Modi 3.0 Compelled To Cut Corners By Coalition Compulsions

Narendra Modi is now Prime Minister of India for the third time. He took the oath of office Sunday evening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. As many as 30 cabinet ministers, 36 ministers of state (MoS) and 5 MoS (independent charge) were also sworn in along with Narendra Modi, who seemed unusually accommodating while choosing his Council of Ministers. Among them are old suspects like Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman. Key BJP allies Janata Dal-United and the Telugu Desam Party also got representation in Modi’s Council of Ministers.

This is Modi’s first coalition government. Modi 1:0 and Modi 2:0 had seen Modi being cast as a divisive and authoritarian figure. The biggest takeaway from the Modi inauguration on Sunday was that Modi 3:0 will have to be a mellower version of Modi 1:0 and Modi 2:0. Prime Minister Modi appears to have been tamed by circumstances which overtook him and the party he leads. Over 8,500 people, including MCD garbage collectors and heads of state of neighbouring countries, watched Modi taking the oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt.

A second takeaway from the Modi inauguration was that the INDIA bloc, the Congress in particular, continued to look askance at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his “NDA coalition government”.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge attended Modi’s coronation but said he wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for set tradition. The Congress has sworn to replace the NDA government with an INDIA bloc dispensation as quickly as things pan out. The feeling one got was that the quicker this replacement is accomplished, the better it would be for all.

There are a number of thorny issues that could muck up things for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term. The ‘Agniveer’ scheme, for instance. Not just the INDIA bloc, but even the BJP’s NDA allies TDP and JD-U have objections to Agniveer. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t stand down on Agniveer, relations could sour to breaking point.

One got a fairly good idea from Modi’s coronation about what all could haul Modi over the coals in his third term. Modi cannot wish away objections to Agniveer and the Uniform Civil Code, also the CAA, which Amit Shah says will be rolled out across India. Also, ‘Muslim Reservation’ is a contentious issue the NDA government will have to lock horns with.

One of the biggest takeaways from the Modi inauguration was that Modi isn’t the ‘Boss’ that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had called him. The voter clipped Modi’s wings and Modi is no longer the high-flyer of Modi 1:0 and Modi 2:0. But Modi’s third outing as Prime Minister equalled Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of three in a row affirming the view that once Modi sets a goal, he achieves it.

One also distinctly gets the feeling that Modi likes familiar faces around him. Therefore, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar and Piyush Goyal, apart from a lot of others from Modi 1:0 and Modi 2:0. Another takeaway is that henceforth, the reins of the BJP will be in another safe pair of hands. Jagat Prakash Nadda has joined Modi’s Council of Ministers and somebody else would take up the mantle of BJP President.

One also gets the feeling that nobody would be blamed for the electoral losses the BJP suffered. Those who had to be punished have already been taken to task. Like Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur, who didn’t figure in the Modi 3:0 Council of Ministers. The spell cast on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur appears to have broken. Modi has learned from the electoral setbacks that sycophancy doesn’t help him nor does it help the incorrigible and inveterate sycophant.

Irani and Thakur had made boot-licking a fine art and Modi couldn’t distinguish. To the point where he gave them a free rein and look what happened? Anurag Thakur and BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya just couldn’t see the manner in which the SP-Congress combine had outmanoeuvred the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The Rajputs ditched the BJP and so did the Dalit Jatavs. In Amethi Smriti Irani continued to behave like royalty and Modi’s “400 paar” paid the price.

Finally, Malayalam film actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who is the first BJP MP from Kerala, took the oath in English and it wasn’t the Malayalam-accented English we’re all accustomed to and a pleasant departure from the English spoken and heard in God’s Own Country. (IPA Service)