New Parliament building, Ram temple central to BJP’s poll push

EVEN as the new Parliament building has been inaugurated, the debate about its architectural merit or otherwise — as also whether Opposition parties should have boycotted the event or not — is expected to continue. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his associates are likely to dismiss this as background noise. But the PM is certainly aware of the political potential of the new building in the Assembly elections that are due in the latter half of this year, to be followed by the Lok Sabha elections next summer.

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However, after a chastening defeat in the Karnataka Assembly elections, there is a sense of unease in the BJP, whether it is articulated or not. PM Modi’s name is no longer helping the party repeat the kind of electoral success it has achieved since 2014. Signs of discomfort were apparent in the speech he delivered to party workers at Palam airport in the wee hours of May 25 after he deplaned after a tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in Guwahati last week, accusing the Congress of not accepting Modi as the rightful Prime Minister of the country, revealed a sense of hurt as well as outrage. It showed that despite the Karnataka setback, the BJP wanted Modi to be its trump card in the 2024 election. But politics is a game of glorious uncertainties. Whatever might be the projections of the BJP’s propaganda machinery of Modi’s popularity, nine years in power have weakened quite a bit of his aura. There is nothing unusual about this, but for the BJP it is bad news. The party has now become totally dependent on him to win elections.

In his impromptu address to the party workers at the airport, Modi had emphasised that the people of India had endorsed the BJP by giving it absolute majority in Parliament and that was why when he went abroad, world leaders listened to him because he was the representative of a majority government. He told his supporters that they turned up because they loved India, and not because they loved him. It was an unusual early-morning rally that betrayed nervousness in the party ranks. The BJP has realised that it cannot win every election on the basis of the Hindutva ideology and that it needs a leader who holds the attention of the people. Now, the need is being felt to refurbish the leader’s image.

That the PM’s charisma is waning can be seen clearly. Two of the government’s staunch supporters in matters of economic policy and political tenets have expressed reservations about certain aspects of its functioning. Economist Surjit Bhalla, an ex-member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Council and a former Executive Director (India) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the proposed 20 per cent tax deduction at source on debit and credit card expenses abroad was a regressive step; he wanted the government to withdraw the measure. R. Jagannathan, Editorial Director, Swarajya, said the BJP had the tendency to take the entire credit for itself, leaving no space for others, and that at the end of the day it did not matter to the people whether there was a new Parliament building or who inaugurated it. So, there is a note of disenchantment in the outer circles of the admirers of PM Modi and his government.

There is a change in the way the wind is blowing, and the BJP leaders seem to have sensed it. There are signs that the country has grown restless after nine years of the Modi government. The PM and the BJP are going out of the way to boost the morale of party workers, and at the same time are trying to draw the attention of the generally disinterested masses, who have pressing matters on their mind. The violence in Manipur is but a small symptom of the mood of the nation. The loudness of the BJP leaders proclaiming the heroic qualities of Modi, and this includes the PM praising his own tendency to “challenge the challenges”, is not a good sign for the BJP, Modi or his government. People are not enthused by the now-familiar Modi fanfare.

It is to be expected that PM Modi is flaunting the new Parliament building as part of his vision of ‘New India’ and his effort to ‘decolonise’ India and remove the ‘slavish mentality’ of the people.

There is also the Ram temple, which is being built at Ayodhya on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid; it will be ready for inauguration by January next year. It is most likely that Modi will inaugurate that temple too, and it would also be projected as an achievement of the Modi government in the run-up to the 2024 General Election. There is speculation about which of the two edifices — the new Parliament building, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reminded us is the ‘temple of democracy’, or the Ram temple in Ayodhya — is more important for the party. The BJP would want to use both for electoral gains.

With the economy still struggling to regain a robust growth trajectory in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the subdued global market sentiment, the BJP would want to showcase these two new buildings to fight the elections. But the people may not be thrilled by either of the architectural creations. As shown by the voter in Karnataka, the people are more concerned about the issues affecting their daily lives.