Whereas decades separates Indira Gandhi with Narendra Modi, both are the opposite sides of the same coin: While Indira’s image rotated around Mother Durga, the honorific purportedly conferred upon her by an opposition leader; Modi basks in the self-styled image of his male machismo of possessing an unprecedented chest of 56 inch.
Vivekanand Jha, Ranchi. In fact, Indira Gandhi is reborn, albeit in different costume and a distinct avatar: a tea vendor metamorphosing into the princes of Nehru-Gandhi family. In fact, Narendra Modi, much like Indira, believes in his being equivalent to India; the entire nation is assimilated in his bosom; his 56 inch chest is capacious enough to accommodate the vast territory of Bharatvatsha. And, unequivocally more than Indira, Modi believes in his paternalistic attitude towards the nation. Adding fuel to Modi’s overwhelming aspiration, Donald Trump had inflated Modi’s ego, when he exuberantly dubbed him as the ‘Father of India’. Donald, an aberration in the pantheon of presidents thus far, considered Modi as equal to him on different parameters: in sheer brazenness in exhibition of one upmanship; in display of naked authoritarianism; in blunt espousal of the cause of white supremacist, the way Modi wears Hindu nationalism up his sleeves.
Indira Gandhi, an architect of dynasty politics in India, had mastered the art of rewarding sycophants: Devkant Baruah was one such burning example, whose claim to fame was his infamous stanzas singing panegyrics on the then princes of the nation-Indira projected herself more as a princes of a feudalistic nation, rather than as a Prime Minister of a Democratic Republic. No wonder when Devkant Baruah penned the stanzas: ‘ Indira tere subah ki jai, Indira tere sham ki jai, Indira tere kaam ki jai, Indira tere naam ki jai, Indira is India, India is Indira’. Devkant, since then onward, became Indira’s apple of an eye: he, in no time was elevated to the presidential position of the Congress Party.
Modi too, has mastered the art of assiduously cultivating a cult following. Significantly, those owing personal loyalty and allegiance to him, was considered a potent parameter for someone’s elevation in the government or someone’s appointment in bureaucracy. Giriraj Kishore’s sole claim to fame is his staunch loyalty for Modi, which he keeps on demonstrating at the drop of his hat. Recently, Tirath Singh Rawat, on his taking over as chief minister, sang the panegyrics which he knew would cement his position more than his works could ever do: ‘Modi is equal to Ram and Krishna’, which is nothing short of a blasphemy for Hindus. Would Muslims, however great he would be, ever be equated with Mohammad, the man so equating would have found himself eliminated in no time ?
Incidentally, as Indira sought to make Congress one woman’s party, Modi too, pulverised all the senior leaders of BJP so much so, that none exists in BJP apart from him; he is the pivot around whom all the wheels revolve. Such has been the magnitude of marginalisation of other senior leaders in BJP, that none believes that BJP has anyone other than Modi to don the Prime ministerial hat. People by and large have already forgotten the names of Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari as leaders who too matters. Also, much like Indira, who placed premium on the belief of herself being equal to the nation, Modi too loves his actions and omissions, even though they are extremely detrimental to the national interest, should be applauded blindly as being advancing the cause of the nation. For instance, Indira imposed emergency and masqueraded it as the supreme national interest; similarly, Modi too, whimsically introduced de-monitisation, yet sold it to the nation as the greatest of equalisers to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor; to strangle the black money.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned similarities, there is one fundamental difference: whereas Indira intended the nation to be subordinated to her wish and skillfully promoted dynasty, Modi’s exclusive summum bonum is to usher in a Hindu Rashtra. The Hindu Rashtra that would worship him as the new God in the pantheon of other Hindu gods. Evidently, the Boomie Pujan at Ayodhya was the vindication of how Modi was stealing the limelight for being the architect of unveiling the reconstruction of Ram Janmabhoomie. Regrettably, the name of Lal Krishna Advanijee was sought to be obliterated. Even Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsanghchalak of RSS, played only a second fiddle.
Incidentally, as truism needs no evidence to substantiate, the pandemic Corona, irrefutably though, has unequivocally proved the serious limitation of the hitherto packaged demi-god image of Narendra Modi by the strategists and propagandists of BJP. With Modi, blamed across the world, for being instrumental behind spreading the pandemic Corona, not only India’s image worldwide has taken an unprecedented beating, Modi’s hitherto image of a ‘strong man’ has suffered the irreparable damage as several premier newspapers like New York Times, Le Monde and Wall Street Journal, have already written scathing pieces on Prime Minister. Unsurprisingly, Australian newspaper, which came down heavily on Prime Minister, quoting his speech in Assansole, West Bengal, during one of his election rallies where he patted his back at the sight of the massive crowd, ‘ Yah Mera Saubhagya hai’, came for severe excoriation. Further, thousands dyeing on account of lack of oxygen and ventilators while politicians are purportedly making merry of such scores of death by enthusiastically participating in election gathering, has exposed the blatant insensitivity of Indian politicians. No wonder then Narendra Modi, unlike ever in the past, felt chastened by his humongous omissions and commissions. As a Prime Minister, he was expected to guide the nation throughout this most critical phase with an absolute circumspection. Ironically, far from doing so, he became an accomplice in many ways, especially permitting the holding of Kumbh Mela, which is considered as the hotbed of the contagion. Strikingly enough, as Indira Gandhi had put the national interest to jeopardy by imposing Emergency, Narendra Modi, through his disastrous decisions, had exposed India’s unenviable weaknesses and vulnerabilities to the while world. Thus it would not be an overstatement to suggest that Indira is Modi and Modi was Indira.
