As PM dibs for votes, quiet flows the Ganga

We have indeed come a long way; a full circle from Jawaharlal Nehru who ran away from temples, to Narendra Modi who runs to temples

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The Ganga flows in man’s heart, yet man is unable to bathe in it and remains unaffected.” Of course, he wasn’t talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi who would do the dip in the holy river much later. And the Prime Minister knew exactly what he was doing.

Within a matter of 10 days, Modi has visited Varanasi twice: First to inaugurate the Kashi Corridor and then to launch several development schemes. As is customary, the national media televised and broadcast every nuance of Modi’s trip. The well-publicised and televised event was worth watching. It was a visual treat, well covered by the State-owned Doordarshan and Government-owned private channels. Doordarshan’s 55 cameras did not miss a shot as the Prime Minister emerged from the Ganga after his dip at Lalita Ghat.

A fitting start for the man on whose charisma the BJP would go to the hustings in UP. The Prime Minister, for his part, did his job well. He gave enough masala to the media to air and talk about. He showered petals on workers, prayed under the full glare of TV cameras, sat on stairs with children and, of course, took a dip. It was a well-orchestrated and executed event.

We have indeed come a long way; a full circle from Jawaharlal Nehru who ran away from temples, to Narendra Modi who runs to temples. In 1951, Nehru wrote to the then President and asked him to reconsider his decision of inaugurating the Somnath temple. Times have changed, and how! In 2021, the Prime Minister’s temple run is a media event for everyone to savour. Modi’s penchant for events is well known. There are “Howdy Modi”, “Namaste Trump”, the Chinese Premier’s grand tour of Gujarat and Shinzo Abe’s Benaras trip two years back, to name a few. This time, though, Modi himself was the star attraction.

The Prime Minister’s choice of timing and the place is interesting, yet a bit perplexing. The Rs 900-crore Kashi Vishwanath Dham (KVD) or the Kashi Corridor project is still in the works. It would be a new entrant in the election. Moving away from Ayodhya only distracts attention from the Ram temple. Yogi Adityanath has so painstakingly nurtured lord Rama — millions lit lamps, a Ram statue on the drawing board and construction of a bhavya temple is underway. If that is not enough, what is?

Despite Modi’s best efforts, and let us give him a long rope, the economy hasn’t looked up. Financially drained, frustration is writ large on the faces of people protesting on the streets of UP. Let’s assume he believed in right earnest that demonetisation would work and black money would pour out. He sincerely believed that GST would fill up the State coffers. A zero-balance account for the poor would trigger financial inclusion. And, of course, scrapping the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) would give farmers a choice. It would help double their income. Unfortunately, the great Gujarat model didn’t work on the national scale. All marks for trying, but he miserably failed on the economic front.

India’s GDP has contracted by 7.3 per cent over the past year as per the NSO’s provisional estimates. It’s been four decades since the last time the GDP was in the red. India’s GDP for 2020-21 has taken the biggest hit in the nation’s history. Double-digit wholesale inflation, almost double-digit unemployment rate (9.3 per cent) and low investor confidence are too much to handle without God’s intervention. The business sentiment is abysmally low. In such a situation, only the blessings of ‘Maa Ganga’ can offer salvation.

One dilemma that Modi faces is to win UP while having a CM of his choice. He has to win it to look good in the next general elections. Yogi sometimes scores more points on Hindutva than Modi himself, much to his consternation. The friendly stroll notwithstanding, the underlying tension between the leaders is visible. Anti-incumbency caused by gross mismanagement of the pandemic is a riding sentiment in UP right now. The State still suffers from Yogi’s policy blight. With a sizeable voter ensemble — Brahmins, OBCs and Dalits, in particular — looking despondent, there has to be a unifying factor that transcends the caste predicament. Even after repealing the three farm laws, western UP remains dicey for the BJP.

No doubt it was a great choice of timing, place and God for appropriation. Yogi has firmly positioned himself in Ayodhya while the PM took three years to even visit the place. Modi had to go someplace other than Ayodhya. Kashi also has an Aurangzeb link and is thus convenient for polarisation. Moreover, it also takes care of archrival Rahul Gandhi’s shiv bhakti. The timing is perfect as it happens days before the notification of UP elections.

Modi’s Ganga dip has set the agenda for UP elections. It would be fought on emotive religious issues rather than on core existential crises. The Prime Minister knows well the road to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, goes through UP’s dusty lanes. Would the dip in the Ganga redeem the BJP is something only time can tell. Till then, quiet flows the Ganga….

(The writer is a columnist and documentary filmmaker. The views expressed are personal.)

Source: The Pioneer