by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
special report
Why Modi is quiet ?
Inauspicious 8 day Holashtak makes Modi go silent
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, March 14
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had been on campaigning across the country and inaugurated as many as 157 projects between February 8 and March 10 has suddenly gone into a shell.
Its five days since the announcement of poll dates by the Election Commission of India but Modi has maintained a studied silence. Except for tweeting once in a while, he has not uttered a single word.
Though Model Code of Conduct has been set in motion on March 11, it has not prevented the government to issue fresh Ordinances and officers being appointed in key positions. The government maintains that it has not taken any policy decision and Cabinet took routine decisions. The Prime Minister who is known for addressing functions through video conference, has not done it during the last five days.
Sources say one of the reasons for Modi going into the shell is beginning of “Holashtkat” period.
Holashtak is considered inauspicious and 8 days period prior to Holi is considered a curse period. The Holi festival is on March 21. Therefore, Modi is unlikely to address any major public function unless decided otherwise.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office say that the PM is extremely busy in political work and working in close coordination with senior party functionaries including Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and other members of the Parliamentary board.
These sources say that before entering the campaign arena, the PM wants every thing to fall in place beginning with finalization of alliances with regional parties. Till the time of writing this report, the BJP completed alliances with 36 parties. Now the work is going on with the party's manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and discussions are underway with Rajnath Singh. Arun Jaitley who is incharge of the campaign strategy has been meeting him to re-work tagline and campaign blitz. Since Modi is a perfectionist and goes into small details, he is devoting a lot of time himself in this regard. He has been holding hectic parleys with senior party leaders at his 7 Lok Nayak Marg and giving final touches to full throated poll campaign.
The BJP's parliamentary board is also slated to meet after Holi though some say it may meet on March 16-17 to clear some names for seats falling in the phase-I and phase-II so that candidates can mingle with their constituencts on the Holi day.
Ends
