MUSINGS ON MODY'S ELEVATION

 AS expected, Narendra Mody has been chosen to lead the elections campaigns of B J P   for the

Assembly and Parliament elections in the National executive Meeting in Goa, despite Sri L K Advani and a few top brass  stood against the decision. In other words, the B J P  has entrusted Sri Mody the duty of making the party win the coming Assembly and Parliament elections and weighed in that way, it is a  big and risky responsibility for Mody since a lot of prestige hangs on his success or failure of the mission.

Queerly, it is the 2^nd time that Goa becomes venue for another important decision on Sri Mody’s political life and in both cases Sri Advaniji had played a role. In the National executive Meeting held at Goa after the 2002 Gujarat riots Prime Minister Vajpai wanted to remove Mody from the post as the negative sentiments was so strong against him.  At that time, it was Advaniji who intervened and requested Vajpai to give him another chance. Vajpaiji relented and Mody continued at Gujarat. If Advani had not supported Mody then, his political life would have ended there and then at Goa. Now, after eleven years Advani takes a different stand on Mody.

Notably, it was when Sri Mody was down and weak that Advaniji supported him and now when Mody got strengthened with hard work  Advaniji does not support him, maybe he thought that Mody would get too big to put him under his wing. However, there are many people who think that Advani should not have stood against Sri Mody taking into account of the mood of the party men and the writings on the wall.

 The world undergoes change every minute and at 85 he would have been better off letting things take its own course. After the Vajpai era he had two Lok Sabha chances to win and undoubtedly  to become the P M. He could not make it. Now when a man comes up with sterling election performance and matching administrative skill, willing to lead the party to victory, silence was Gold for Advani unless he could support it.

Anyway, the 2^nd decision at Goa for Mody is not as cosy as the first one. Though Mody is an uncrowned king at Gujarat, his acceptability beyond its borders has not been proved yet. To cite an example if Sri Mody stands for election in Kerala his chances of winning are remote because of various socio-political undercurrents. Similarly Mody’s campaigning in Karnataka did have little influence in the recent election results there.  Perhaps he can exert more influence on voters in the North, yet it is a huge risk that Mody has taken upon himself and in that sense Advaniji might be actually helping him when he objected to his election as chief campaigner.

On the part of Sri Mody, he thinks he has spare energy and wants to test his luck beyond Gujarat for which the present assignment is best suited. If B J P gets as many as 200 seats or nearby it, it can form a Government at the centre with the help of other supporting parties. In that scenario no one can ignore Sri Mody for the post of Prime Minister.

Easier said, the road is rough and full of pitfalls, Sri Mody will have to invent suitable strategies to  surmount them  in order to win and prove himself right.

Image from Google