Will Narendra Modi Win?

Insulating PM Modi from accusations as election season hots up is top priority for the BJP. The rest can be managed, they say.

- Bhavna Vij-Aurora

The air quality is getting intense, the drums sound like distant thunder, like the infantry rolling in. Fireworks have always punctua­ ted India’s soundscape in recent years, but the feel is suddenly that of an approaching crescendo. After a period of some confusion and doubt, BJP footsoldiers are again out in full martial aspect, swamping real and virtual spaces. “Hindus are anxious,” goes the chanted refrain. everything is painted as acts of forces inimical to faith, and turned political. The court’s delay over the Ayodhya verdict, the decision to allow women into the Sabarimala shrine, even pollution control. The captains and their lieutenants are hyperac­tive too, changing the name of cities, dangling private member bills, marshalling truculent troops, talking of termites.

There is nothing random about the stridency; it’s not cacophony, but organised noise. Yes, a clutch of crucial assembly elections are at hand this winter, but this is no ephemeral gust of wind. The BJP’s orchestra conductors seem to be building up a slow fire that will be tended and groomed to full size in time for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Make no mistake: the cycle of national politics has entered its final stretch. The timing is no coincidence either; it’s a well-thought-out strategy map. The ratings of Congress president Rahul Gandhi are relatively high, though still nowhere close to the personal popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP leaders may pooh-pooh the Gandhi scion’s persistent attacks on Modi—“desh ka chowkidar chor hai”—but there is a degree of genuine concern.