However bitterly contested politics may be, you never question a rival or predecessor’s patriotism. Poor judgement, spinelessness, woolly-headedness are fine. But treason, never.
Narendra Modi campaigns hard, and takes no prisoners. In the 2004 national elections, he made headlines by describing Rahul Gandhi as a “Jersey bachchra” (Jersey calf), alluding to his “foreign” pedigree. He also said nobody would give him the job of a driver or a clerk. For Sonia, he said nobody would rent her a home. Which landlord would do so without a proper check of the tenant’s antecedents?
In our ‘Walk the Talk’ interview that followed shortly after, I asked him if it wasn’t below the belt, and if he regretted it. He said, an election campaign is a surcharged thing, it cannot be dry or anodyne. There must be humour and sarcasm.
And yes, in the heat of the campaign, in an hour-long speech, sometimes you say the odd thing you should not. “Ek-do no-ball kabhi ho jaati hai (you may end up bowling the odd no-ball)”. I asked him just no-balls, or wide, bouncers and beamers too, inviting caution from the third umpire (Election Commission). In fairness, I must say he took it on the chin, good-humouredly, and said he will of course be careful going ahead.
Generally, as he rose in stature, his language became more measured. The 2014 campaign saw a very different Modi. It was as if he was over with the negativity and making a new beginning. There was the usual heat-and-dust and some sparks, but once in power, his discourse was more about his achievements: Neem-coated urea, price of LED bulbs, Ujjwala scheme, demonetisation, GST, surgical strikes, Jan Dhan, Mudra Bank and foreign visits.
He was tough and unsparing of his challengers, but that is the nature of his electioneering. And it works. The losers can complain while he goes home victor. Essentially, since 2013, he has been campaigning from a position of strength, as a front-runner. His victory is presumed. He is merely working on increasing his margin, annihilating the opposition and realising his dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat. He was getting there, in a breeze.
The turn in the last phase of this Gujarat campaign was therefore a surprise. Pakistan, Muslims, Ahmed Patel as chief minister in the unlikely event of a Congress win, was still not such a surprise. Such things happen in polarised Gujarat politics. The surprise was the insinuation that his predecessor for a full 10 years, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was complicit in a Pakistani plan to meddle with the Gujarat elections and somehow install Ahmed Patel as chief minister.
Politics is not a leisurely game of golf. You need a thick skin and ear-plugs. But a former prime minister accused of treason, is a new one. There have been dark allegations about others in the past. American syndicated journalist Seymour Hersh had claimed the CIA had a mole in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet during the 1971 war and it was Morarji Desai. Never mind that he had left the cabinet in 1969 after the Congress split.
Later, the same allegation surfaced about Maratha strongman and former defence minister Y.B. Chavan. Publishing that story in a Times Group daily unfortunately cost Vinod Mehta his job. The political class, by and large, did not exploit or give credence to any of these. However bitterly contested politics may be, you never question a rival or predecessor’s patriotism. Poor judgement, spinelessness and woolly-headedness you can lambast him for. Treason, never.
The Americans have invented an expression and it is much in use now, in Trump’s times: jumping the shark. It originates from a TV sit-com (Happy Days) which was losing ratings and in one episode a character on water-skis literally jumped over a shark, hoping it would bring the ratings back.
The incumbent prime minister insinuating his predecessor was plotting with a former Pakistani foreign minister and current high commissioner to “fix” the Gujarat election and install a Muslim in power is not in the nature of a no-ball, wide-ball, bouncer or beamer. It is jumping the shark. It may shore up the ratings on the morning of 18 December, but the prime minister could reflect on it as honestly as he did after the Jersey-bachhra/clerk/driver “slip-ups” in the heat of the 2004 campaign.