Shesh Narain Singh
Even after the second round of Chhattisgarh elections nobody other than Delhi based TV channels mentioned Narendra Modi’s name as a factor that could influence the results in that state. In the meantime Modi’s opponents in the BJP and the Congress are talking about the expose where the then home minister of Gujarat was allegedly involved in illegal activity including snooping on a lady. Congress decided to go on the attack on this expose by a couple of news portals.
As it seems now, Narendra Modi is not developing as a brand the way BJP would have liked. The Congress has decided to paint the reputation of Mr Modi in darkest shade of black. Everybody knows that if the name of any politician is dragged into a case of harassment of a woman, people do not respect the politician. In the case of snooping involving Amit Shah, Congress is trying to do exactly that. Party leaders are trying to say on multiple fores that the snooping was done on the instructions of the Gujarat Chief Minister. President of the Manila Congress Shobha Ojha told this columnist that they will demonstrate against Narendra Modi wherever he goes and show him black flags. They will compel the Gujarat government to reply as to why the resources of the state government were used for the personal whims of the Chief Minister she says.
Congress has said in so many words that the ‘Saheb’ mentioned in the snooping tapes is none other than Narendra Modi himself. Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari came down heavily on Amit Shah and his ‘saheb’. He said in his tweet, “State Sponsored Stalking akin to state intruding into people’s bedrooms” He asked many difficult questions which might prove very difficult for the BJP leaders to answer.
The BJP decided to come to the defense of Amit Shah and the ‘Saheb’ that he was snooping for. The defense was led by the party president Rajnath Singh himself. He called it the handiwork of the “dirty tricks department of Congress”. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, also in his usual style, attacked the Congress for the expose and blamed it on the so called dirty tricks of the Congress.
BJP is putting a very brave face and working overtime to control the damage to their most popular leader. The fear among the BJP leaders is that so far Narendra Modi’s image has worked with the urban middle class of India and that is his main strength. He is also very popular with the TV news viewing public. This class is very sensitive towards the dignity of a woman. If any leader is caught trying to put some kind of pressure on a woman with some presumed motive, he will lose the respect of the middle classes.
This might prove to be a very difficult situation for the main opposition party because they have decided to present the persona of Narendra Modi as their main election winning proposition. BJP has tried to present Modi as the man who is above corruption and other weaknesses of politicians. The Congress is trying to ensure that Narendra Modi is painted in a certain colour following the Cobra post and Gulail expose, and if they succeed, it might be very difficult for the BJP to create a situation where they may be able to cobble together a win in the forthcoming elections.
Congress has got a very useful weapon after the expose. In the battle of TV debates BJP spokespersons are very articulate and generally put up a better performance than Congress spokespersons. But the issue is so sensitive that even spokespersons of the BJP are seen searching for arguments during TV debates. They are trying to argue the issue on a technical basis. But the matter has already gone out of control for the BJP. The party has committed certain mistakes in handling the situation that might make this crisis difficult to handle. BJP managers are trying to work on the possibility of saving the personality of Narendra Modi. If that situation arises the BJP might consider dumping Amit Shah since any attempt to defend him might result in denting the image of their most popular leader. And the BJP would never like to risk that.
