If Narendra Modi could not become Prime Minister, irrespective of his dismal record, for the second time, there will be chaos in the country. Such observations have been made by middle rung BJP leaders without realising the consequences of such irresponsible statements. Some Congress leaders interpret this remark as a first step towards dictatorship, saying this may mean Modi will remain PM for his lifetime. Days of speculation, in worst days of instability, when it was feared that India was heading towards autocracy, were over long ago. The democracy has come to stay in India, Modi or no Modi.
Doubtless Narendra Modi, at the moment, is the tallest leader, and the Opposition — making a bid to unite — could not zero in on a prime ministerial candidate. But one does not know when and how such a leader emerges. There are examples of Deve Gowda and I K Gujaral. The Janata Party was formed in a hurry when Indira Gandhi suddenly lifted Emergency. The splintered Opposition parties united to give birth of Janata Party and had hardly got time to find a leader who would lead the government if the party came to power. Janata party did get a massive majority. There was tussle for leadership as there were many senior leaders in the party.
Finally, veteran Morarji Desai, emerged as leader of the Janata Party. There was personality clashes and rising ambitions; Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh, too, wanted to become PM. Morarji government fell under its own weight and what followed was virtually a chaos. Charan Singh became PM with support of his arch enemy Indira Gandhi, whom the Jat leader had jailed. Charan Singh government fell without facing Parliament.
During the last days of Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, a question was raised “after Nehru who?” Then came Lal Bahadur Shastri who people thought was too small to step into Nehru’s shoes. Though diminutive in height, he grew in size after 1965 Indo-Pak war and, so much so, people started forgetting Nehru. Then the tragedy struck and Shastri died at Tashkent. There was leadership crisis again and Indira Gandhi emerged as leader defeating Morarji Desai at Congress Parliamentary Party election.
The impression at that time was that Mrs Gandhi was too weak a leader and would be puppet of the syndicate leader. Dr Ram Manohar Lohia called her gungi gudia (dumb doll) because she had poor communication skill. Dr Lohia’s gungi gudia emerged powerful prime minister, wiped out all her opponents including syndicate. After Mrs Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv Gandhi got biggest ever-margin in January 1985 election. After him, India swung between stability and instability, seeing BJP emerging, for the first time, as the ruling party and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became prime minister.
P V Narasimha Rao was, perhaps, one of the most capable prime ministers who opened up the economy, ushering in a new era of liberation. Coming to present time, some BJP leaders have made most tactless observations. If Modi does not become prime minister, there will be chaos. The Kolkata Rally of Mamata Banerjee was indeed a massive show where speaker after speaker cursed Modi. His fault was that he had made promise after promise but could not fulfil any of them. Steps like “note bandi” and GST turned out to be counters-productive.
Mamata’s was an impressive show but it was far from the objective of forging Opposition unity and was more Modi bashing. Only former PM, Deve Gowda, made some worthwhile suggestions. He suggested that, first inner contradictions in the grand alliance should be tackled and allocation of seats decided before hand. Secondly, a common minimum programme should be chalked out and announced. Just removing Modi is not enough. Thirdly, only one candidate of the opposition should be fielded against each BJP candidate.
As the Kolkata rally concluded and Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav firmed up alliance, ignoring the Congress, Rahul Gandhi came up with what was termed as a “masterstroke”. The grand old party launched Priyanka Gandhi in active politics, made her AICC general secretary with charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. She has so far declined to join politics but worked in election in Raebareli and Amethi — constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul respectively.
Priyanaka is a charismatic leader and many see in her image of her grandmother, Indira Gandhi. The immediate fall out of her joining active politics may be seen in Eastern UP, where Congress is almost non-existent and its electoral performance dismal. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath belongs to this area. Prime Minister Modi also represents Varanasi. Priyanka may affect both. Entry of Priyanka in active politics has changed the dynamics of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Harihar Swarup is a freelance journalist. Views are personal.
