It is not only his demeanour, but what he says during his election meetings, which creates such an impression. Narasimha Rao does not like attacking people—even his worst detractors, the people who have walked out on him. "It is not my style," he says. "I cannot abuse people in the manner others do. I know the people too do not appreciate such things. I am here to talk about what I have done. And you know what I have done."
The image he projects is obviously that of an elder statesman who considers it beneath his dignity to take on his opponents frontally. The strategy paid off during his five-year tenure as prime minister. But can it deliver him the votes in a no-holds-barred election? Even his loyalists in the Congress are beginning to admit that he does to have the necessary aggro to whip up a winning frenzy.
The media image of the Prime Minister remains of a person who cannot or does not take decisions. He does nothing to dispel it. The decision not to take a decision is itself a decision, he told an interviewer recently. This is something that many in the elite could empathise with. But this cannot quite enthuse the masses.
He has this driving need to be a perfectionist. He knows more languages than any other Indian politician. Yet he does not speak in Marathi while addressing election meetings in Maharashtra, or in Tamil in Tamil Nadu though he is well versed in both. People close to him say that he does not get a chance to speak these languages much, and there are idioms which do not come naturally to him while he is speaking extempore. So he speaks in either Hindi or English, quite often leaving the large rural population in the non-Hindi belt cold. What a contrast to Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, who would have the Tamil-speaking audience in raptures with the one-word Tamil greeting: Vanakkam!
There can be no denying the credit to the man who not only survived the full term as prime minister, despite his party being in minority in Parliament, but who managed to bring about the most memorable changes in the economic policy of the Government during his tenure. There can also be no quarrelling with the fact that he managed to turn the economy around by his quiet but adept handling. He has the capacity to listen patiently to almost everybody, holding his own counsel. The strategy stood him in good stead as prime minis -ter. But in an election like this, where there is no discernible wave, the question remains: will his performance as head of the government be good enough for him to get another term?
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