His shadow will now loom over every political strategy devised in 2008 in the run-up to the general polls. Will a demoralised Congress, whose carefully preserved mascots Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were mercurially thwarted by a mere state leader, now lose heart and with it the political momentum? Will Congress anxieties over the Muslim vote mount, compel the party to lose face, ditch the Indo-US N-deal? Will the grand old party have the nerve to take "secular" positions now, at the risk of handing him issues on a platter? Clearly, Modi has added to the Congress identity crisis.
But equally, he's unnerved his own party with the sheer monstrous margin of his victory. L.K. Advani may have hurriedly been declared the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. But Modi is today, without doubt, the first among equals, the biggest crowdpuller, the main financier and an across-caste mass leader who stands head and shoulders above his colleagues in the BJP.
There had been speculation that if he won comfortably in Gujarat, Modi would make the giant leap from Gandhinagar to New Delhi. But he is a man who works to a plan—his controversial, riot-tainted history makes it imperative for the CM to hold on to his base in Gujarat. The 57-year-old Modi must stand on firm ground even as he tests the waters across the country. Sources close to Modi say he is comfortable working with Advani. After all, the Leader of the Opposition is 80 and the next general election could possibly be his last. Modi has been advised to prepare for the next electoral bout, after Advani has had his chance.
Meanwhile, the two men also share common ground in opposing the RSS's micro-management and VHP's temper tantrums. Characteristically, Modi has simply clobbered the Sangh parivar in Gujarat; Advani, much more of a gentleman, has made numerous public speeches against the RSS influence on the BJP. What is certain is that a Modi-Advani dispensation will see the RSS clout wane. Many Sangh volunteers in the BJP will simply recede into their shakhas.