So what defines Narendra Modi — the pro-industry modern management proponent, or the darling of the ‘holy men’?
The news on the BJP side, especially as far as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi goes, is turning schizophrenic. Mr Modi’s speech on Wednesday at a Delhi University college that specialises in commerce and economics became a major media event in the nation’s capital, and showed the great degree to which the Gujarat strongman has successfully packaged himself in an effort to woo the aspirational middle class that has education and commands economic power.
With a carefully crafted and well-delivered speech, marked by populism and a dose of general purpose recommendations to make the economy leapfrog (whether or not these can be implemented on the national scale), the chief minister won over his audience completely. He eschewed references to divisive political agendas (which had brought him to notice within the BJP in the first place, earning him the sobriquet of “Hindu hriday smarat” or heartthrob of Hindus), and projected himself as a doer and management icon. But there we go. He is now headed for the Mahakumbh in Allahabad to hobnob with the “sadhu-sants” mobilised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has already announced he is their choice for Prime Minister. So what defines Mr Modi — the pro-industry modern management proponent, or the darling of the “holy men”?
Essentially, it is this question which separates Mr Modi from Atal Behari Vajpayee, and creates a conundrum for the BJP by leaving it with a split personality. Should the party emphasise its undoubted Hindutva aspect, or market itself as an evolving avatar of a strongly pro-market and properly right-wing platform? Or does it think Mr Modi is just the man to bridge that divide and appeal to India as a whole? These are questions not only for the BJP but for the country.
Two issues stand out if we narrow-focus on Mr Modi’s speech. One, he said he believed in “minimum government, maximum governance” as though the latter flowed from the former. Can poverty in India be attacked with “minimum government”, or is it a clever way to advance the laissez-faire outlook which has been historically shown to further the interests of only certain classes? The Gujarat leader also spoke of his three talismans — “skill, scale, and speed”, emphasising that the scale of operations must be large in order to succeed. Where does this leave small and medium enterprises whose progenitors have been traditional BJP backers?
Student crowds at the university campus protesting against Mr Modi — and reminding him of the horrors of the 2002 Gujarat massacre — clashed with the police, and questioned the Gujarat leader on “good governance”. This is also a part of India’s reality which all concerned will factor in, especially in the BJP’s top leadership.