Will the saffron warriors trip up Indian PM Modi?

It is perhaps in the natural order of things that when a party vanquishes its opponents, its nemesis emerges from within its own ranks. This is what appears to be happening in India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

If it thought that the party’s majority in the parliament’s lower house will enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi implement his development agenda without any let or hindrance, then it must have realised by now that the road ahead will be a lot more bumpy than it expected.

What is more, the hurdles are being put up not by an opposition which is in disarray, but by the words and deeds of what can be called the loony fringe of the right-wing ‘saffron brigade.’

The most appalling of their despicable antics has been the abuses hurled by BJP MP Niranjan Jyoti, who is purportedly a ‘sadhvi’, a Hindu nun, at rival politicians. This new saffron warrior is evidently carrying on the vituperative traditions of several other sadhvis.

True, the party extracted an apology from her, but it will be mistaken if it believes that the apparently forced contrition will draw a curtain over this offensive episode, which persuaded the prime minister to condemn it in parliament.

Yesterday, Sakshi Maharaj, another Hindu activist parliament member representing the BJP, withdrew his remarks that the man who shot independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was a patriot. Sakshi’s remarks touched off an uproar in parliament where opposition MPs refused to allow any business until he retracted.

What these incidents have confirmed is that the party comprises elements whose conduct hardly meets the norms of polite society. What is worrisome is not only their medieval mindset, as is evident from the extolling of astrology at the expense of science by an MP, but that the soothing words which a few in the top rungs speak about harmonious communal relations seem to have no effect on large sections in the party.

It is not just the rank and file alone who remain steeped in the anti-minority prejudices and antediluvian worldview of the standard Hindutva formulations, but also central ministers.

As if the vulgarities of the sadhvi were not enough, the arson attack on a church in Delhi and reports of forced conversion of Muslims in Agra fuelled speculation about the BJP playing the communal card in the run-up to polls in some states.

It isn’t only the saffron fundamentalists who have been taking some of the sheen of Modi’s victory, the right-wing economic fundamentalists, who believe in autarky like the socialists, have let it be known that they are against reforms, including foreign investment, which constitute the cornerstone of Modi’s agenda.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has always been an advocate of self-sufficiency and frowned on Western influence. But now, with the avowedly pro-market and pro-American Modi in power, it has to be seen whether they are able to throw a spanner in the works.

Will the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor, ask them to back off or will Modi simply ignore them? Considering that murmurs can be heard that the prime minister is not moving fast enough on the road to economic advancement - no “big ticket” reforms, no de-nationalisation of the coal sector, no sale of national airline Air India, no unequivocal approval of genetically modified crops - Modi cannot but come down heavily on the regressive elements in the party and the right-wing organisations.