Election after election and opinion poll after poll, it has been proved since 2002 that the anti-Modi diatribes from people in politics to civil society including media (Indian and foreign), secular and liberal and think tanks have very little impact on Modi march in consolidating his position in national politics and to some extent in international politics vis-à-vis others. He is increasingly found a giant colossus in 21st century Indian politics a la Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were in pre-independent and post-independent Indian politics respectively. There is no match and no substitute despite a large number of powerful political, intellectuals, secular and liberal opponents Modi has.
On March 24, 2020, PM Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting movement of the entire 1.3 billion population of India as a preventive measure against the Covid19 pandemic, alleged by many a too draconian measure. Prior to this, PM had ordered 14 hour nationwide voluntary public curfew on March 22, 2020 followed by enforcement of series of regulations in the country’s Covid19 affected regions. Here, I would like to bring to the notice of all my readers that in the evening of March 22, 2020 curfew, a senior opposition politician cum former cabinet minister in Odisha Government told, and widely telecasted in Odisha based leading news channels, that ‘One day curfew is OK.
But, a longer spell of the same won’t be tolerated, and possibly there will be a revolt against Modi if he dares to go for the same.’ This kind of forecasting is nothing new since Modi ascended on PM Chair on May 26, 2014. In 2016, during the implementation of demonetization, the then Supreme Court CJI forecasted public revolt in view of demonetization, the first of the kind in democratic India. On April 14, after initial 21 days lockdown PM Modi extended the same nationwide until May 3 with conditional relaxations after April 20 for the regions where the spread had been contained or was minimal, and so on. Till date even after more than nine months, this lockdown measures have not been completely dispense with in some states/cities/districts. Yet, there was no sign of revolt as forecasted, and that too, despite there were provocations and diatribes by Modi opponents in politics and civil society.
And, in the meanwhile, elections to crucial Bihar state assembly and by-elections to several state assemblies and Lok Sabha seats spread over several parts of India apart from newly designed District Development Council (DDC) in J&K held -without much difficulty- with huge participations in which Modi’s party and his allies, who supported the lockdowns, have done relatively better including retaining Bihar government. On January 16, the Punjab based English daily The Tribune published the IANS C-Voter State of the Nation 2021 survey. Some of the important points which have direct link to this analysis that the survey has brought to notice among others are:
1. More than 80 per cent of the people of Odisha prefer Modi as PM though Odisha is a non-BJP ruled state for last 21 years and the state non-BJP CM of 21 years has been adjudged as the best CM in India by the same The Tribune-IANS C-Voters subsequent survey.
2. Surprisingly, about 75.68 percentage of people in the highly insurgents infected North-Eastern states, where minorities concentration are high, prefer Modi as PM, an alleged Hindutva icon. This was the region which was a decade back no-go-zone for BJP as a party.
3. In Jammu and Kashmir, where separatists are most active, and where post-2019 General Election the state privileged status through Article 370 and 35A have been withdrawn, PM Modi enjoys support of 46.74 percentage of people while the opponents of withdrawal of articles Rahul Gandhi, who promised to get back the state’s privileged status moment he get back his family right to rule India (the claim his supporters allegedly use to make), and as the family claims and occupied the grand old party ownership, gets 34.15 percentage preference.
4. Overall, 59.22 per cent of people across India prefer Narendra Modi as the PM as compared to former Congress President Rahul Gandhi whose approval rating is merely 25.62 per cent as per the survey. Here, it is to be noted that India though -as per late Dr. A.P.J. Kalam ‘it is easy to count the sand in the sea beach but difficult to count Indian political parties’- has hundreds of political parties, yet only two political parties Congress and BJP have nationwide networks and representations. From survey, one can comfortable conclude that Modi has no substitute in days to come.
In nutshell, one can confidently assume that more there is Modi diatribe, more Modi gets stronger matching to his reply ‘My secret of success is people’s abuses from morning to evening’ to London interviewer’s question ‘What is secret of your success?’ He was abused both in India and abroad with verbatim such as ‘gandi naali ka keeda’, ‘maudaka gaudagar’, ‘mad dog’, ‘Brahmasura’ ‘India’s divider-in-chief’, etc. And his widow mother has not been spare when secular politician called him ‘son of a whore’. Apart from the above, two senior politicians and former cabinet ministers in Union Cabinets had asked India’s arch-rival Pakistan’s help in Pakistan soil to ‘remove Modi.’ Even his election through the-first-past-the-post system of election adopted in the Indian Constitution before Modi born, and 17 general elections later, questioned although BJP and along with allies have got 38 percent and 45 percent votes respectively, the highest any party and allies have got in last nine general elections since 1989.
Indian politics’ early colossus such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru committed so much of damage to Indian democracy and nation that it is yet to fully recover from those. For example, Mahatma Gandhi’s insistence to give PM chair to Jawaharlal Nehru, who did not has party’s mandate as he was clearly rejected with 0/15 votes, was the major undemocratic act in newly freed nation that chosen democratic governance. Prior to this democratic blunder, Mahatma Gandhi refused to cooperate democratically elected Congress Party President Netaji Subash Chandra Bose in 1939 which tainted Congress democratic adherence pre-independence. And J. L. Nehru destroyed political career of great nationalist patriots and statesmanlike Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukharjee and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar among others who had potential to oppose his darbari politics. As a result, his disastrous foreign policy in regard to J&K, Tibet-China, Nepal, Baluchistan, etc., and the so-called socialist economic policy and secular politics were implemented without any opposition.
Now, Modi is a colossus. Opponents’ diatribes have been summarily rejected by the people as if what they have been espousing are bullshits. Per example: during GE2019 campaigning, the alleged kickback in Rafale deal was a big issue despite apex court rejection. Soon after the election, nobody raised the issue, like seen in Bofors scam, ascertaining the people’s apprehension that the issue was raised to corner the government during election, and to favour inimical neighbours in which opposition see scope of their political revival weakening Indian defence. And, in view of the above, sometimes it comes to my mind that Modi has rightly told that his opponents’ abuses are his breakfast, launch, tea and dinner.
How long all these ugly and undemocratic politics will go on? Now, while BJP is gaining grounds in the regions, which were its no-go-zone decade back, after consolidation its position in cow belt, and when the grand old party Congress, the only other party having all India networks, receding from all over India including its pocket borough Amethi, where is democratic opposition to BJP and Modi? How can India be a respected democracy in the community of democratic countries in the world without a strong opposition? And when regional parties are mostly ruled by dynasty nawabs? Should India return to the days of Nehru-Indira? In this case, repeat of Indira’s draconian NATIONAL EMERGENCY -purportedly imposed to retain her illegitimate government- can’t be ruled out, and the eventual loser is Indian Democracy.
