by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat
Group
Weekly Article "EVENY MANAGER"
MODI
BJP's
prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has no dearth of critics in political
and social circles, which is but natural in a campaign marked by warmongering
on so strident a note. What is of a special curiosity, however, is the BJP's own
level of acceptance of Modi as aspirant to the highest executive office even in
the midst of campaigning. It is in this context that the party's old patriarch
L. K. Advani's two recent comments about Modi, made at Gandhinagar while filing
his nomination papers, acquire a new connotation. Advani said about Modi that
though the latter was never his acolyte, he was always "a good manager of
events". The other remark of Advani about Modi is in relation to Atal
Behari Vajpayee, who, according to Advani, "is in an altogether different
league"
Advani's
opinion certainly does not carry as much weight in the party as before. When he
opted out in protest of a meeting of the BJP's national executive against Modi
being made the chief of the national campaign committee, there were quite a few
in the party's top brass who shared his view that it was an act of imposition.
This, they said, was most uncharacteristic of the sangh parivar's way of
choosing leaders through a silent consensus and rallying support for him
without the slightest hint of hustle. Many in the top echelons of the party
felt that Modi clearly had powerful backers who wouldn't take no for an answer.
So
Advani was sarcastic when he referred to Modi as an "event manager".
There are two ways to parse the expression. It is the job of an event manager
to organize an event without a glitch. Be it an award ceremony, a club night or
even a celebrity wedding, the event manager knows how to make the ordinary
appear extra-ordinary and, more significantly, how to make the event so
overwhelmingly appealing that every criticism, however honest, is swallowed
back for the fear of being called a nag. Till Advani made the statement, he was
planning to contest from Bhopal, which is in the
territory of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister loyal to him, and not from Gandhinagar, in Modi's shadow. But
that would have laid bare the lines of fissure in the party. It would have
called into question a script carefully crafted over a year that the party was
unequivocal in its choice of Modi as the next leader of the country, and the
stray naysayers, if any, were motivated only by self-interest. So, as Advani
might have hinted, Modi was at his best of "event management" skill,
lifting him from Bhopal onto his own turf so that the old man cannot claim
post-election that he owes his electoral victory to the popularity of Chouhan's
rule in Madhya Pradesh, which he may use as his justification of Chouhan, and
not Modi, as the party's PM candidate.
Though
Advani is an octogenarian, his political astuteness is legendary and so is his
readiness to shoot poison darts at enemy. The other interpretation of Modi
being an event manager is that such a person after all manages someone else's
event, not his own. It is possible that Advani took a leaf out of the page of
Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal's book. Kejriwal never tires of alleging
that Modi is a corporate plant and his rise in politics is the product of a
couple of corporate houses attempting to put their proxy in the PM's chair. The
possibility of such a dark thought having played in Advani's mind may be a
speculation. But it is not founded on air. A corporate house often mentioned as
Modi's archangel indeed had a long history of clashes with Advani. The 'event
manager' barb therefore has the potential to trigger an unexpected intra-party
opposition to Modi after May 16, the day of announcement of poll results, if
the final tally falls short of the high figures now being bandied about. Advani's
snide line therefore has an ominous portent.
The
other comment of Advani, comparing Modi with Vajpayee to highlight his apparent
insignificance, can also be the potential for rallying opinion after May 16 in
favour of someone less controversial than Modi. No doubt Vajpayee is an icon to
BJP supporters who have often projected him as "India's best PM", besides
being held by most others as the saffron party's most liberal face. In many
ways, Vajpayee and Modi stand at polar opposites of the party's ideological
spectrum. It is possible that Advani was drawing attention to this huge gap,
real or perceived, between the two leaders, one of whom served as prime
minister for six years and the other aspiring to step into his shoes.
Advani's comments
showed cold war
within the BJP getting
shriller
So
does the one-liner from the old war-horse indicate that rumblings within the
BJP over Modi's choice are far from over? Not quite. But it is like molten lava
roiling in the heart of an apparently quiet volcano. It will remain placid if
the BJP under Modi wins about two hundred seats on its own. A secure coalition
is then guaranteed, and internal peace is assured to the BJP.
But the ‘volcano’ will surely start raining lava out in the open if the party’s
own tally falls below the confidence level of 180 or so, and Modi’s internal
critics get down to the business of attributing it to his ineptitude and
unpopularity. That can puncture the bubble of the so-called ‘Modi wave’ and set
the stage anew for a vigorous round of talent search both within and outside
the BJP, bringing back under the glare of scrutiny the names of Advani’s own
candidates in the party as well as a string of ambitious regional
leaders.
(The author is
National Editor
of Lokmat group and
based in Delhi)
