Prime minister Modi has, right from the beginning, based his politics on three broad themes: his own track record as an administrator, his ideological leanings like his love for the country and its culture, and the sheer incompetence and unsuitability of his political opponents. The last two are arrows in his quiver which allow him to generate immense political mileage very quickly, but arrows which he refrains from using until and unless it becomes absolutely necessary.
As the 2019 elections near, the country’s political environment is becoming more toxic by the day. Politicians with no common ground are coming together to protect their turf and take down a government that hasn’t allowed them to benefit. They see nothing wrong in subverting the mandate of people, and are willing to go to any length to save their own interests. The parties who have come together on this mission are more aptly termed as ‘political family businesses’ than parties. It is in this context that prime minister Modi unleashed his fiercest attack till date on the Gandhi family.
The prime minister was speaking at a rally in Cuttack, to mark the fourth anniversary of his government. The location was significant, considering Odisha is one state where the BJP has made massive inroads, and seeks to usurp power from the Naveen Patnaik led BJD soon. But the prime minister focused on national issues, and the national political scenario. He mocked the so-called alliance which was seen shaping up during the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy, and then took on the Congress Party and the Gandhi family. Prime minister Modi has always made subtle jibes at the family and its track record, but what we witnessed yesterday was not subtle. It wasn’t just a passing remark either. It was a fifteen minute long unambiguous monologue against the Gandhi family and how it has harmed the country.
He asked the audience if the freedom fighters toiled, gave their sweat and blood, and sacrificed their lives so that one family could sit in the throne for 48 years. He asked them what good the family had done for any of them, apart from looting the country and ensuring that its people remained backward. Much like his ‘Naamdar-kaamdar’ comparison of entitlement and merit that he had made on the campaign trail in Karnataka, he came up with two other comparisons. He compared his own ideology of ‘India First’ with his opponents’ ideology of ‘Family First’. He also said that unlike his party and government which ran on the basis of ‘Jan mat’ (people’s choice), the Congress Party runs on the basis of Janpath (10 Janpath is the address of Sonia Gandhi). As he listed out his developmental track record, he asked the audience as to why the country had never witnessed this in the past. He concluded that it was because such development never benefitted the family, and so they simply restrained from it.
During the Karnataka elections, prime minister Modi had clearly mentioned that there are some lines he has never crossed, and that he is ready to cross them if his opponents continue to behave the way they do. It looks like this is finally happening. Some sort of Omerta seems to have been broken especially with regard to the Gandhi family, and it was high time. If one can extrapolate what happened at the rally and attempt to understand how the 2019 campaign will be, it looks like prime minister Modi will give the electorate a lot to think about, especially what parasitical families throughout the country and at every level, have really achieved throughout the decades.