Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a man to be messed with. As long as the discourse of dissent, opposition and ideological differences remain professional, civilised and democratic – PM Modi will not raise a finger on his enemies. However, Prime Minister Modi is a man who has historically not taken personal attacks and assaults lying down. He has returned the favour with double the ferocity.
In the context of the Congress’ misadventure in Punjab with PM Modi, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi needs to brace for impact, because as history tells us, things are about to get very tough for him and his party.
PM Modi is all for the democratic opposition, but if anybody tries to cross a line – like the chief minister of Punjab and the Congress party have– they are definitely destroyed. There are umpteen examples of how various politicians tried to cause harm to Narendra Modi using unfair, illegal and unacceptable means. They all were reduced to ashes in political terms. Perhaps the only survivor has been Nitish Kumar – due to his re-entry into the NDA in 2017.
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar has always had prime ministerial ambitions. So, at the height of then chief minister Modi’s campaign to unseat UPA-II from power, Nitish Kumar grew visibly jealous. He could not stand the sight of lakhs of people reaching BJP rallies to listen to Modi. Just around the time Narendra Modi was announced as the PM candidate of the BJP, Nitish Kumar quit the NDA and sacked all BJP ministers from his government.
Four months later, on October 27, 2013, Modi’s Hunkar rally was organised in Patna. As soon as Modi arrived at Patna airport, serial blasts rocked Gandhi Maidan. Central intelligence agencies had earlier expressed apprehensions that Modi’s rally was on the target of jihadi groups. Yet, Bihar Police – which was back then under Nitish Kumar, did not pay heed to such intel and quite literally allowed the blasts to occur.
The incident claimed the lives of six people and 89 others were injured in the seven blasts. This did not stop Modi from going to Gandhi Maidan and addressing a crowd of lakhs. Modi’s determination won the NDA 31 out of the total 40 seats. Out of these, 22 seats went to the BJP. Nitish Kumar’s party JD(U) was reduced to just two seats.
Nitish Kumar was shown his place by PM Modi in 2020 when the incumbent chief minister had to fight the Bihar polls banking on Modi’s popularity.
Ajit Singh
This man, who passed away in May 2021 had earned quite a distinctive enmity with PM Modi. In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when Modi was flying around the country for campaign purposes, Ajit Singh ensured that the BJP – particularly Modi’s flights were not allowed to take off.
As civil aviation minister at the time, late Ajit Singh ensured that several flights of Modi were delayed in peak summer. They were not granted permission to fly for flimsy reasons. At one instance, Modi was scheduled to visit Rewa from Bareilly on a helicopter. For nearly an hour, a sweat-drenched Modi remained seated in the helicopter while his security personnel were worried and supporters and local leaders speechless as to what was happening.
Flights of several BJP leaders were denied permission to take off at the behest of Ajit Singh. So, how did it end for the RLD leader? Ajit Singh suffered a humiliating defeat in Baghpat – a seat that was an RLD stronghold for decades. His son was defeated in Mathura by the BJP. Even Jayaprada lost the election from Bijnor.
Chandrababu Naidu and P Chidambaram
Another man with a lot of prime ministerial ambitions was Chandrababu Naidu. But taking his enmity with PM Modi to a personal level has cost the man everything. Naidu was once one of the most important NDA ministers of the Modi government. Then, he had a fallout and prior to the 2019 polls, made it his mission to single-handedly crush Prime Minister Modi.
Read more: Punjab CM Channi seems to have a personal hand in PM Modi’s security breach
Naidu thought being the star boy among Indian corporates would give him all the resources he needed for defeating PM Modi. Before PM Modi’s rally was to be held in Guntur on January 6, 2019, Naidu’s TDPworkers took to the streets and an atmosphere was created that if Modi came for the meeting, there would be a violent protest against him. An eerily similar situation panned out recently in Punjab.
But Channi must remember that Chandrababu Naidu is today on the verge of political extinction. He is fighting a battle of existence and failing – only because he tried messing with Prime Minister Modi.
As a home minister and a servile Gandhi loyalist, P Chidambaramtried implicated Modi in court cases on fabricated charges and also tried to reduce his security cordon. The result? By 2014, Chidambaram realised he could no longer fight elections from Sivaganga. He propped his son Karti from the same seat – gave in all that he had campaigned for him, and yet, junior Chidambaram lost.
Before orchestrating an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Modi, Congress should have thought about the consequences. Evidently, it did not, and now, it will have to pay a big price for its actions.