It is noteworthy that two leading political figures — the resurrected Andhra Pradesh chief minister-designate N. Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar’s political acrobat Nitish Kumar who finds it difficult to rid himself of the shackles of the chief minister’s office — had to rescue a beleaguered prime ministerial aspirant after he lost the mandate of the people.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
In effect, the two leaders are covering for the handicap imposed on Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi by the people of the country for his ten-year run that may be aptly described as a period of misdeeds and a time of terror when Gestapo methods were not deemed unthinkable if you came from the lower rungs of society, or were a member of the largest religious minority, or were a dissident or sat in the Opposition.
It’s all the more striking that Naidu and Kumar have run to be alongside Modi as he prepares once again to step into the role of the prime minister after describing the country’s largest minority group as “infiltrators”.
Modi had not become the prime minister after discharging a fusillade of vile rhetoric in 2014 and 2019 — in fact the opposite. It is not surprising that he was demonstrably defeated in 2024 when he spewed communal poison right through the campaign trail. And yet Naidu and Kumar believe they are serving the ends of democracy by lining up with him.
This is truly an extraordinary event in the phase of our political journey when people, parties and social organisations of various shades, overcoming their ideological differences and overlooking even mutual political discomfiture, gathered under the umbrella of the INDIA grouping to challenge the country’s slide toward dictatorship, if not outright fascism overseen by big capital and single-religion nationalism.
For some time now, Kumar has shown himself to be a defeated leader with a giant-sized ego, burning ambition, limited political capital confined to specific constituencies, and next to no chance of leaving his impress unaided. He has been holding on to his crutches for a considerable time. For the past six months, he has been with Modi, swallowing past insults. Therefore, it was not a surprise to see him cry out the virtues of the pretender to the throne.
Kumar said Modi had run the country wonderfully well for ten years and ought to be supported in all that he is planning. The Janata Dal(United) (JD(U)) leader forgot about the pain of Manipur in Modi raj, the Chinese occupation of Indian territory, the mounting distress of workers and farmers, the collapse of every index of welfare captured even in cooked up government statistics, the indignities heaped on the country’s women perhaps best flagged by the case of India’s medal-winning women wrestlers, the miseries of crores of our youth for whom there are no jobs even after they gather shining degrees, and the dismantling of this country’s democratic institutions built brick-by-brick after Independence, with periods of advance and retardation.
He even chose to seek to traduce the opposition parties who gave Modi a fright in the recent parliament election. He said they had done nothing (for the country) and had nothing to offer, parroting Modi’s language of the past ten years. Modi smirked his appreciation but was he impressed?
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It was a demeaning spectacle before a gathering of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs at the old parliament building on Friday in which Modi was unanimously elected as the leader of NDA, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha, and the leader of the BJP parliamentary party board. All of Bihar would have squirmed even if their chief minister was not mindful that he was surrendering his dignity syllable by syllable as he pattered on.
Such is the Bihar chief minister’s tenuous political position in the state that his MLAs can be snapped up any time Amit Shah sees fit. Modi won’t need to move a muscle. For that matter, Kumar’s recently elected MPs may also suffer the same fate. At any rate, his desperation in spilling his affection all over Modi is understandable, even if regrettable.
But, what about the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Naidu, once a formidable political player who had lost his salience but has come roaring back?
Naidu is in no need of proving his loyalty to Modi. He has gained by tying up with the BJP leader in the assembly election in Andhra Pradesh and also the Lok Sabha polls. But Modi too benefited from the association. There it could have ended, but Naidu has chosen to go along.
Of course, he has made a balanced speech before the NDA MPs on June 7, did not drool over Modi. Perhaps he is aware that Modi is an irregular customer. May be he will also note that particular sections who voted in determined fashion against Modi’s depredations may not take kindly to his overtures when he might need them.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur has apparently played a more deft hand. The BJP’s ideological mother chose not to nourish it during the election campaign, as was widely reported. For three days, it is said its leading lights gave serious thought to the question whether a defeated BJP leader deserved the support of its members, a large number of whom are again MPs on the BJP ticket. And finally, it seems the ayatollahs of Hindutva have chosen to lie low. Perhaps they would prefer that Modi came to be entangled in his own contradictions.
Anand K. Sahay is a journalist and political commentator based in New Delhi.
Read all of The Wire’s reporting on and analysis of the 2024 election results here.