In spite of this, however, many feel the party may not be able to win the Delhi polls. So, if the party fails, will it reflect on Shah’s fortunes? This is what is being asked in the corridors of power. Pose this question to any leader and he immediately says, “not at all”. “Amit bhai has set an example that even big ministers should work like ordinary cadres in an election. He has emerged as an inspiration for every BJP member,” said one leader. But if the BJP stuns everyone on Tuesday, when the votes are counted, and pulls off a victory, Shah will be seen as the hero. “After Narendra Modi, he will emerge as the second leader who can win polls for the party. He’ll get endorsed as the successor of Modi ji ,” opined a BJP leader.

The Union home minister, Amit Shah, turned the Delhi assembly elections into an event all about himself. With no chief ministerial face, Shah lead from the front. The second most powerful leader of the current dispensation at the Centre went around the lanes and bylanes of Delhi seeking votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party cadres in Delhi are all praise for Amit bhai . They feel that Shah single-handedly lifted the fortunes of the party in an election that was seen to be a lost case. Shah mobilized the mighty BJP army — Union ministers, chief ministers, former CMs and leaders and workers from across the country — to mount an unprecedented attack on his political opponents. Shaheen Bagh was turned into the principal weapon.

Mystery model

“Modi hai to mumkin hai (Modi makes it possible)”. This poll slogan, used in the general elections last year, is still being used by the BJP to silence the Opposition. Whenever Opposition members in the Lok Sabha ask how the government plans to achieve its ambitious targets, ministers of the ruling dispensation, after giving details of various schemes, come up with “Modi hai to mumkin hai”.

Now, another such slogan has been added. When, in view of the water crisis in Chennai, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader, TR Baalu, recently asked the junior minister, Rattan Lal Kataria, whether the government has a plan to adopt the Israel model of supplying seawater by establishing floating desalination plants, Kataria offered up the ‘Modi model’. “To tackle water crisis, our government is not looking into any other country but Modi model. Under Modi model, 55 litres of water will be supplied to every household [sic],” Kataria said. He then sat down without giving any detail as to how this plan would be achieved. In response to Kataria’s words, the Treasury bench members thumped their desks loudly. A broad smile spread across Kataria’s face as the Opposition’s protest got drowned out.

Uncertain future

A disgruntled senior Congress leader asked an uncomfortable question to colleagues at an informal gathering. “We were told that the leadership will be at its best and strongest with the presence of three Gandhis at the helm: Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka. The truth is that the leadership is at its weakest today; almost non-existent. We are like a rudderless ship, cut adrift from its moorings.” What surprised everybody present was that some hardcore loyalists who were supposed to answer this question did not object to the presumption that the leadership is at its weakest today. Ironically, they all agreed, but insisted that the presence of a Gandhi at the top was absolutely inevitable for the party’s revival. One of them laughed heartily and declared: “The cause of the disease is also the remedy.”

Interestingly, even younger leaders supposed to be close to Rahul and Priyanka are not very sure if they were the best choice to lead the party and the Opposition at this critical juncture. Rahul himself has asserted at informal meetings that he will not return as Congress president, but nobody takes that seriously. In spite of a growing number of party leaders feeling that a new leadership is required, nobody has the answer to the next vital question — if not Rahul, then who? Doubts over his leadership skills may be genuine, but there are no easy replacements.



Clear message

The Karnataka state BJP chief, Nalin Kumar Kateel, got a taste of where he stood in his party’s pecking order when he went for the swearing-in of 10 defectors who had brought down the previous government. While the chief minister, BS Yediyurappa, still commands respect in spite of having limited agency, Kateel’s entry to the venue hardly created a flutter. Kateel, a hardliner who was hand-picked by Amit Shah as a checkmate to Yediyurappa, had no one touching his feet unlike the CM, who proved who the boss is as far as the state is concerned. Of course, he is not the same old Yediyurappa known for his craft, cunning and energy. But at least Kateel got to know who held sway in the state.