Take no prisoners

The extreme partisan vehemence Prime Minister Narendra Modi could summon in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, in replying to the Motion of Thanks, should alert us to an impending breakdown in Indian polity. It was a “take-no-prisoners” performance. By all accounts, the Prime Minister was at his acerbic best -- unyielding, unforgiving -- in his fusillade  at the Congress. The BJP and NDA partisans would applaud the Prime Minister for his declaration of an all-out war on the Congress; it also means it that till the next Lok Sabha elections, whenever held, the polity will experience no political civility, leave alone any bi-partisanship. By choosing the Lok Sabha platform to engage in this unmitigated assault on the Congress, rather than defend President's Address, the Prime Minister has set a bitter note to his government's relationship with the Opposition.

Perhaps, the Prime Minister’s spirited performance was meant to change the terms of discourse about his government’s record so far. The political managers of the BJP have earned for themselves a well-deserved reputation of being prescient observers of public mood and can be expected to know that the Modi sarkar's record has invited questions and doubts. Because outlandish promises and claims were made, there was bound to be a sense of disappointment over the gap between promise and performance. The Modi sarkar is vulnerable on account of its failure to live up to its most tantalising promise of creating millions of jobs. Even within the ruling alliance sober voices are being raised about the mixed bag. There are bound to be critics and opponents; it is the basic template of democracy. Those in power have the burden of defending a record; and, those in Opposition have all the luxury of fault-finding, irrespective of India being old or new.   

Even though we live in an age of disinformation and exaggerations, of half-truths and half-lies, fake news and faux history, the tone of total recriminations — major, minor and petty — the Prime Minister used betrayed a sense of personal frustration and anger. That must be a matter of regret and concern. No Prime Minister should allow himself to entertain outsized notions of historical correctness or entitlement.