Given its
vast size, it is said that a super tanker takes 10 nautical miles to
execute a turn. The ship of state that is India is in the same
situation. A
new party and government has taken charge just five months ago and have
begun the process of change, but given the size of the country, it will
take time before you actually feel something happening.
As
it is, Modi seems to be working on a different timetable. His goal is
nothing short of hegemony in Indian politics, both personal, and that of
his party.
Centralisation
Modi
has centralised the politics of the country around himself and has made
his Prime Minister’s Office the core of his authority. From here he
runs India, and it is now clear to all that no detail is too small for
the PMO to be involved in - from dealing with Pakistan, China and the
US, to dispatching the Joint Intelligence Committee chairman to check
out a robbery in Haryana and helping a teacher get her gratuity from her
institution.
As part of this centralisation process, Modi is taking charge of his party across the country.
Beginning
with Amit Shah, party organisations across the states are being
reorganised with the old guard marginalised and a new team loyal to Modi
being put in their place.
Modi’s
ties to big business are well known. That he is a Gujarati is a natural
advantage since many of the top businessmen are also from the same
community. But in Modi’s case, he sees the businessmen as instruments of
his policy, rather than as a source of funds.
The
way he looks at it, if he is to transform India to becoming a
manufacturing hub, and meet the expectations that he has aroused among
the people, he needs the cooperation of big business.
As
of now, the picture that emerges of Modi is that notwithstanding the
fact that he has a Master’s degree, Modi is not an “intellectual”
politician, he runs more on instincts and strong beliefs.
These
views have been built up over time, they have a strong leavening of the
Sangh Parivar, but also of his varied experiences as a party organiser
and chief minister. In this he is like Ronald Reagan who created a
revolution of sorts in American politics by pursuing politics that were
rooted in his deep beliefs, regardless of the fact that they were not
part of the country’s mainstream.
But
unlike Reagan, and more like Mrs Indira Gandhi, Modi likes to run the
show on his own. As of now, his government is painfully thin in terms of
talent. He has the formidable Mr Jaitley by his side, but even Jaitley
cannot manage the enormous demands of the two ministries - finance and
defence - especially since they require not just their running, but also
deep restructuring and reform.
Control
Despite
his increasing control over his party, Modi today essentially depends
on the bureaucracy to execute his will. He coerces them, but also
empowers them to take decisions. They, more than his Cabinet colleagues,
are the primary instrument of his decision-making.
This
is the model that he patented in Gujarat and this is the one that he
seems to be using in New Delhi as well. But, unlike his predecessors,
you will not hear of any coterie or kitchen cabinet. He treats them all
alike, but keeps them at a distance.
There
is of course his big family - the Sangh Parivar. But anyone who has
seen the record of their dealings will know that the relationship is a
complex one.
At Saturday's launch of the BJP membership drive, PM Modi made a case for inclusion in the party
Modi
is not the typical pracharak. Had he been so, he would not have become
the prime minister of India. But he is aware of the enormous power of
the Sangh through its network of pracharaks and front organisations, and
that just like the Congress is nothing without the Gandhis, so is the
BJP zero without the Sangh.
Relationship
As
of now the relationship has been exemplary. Modi has taken key leaders
like Ram Madhav aboard from the Sangh into the BJP, and has
institutionalised consultations between ministers and top leaders. What
is more likely to happen is that given time, the Modi machine will
subsume the Sangh, rather than the other way around.
There
is one big dangerous downside to the current political situation: the
efforts to trigger communal polarisation and Modi’s silence, at least
till now, on this issue.
It
is true that during election time such polarisation is not uncommon.
But the talk of “love jihad” by some partymen in UP and the rise in
communal tension are a bad augury.
If
Modi is to move this country ahead, he also needs social peace. Indian
Muslims have been remarkable in their immunity to the global jihadi
agenda till now. None were found in Guantanamo in the wake of the
American victory in Afghanistan in 2001, and none have been found in
Syria either with the Islamic State militants.
There
have been some claims about Indians going to join the stir, but little
evidence. Even in India, the 100 or so Indian Mujahideen involved in the
bombing campaign of 2005-2008 are a negligible number as compared to
the 180 million Muslim population.
Indeed,
social indicators show and opinion polls reveal most Indian Muslims
have the same aspirations as their other countrymen. They want smaller
families, better jobs, and good education for their children. Let’s
note: 180 million is not a small number, and if pushed to the wall, they
are likely to fight back and the consequences will be bad for the whole
country.
Modi
himself has been silent on the issue, but last week, kicking off a
membership drive for the BJP, he called for a more inclusive party, one
that represented all sections of the people.
Currently
it is seen as a party of the Hindi heartland and mainly of Hindus. But
if the BJP is to supplant the Congress as the default party of the land,
it has to appeal to people across the very diverse landscape of the
country.
Mail Today November 7, 2014
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