Modi''s central dilemma

As the year 2016 ends, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can look back with some satisfaction even though there was a sting in the tail in the demonetisation measure causing long queues at banks and much suffering for small traders and casual labour.

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 What is more important is a glimpse into the pattern of how Mr Modi wishes to change the idea of India. It is a narrower, more conservative concept, more rooted in Hindu religion with a special pedestal for the conductor of the orchestra, the leader. It has also demonstrated the methodical manner in which the Prime Minister functions.

If the running of a modern government requires myth-making, Mr Modi was equal to the task. The BJP's parent Jan Sangh and its mentor, RSS, had a marginal and ambivalent role in India winning freedom. The new dispensation therefore had to appropriate yesterday's icons. The first to be raided was the Mahatma, the man who designated Nehru the country’s future leader. The secular modern patriot Nehru was anathema to the RSS ideology and the choice inevitably fell on his number two in the Congress government, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the homespun no-nonsense leader with the reputation of being the iron man.

There were other icons picked from relatively recent history along the way such as Shivaji for electoral reasons in Maharashtra. And in a gesture of great extravagance, a sky-high statue of his is to be built in Mumbai harbour to the disadvantage of fishermen and fish breeding grounds. A leader who otherwise wishes to appear frugal has no limits to spending money to shine in the reflected glory of icons.

A third facet of the new scheme of things is to saturate the air waves, social Internet sites and the print media with the leader's words and image. Mr Modi knows that the young hardly read newspapers and rely on the Internet to get their daily feed. Dutifully, all Indian television channels broadcast his speeches in full now that it is election campaign season in Uttar Pradesh.

The message Mr Modi gives is repetitive but effective. It is for the less well-off and the poor. The currency move is against the rich, for the benefit of the poor. Who has given poor households free cooking gas supplies by taking away subsidies from the rich? Who has electrified villages at a rapid pace? Since Mr Modi knows there are more poor or less well-off than the very rich, he is aiming at the sensibilities of the great majority.

Mr Modi is being helped in his propaganda blitz by the disunity and temperament of the opposition leaders. Mr Rahul Gandhi is, in the Prime Minister's mocking words, learning on the job. Other leaders such as Bengal's Mamata Banerjee are still learning the very different requirements for national leadership compared to the scrum-like political game that is played in her home state. And it was a mistake for the Opposition to prevent Parliament from functioning by quibbling over the section under which discussions on demonetisation should be held. The government was thus let off lightly, given the shabby execution of the scheme. If the BJP now acts virtuous, one has only to recall the old boast of Ms  Sushma Swaraj, duly carried out, that she would not let an entire session of the Lok Sabha function.

Whatever the results of the UP Assembly elections, things are going swimmingly for Mr Modi for the present. Apart from his campaign rhetoric, he has his regular weekly chat show on radio, with the Opposition raising the pertinent point that since it is essentially a political broadcast on a public broadcasting system, an Opposition spokesman should have the right of reply, a fine point likely to be disregarded.

The Congress has still to chart a longer term strategy to try to make itself more relevant to the country's future. The Samajwadi Party in UP, which could have been a formidable opponent with Mr Akhilesh Yadav presenting his youthful image, is again mired in family quarrels with the liability of a family brood in power in an unparalleled merging of family and the state. The Congress by comparison is modest with only a son, or daughter or daughter-in-law in line of succession. And Ms Mayawati, another formidable opponent, is having to explain the vast amounts of money in old currency notes her party had to deposit in bank accounts following the Prime Minister's TV announcement last November.

Meanwhile, RSS ideologues, in official positions and otherwise, are embellishing history. The Mughal dynasties and other invaders' rule over India until the East India Company colonised the country are skipped. And exaggerated notions of Hindu kingdoms as they existed in the more modern period hold sway. There is a tendency to ascribe supernatural powers and all wisdom to ancient Indians, who did make a substantial contribution to world civilisation.

Underneath the confidence Mr Modi and his colleagues display there is the psychological problem of reconciling their ideas with the modern digital age Mr Modi passionately espouses. It reminds one of the Tamilian with caste marks on his forehead wearing a necktie and jacket with a wraparound covering his torso.

Mr Modi’s idea of India is still in the making. He is greatly influenced by his upbringing in the RSS from an early age, transformed by his stints as Gujarat chief minister and now in the highest political office of the land. He is trying to discard the naive remarks he was fond of making and realised after public reaction to his address as PM at the inauguration of a Mumbai hospital wing that his past thinking did not go with his new office.

The Prime Minister cannot stray too far from the RSS ideology because it is in his blood and the organisation provides him with the foot soldiers so essential to winning elections. This is the central dilemma of the Modi regime.