It’s time Modi reined in his saffron-robed foot soldiers

A K B Krishnan

Whatever Niranjan Jyoti, who goes by the somewhat unbecoming moniker ‘sadhvi’, which means an ascetic, said at a public rally in the national capital was not actually worth reporting or printing for its lack of legitimate, meaningful content. But she was not speaking as a ‘sadhvi’ but as a minister in the cabinet of Narendra Modi. A minister is a minister whether she/he is speaking inside or outside the confines of parliament and, therefore, is duty-bound to adhere to the oath of allegiance she/he has taken to the Constitution of India. That’s the general perception. Jyoti’s call to the Delhi electorate to vote for “legitimate” candidates, meaning, in this case, those belonging to the BJP, and eschew all others as “illegitimate” was a crass attempt at political polarisation in gross violation of this oath. This was not the fringe ‘parivaar’, or the rightwing family, speaking but a minister of the federal government!

The ‘parivaar’ has been sending enough signals that something of this sort was going to happen. And if this could pass muster, then there could be more of the same, and perhaps in more vehement terms, in the pipeline. Since Modi became prime minister he has assiduously tried to cultivate an inclusive image discarding the more strident tones that were once his speciality. Every time he had referred to the large mass of humanity that is India he has put the figure at “sawa sau crore” (Hindi for 1.25bn). There could not be a better way to mark an inclusive bend of mind.

But while the prime minister was talking to one and all that his government was for development of all (“sab ka saath, sab ka vikas”), his saffron-robed foot soldiers were hinting that a parallel, more sinister polarising agenda was also being nurtured. Thus one heard a Yogi Adityanand holding forth on what he called “love Jihad” against Hindus in Uttar Pradesh or a Sakshi Maharaj levelling charges of disreputable activities against madrassas or a Giriraj Singh threatening to send all those who did not vote for Modi to Pakistan. And just when the Jyoti controversy was dying down, there is Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, no less, seeking to make the Bhagwat Gita a “national scripture,” whatever that may mean.

Prime Minister Modi, who takes to the social media like duck to water, never once uttered anything that hinted disapproval of these extreme positions. To boot, he honours Giriraj Singh with a ministerial position! And so another minister in his cabinet gets emboldened to tell her listeners that anyone other than the BJP is illegitimate. 

It had been smooth sailing for Modi in both houses of parliament in the opening session in June. This despite the fact that the ruling coalition did not have the majority in the upper house. Although no major legislation was tabled - apart, of course, from the budget for the truncated financial year - the opposition could have made life difficult for the prime minister if it had wanted to. Considering how the BJP behaved when it was in the opposition it would have been par for the course had the Congress Party attempted to block the functioning of parliament under one pretext or the other. At least in the Rajya Sabha where it has the numbers such a ploy would have worked. That it did no such thing goes to the credit of the party that had ruled the country during much of its post-independent history and by default should know the pangs of governing.

This winter session was expected to be important in more ways than one for the new government. Apart from the run-up to the budget session early next year - the Modi government’s first full-year budget that was supposed to set the tone for his development agenda - several game-changing legislations, such as the ones on GST, land acquisition, insurance, etc., are being readied for presentation and approval in the coming couple of weeks.

On the political front, elections to the Delhi state assembly are due soon and anything other than a comprehensive BJP victory would take the sheen out of the Modi persona, not just in Delhi but in the country as a whole.

Modi was fully aware of all this. He knew he could not afford to take any chances with the opposition. Knowing how the saffron brigade was itching to unleash its brand of politics, Modi should have sent out adequate warning to these belligerent elements to stay out of harm’s way. 

We do not know if the prime minister did tell his legion to keep off or not. If he did, Jyoti and others like her do not seem to care. Either way Modi comes out of this fiasco in bad light. And he did not exactly cover himself in glory when at last he decided to come out in public on the subject. Modi’s statements in both houses of parliament were similar. He said he “strongly disapproved use of this kind of language.” He said the lady in question is from a village, she is a first time member of parliament and that the house (Rajya Sabha) has several senior members who can forgive her as she has apologised. The softness in the tone and tenor of his appeal made an interesting contrast to the Modi who was firing on all cylinders in the myriad rallies he held all across the country and even as far away as New York and Sydney. 

Let’s look at Modi’s arguments in defence of his minister one by one. He says she is a village woman. So? Does being a village woman give her the licence to let her tongue loose? Also, isn’t that somewhat disparaging of village women in general? He says she is a first-timer in parliament. And so are 314 others, Modi included. If that were to be an excuse, all these others could also ask to be excused at least for once. You could end up with far more than you bargained for! And lastly, he says he “strongly disapproves” of what Jyoti said. It’s not as if Modi does not know the difference between “disapproval” and “condemnation.”  If he didn’t want to show that he was succumbing to opposition attacks even as he criticised his minister’s slanderous language, the prime minister has unwittingly fallen between two stools.

Modi further stretched his luck by not agreeing even to a general resolution calling on all lawmakers to avoid intemperate and inflammatory language on any public forum. After climbing down from its initial demand for the resignation of Jyoti, the opposition had drafted the resolution which, in fact, was not BJP-centric but concerned the whole gamut of political parties. But the BJP would have none of it. Finally, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha brokered peace by agreeing to read out a statement which, in essence, was similar to the proposed resolution.

Delhi is getting ready for assembly elections and Jyoti’s reprehensible remark was actually designed to boost the party’s appeal among the rural electorate. But Jyoti and her party think-tank seem to have missed the point that this is Delhi and not some remote corner of Bihar or Uttar Pradesh where the illiterate masses are susceptible to such polarising polemics. There is very little rurality in rural Delhi as the crush for living space in the national capital has managed to push vast numbers of educated out-of-towers into these areas. You could call them “working class neighbourhoods” but hardly rural. If Jyoti was hoping to influence these voters she could be in for a surprise! If, on the other hand, had Modi condemned her speech in clear terms instead of obfuscating the issue, it would have gone down well with the people at large and those in Delhi in particular.

The BJP had won 31 seats in the last year’s assembly polls and all seven seats in the parliamentary elections of April-May. It is expected to improve upon its performance in the upcoming contest for the assembly. The BJP strategy was to showcase Modi’s “good governance” in the first six to eight months and promise the people of Delhi that the same would be replicated in the state as well once the BJP is voted to power. That, in fact, was the chief reason for the postponement of the polls after the assembly had been kept under suspended animation since mid-February. As far as political strategy goes, it could have worked well with the electorate of Delhi. But with people like Niranjan Jyoti campaigning for the party, it will be Arvind Kejriwal who will be fancying his chances more than ever. And if the BJP comes second or even fails to get the majority to form the government on its own, Modi will be the one to blame as much as Jyoti, if not more.