Three images have dominated the airwaves this week. The first, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi waving to an unseen audience Sunday as he travelled in a boat on the Dal Lake in Srinagar. The video has led to a variety of uncharitable tweets, including by former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, as well as stories. All of them wonder who the PM is waving to.
The second image is that of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, being jostled by a horde of cameramen and journalists as she dropped off her husband, Robert, at the Enforcement Directorate’s office Wednesday for questioning. She soon drove off to the Congress party headquarters in the heart of Delhi to start her first day on the job as party general secretary.
Neither @INCIndia nor @RahulGandhi’s Twitter handles tweeted Priyanka’s coming out, so here is a sampler:
One jhalak how things are going to be when priyanka vadra steps out : absolute chaos and unmanageable crowds pic.twitter.com/Cf84Yb1JwJ
— pallavi ghosh (@_pallavighosh) February 6, 2019
And there is a third image, of the Prime Minister taking more than a couple of jabs at the Congress party while replying to the motion of thanks on the President’s address.
BC and AD, Before Congress and After Dynasty, are acerbic additions to the political ‘dangal’ that is underway. This is a fight to the finish, make no mistake, and everything is on the menu. Modi even evoked the Mahatma, who famously said that the Congress should disband now that Independence has been won, in his Congress-mukt Bharat campaign.
Meanwhile, Robert Vadra was questioned for the second day Thursday. You don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you that the timing of the investigation into his alleged money laundering in the purchase of properties in London has a close connection to his wife’s entry into active politics.
Priyanka has said that she is undeterred, so expect more of the same chaos as well as unbridled enthusiasm as she tramps across eastern Uttar Pradesh in the weeks and months to come.
In comparison, the isolation of Narendra Modi is becoming apparent. This might be an odd thing to say about India’s greatest communicator in recent years – the odds for Priyanka certainly haven’t been tested yet – even as the PM’s easy eloquence in Parliament, cracking jokes at the expense of the Congress amid much thumping of desks, didn’t escape anyone.
Here are three examples that demonstrate that the flattery of courtiers may be preventing him from getting a real assessment from the ground.
Also read: Has Modi cracked down on Vadra, Saradha, Aircel too late or is it perfect campaign timing?
First, and this is old hat, the Prime Minister has not held a single press conference in the nearly five years that he has been in power. The closest he came to subject himself to some questioning was by ANI editor Smita Prakash on New Year’s Day. The PM, it is clear, is uncomfortable being grilled by a not-so-friendly media.
Second, Modi has addressed hundreds of rallies these past five years and is soon undertaking another blitzkrieg wherein he will carpet-bomb the country with speeches. The Prime Minister’ security staff sanitises the area before any public appearance, which means that he doesn’t really get to meet people who would have otherwise told him about what’s actually happening on the ground.
Third, the PM has become an expert on video-calling BJP karyakartas all over the country as part of his ‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot’ campaign. Once more, this takes place in completely controlled conditions. The PM is in one room in Delhi, while the BJP party workers are in their respective spaces in their respective states. The touch-and-feel that is the blood flow of any self-respecting politician is sorely missing.
Contrast this with the PM’s obsessiveness over getting the smallest detail right when a foreign dignitary is visiting. Those who work closely with him say that he goes over everything minutely: Where he will receive the dignitary, how long he will walk with the visiting leader, where they will stop so that they are in line with the perfect camera angle, which allows the perfect photo and video to be taken, and how he will exit the scene.
Also read: Modi takes ‘tough’ questions but has no good answers
That is why the ANI video of the PM’s visit to the Dal Lake is so interesting. Watch him getting on a boat with a few other men, while another one presumably loaded with other officials and security follow behind. Note the video frame by frame.
Here is the PM beautifully juxtaposed against the magnificent snow-covered Pir Panjal range. Now he waves. Then he removes the woollen cap he’s wearing, but keeps his stylish sunglasses on. The mystery of the unseen crowds across the enormous Dal Lake, who are presumably the recipient of the PM’s wave, remains, but that is only one part of the question.
Is the PM just lonely or is he unaware that he is isolating himself? Murmurs are being heard that he is trying so hard to get the detail right that he could be in danger of forgetting the big picture.
This is where Priyanka Gandhi comes in. If the crowds in front of the Enforcement Directorate office in Delhi Wednesday are any measure, a bruising political battle between Modi and Priyanka lies ahead.
Also read: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mamata Banerjee: The two powerful women who held TV news hostage
The India Today survey on 24 January predicted that although the BJP could lose some 80 seats if elections were held now, the party remains the overwhelming favourite to win power.
Certainly, Modi is no pushover. But if he wants to keep his magic grip on the masses, then he has to speak TO people, not AT people. He has to take the combative question along with the conciliatory one. He has to emerge from the carefully choreographed world of video and still photos into the heat and dust and grime, where the unexpected rules.
Modi can no longer rule from afar. Priyanka Gandhi has shown, with her single “I stand by my husband” statement, that she and everybody else in the country knows that the timing of the decision to question her husband so close to the elections could not have been taken without the PM’s sanction.
The new question is, is Modi ready for Priyanka Gandhi?