Why Modi is Silent ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

The glitterati of Lutyen’s Delhi, who made Narendra Modi’s fan club a year ago, when the future downslide of UPA had become self-evident, have suddenly become sullen. They are restive about inflation not receding and the drought in investment continuing even though it is not even three months that Modi became the Prime Minister.

He is being dubbed “anti-trade” for his refusal to comply with the WTO agreement in Bali signed by the UPA government last year. Eyebrows arched upwards at the India International Centre and similar Iceland of the privileged when India voted with Russia, China and Brazil against Israel at the UN Human Rights Commission for its strikes at the civilian population of Gaza. “Couldn’t India abstain from voting, like the European powers” they wondered with puckered lips. Above all, they are asking what is Modi doing ? And, why is he silent ? Is there a silencer on the chair once occupied by his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh ?

There is no doubt that Modi has a complex personality. Unlike nearly every politician nowadays, politics is not a career to him. Call it a mission if you like, or dub it with any other adjective you deem fit. But to Modi politics is far from a cash cow. However, the complexity in Modi’s character is the direct outcome of his objective to reform politics. Decode his promise to render India “Congress Mukt” (free from the Congress), and the meaning that transpires is to rid politics of its infamous cash nexus. Despite the freedom at midnight that came in the wake of a long struggle, with every passing day politics became synonymous with power and pelf.

For this, Modi’s code word is Congress.  Therefore, the promise of “Congrss Mukt” India is a tall one indeed. Can he delink politics from power and money? Its an uphill task, but till there is light at the end of the tunnel, the least Modi can do is to remain silent. So what is wrong about his not giving – like other politicians -- a laundry list of promises every other day ? His silence is meaningful. He knows most in his own party, allies and all those waiting to cling on belong to the same Lutyen’s Delhi culture.

Modi’s problem with Delhi’s intellectual aristocracy is that this class always thought Dr Manmohan Singh is one among them. They think of Modi as unpredegreed  pariah. It will take time for Modi to identify and attract a new set of policy works. But that does not imply that Modi is incapable of, or unwilling to, take independent decisions. He is a cleaver politician who understands the vote-grabbing potential of Food Security Act. If Modi had agreed to sign on the dotted line of the WTO’s Bali agreement, he would have forfeited a key electoral advantage for the next General Elections..

In politics, Modi travels light. He has greedily reduced a BJP Prime Minister’s usual dependence on the RSS, on the one side, and the party, on the other. The speed with which Amit Shah is installed replacing the “Captain”  Rajnath Singh who led the BJP to victory, is an indication that Modi is man in a hurry. He wants to reform the party, Cabinet, bureaucracy, nexus between the bankers-politicians and the fly-by-night operators and “soch” (thinking).

  

The  Capital is full stories as to how Modi is monitoring  performance of his ministerial colleagues and their conduct in public. If a powerful Union Minister’s son got a taste of Modi’s medicine, another one was politely told never to be a guest a private dinner in 5-star hotel with an industrialist who has huge pending work in his ministry. The HRD Minister, Smriti Irani, found to her dismay that Modi rejected at a Cabinet meeting all her proposals though they were cleared by the North Block. Her demand for Rs 14000 crores for the next three years for some of the welfare schemes were also deferred. She even lost the skill development department to Youth Affairs.

His  tutorial  at Cabinet meetings have become too well known now and MPs of the ruling NDA get sermons with the each passing day. Some of the hi-fi MPs who missed the bus in Modi ministry are a worried lot with Amit Shah, another no-nonsense leader taking over the reins of the party. The BJP MPs have been directed not to let out their servant quarters. Kirit Somaiya, Lok Sabha House Committee chairman, was conveyed not to grant any guest accommodation without serious scrutiny. As many as 150 flats are in occupation for the guests of the MPs & Ministers.

Five star parties for ministers and babus are a thing of the past and the House of Ming and Bukhara miss their high-end powerful customers. Gymkhana Club, a permanent hub of top serving bureaucrats, lost its sheen. Some of the cleaver Babus now bring their own food from home rather than accepting hospitality of the rich and famous. The principal secretary in the PMO, for whom the Ordinance was issued to regualise his appointment, finds his wings clipped by his deputy who bagged all key functions.

Even the SPG commandoes who protect him round the clock say they never saw such a machine in the PMO ever before. He is 24X7 and doesn’t allow the cops to be in the hearing range. But they revealed that Modi has a softer side too. Immediately after entering his official 7 Race Course Road residence, he told the SPG commandoes,“ I have no family. From now onwards, you are my family. I will solve even your personal problems. But bring no “sifarish” (recommendations).

There have been 14 prime ministers before Modi - some deft some not so deft. But everyone of them accepted the “Nehruvian consensus.” The power in Delhi will have the multiple centres and politics is to remain the art of sharing power among prominent personalities. The 15^th prime minister is a solitary exception. 

(The author is

 National Editor, 

Lokmat group)