities on a backfoot, expand the might of frontal organisations thr­o­ugh the ghar wapasi and ‘anti-love jehad’ campaigns. After first being in partnership with the RSS-VHP in Gujarat, Modi did marginalise them later.

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It is debatable how he can manage that in India. The cadre is essential for any expansion in other states. With the next significant state election in Bihar later this year, will Modi and party president Amit Shah play a non-sectarian innings? Will the likes of Giriraj Singh, BJP MP from Nawada, who told Mus­lims to go to Pakistan, be told to pipe down? Sources in the party now speak of ideolo­gical contradictions staring them in the face.

Asked to respond to the latest speech, a party worker quipped: “Kabhi kahte hain Hindu hain/Kabhi kahte hain Hindu mat ban (Sometimes they say we are Hindu/ other times they say don’t be a Hindu).”

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Besides, Modi’s words ring hollow as long as Shah remains BJP president. He has been in jail for encounter killings in Gujarat although his legal fortunes have changed since the new dispensation in Delhi. Even if we wipe the slate clean and forget Gujarat events, Shah has played the communal card blatantly in assembly byelections in UP (where the BJP lost). He has dared secular parties to support an anti-conversion law and presumably knew of the attempt to polarise in Delhi. Byelection results in West Ben­gal, where Trinamool Congress won handsomely last week, also show that Shah’s look-east policy is not that easy to implement.

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Modi is undoubtedly a strong PM. He can’t get the better of parivar and party and come out of his own shadow (of which Shah is a part) with just words. He has nearly five years to change his own history. With an unch­aracteristic display of humility, the Delhi speech last week was a road direction sign.

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