By Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
Trust INC to unfailingly serve Narendra Modi’s cause in elections . In Karnataka this time, INC may have done it again.With the Bajrang Bali taunt and manifesto promise ban Bajrang Dal. Modi has gone to town exploiting it with a war cry “ Bajrang Bali ki jai’ and cleverly tagging it emotionally to ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. A potent potion to tuck into the emotions and feelings of the voters!
Read what Prof. Yuval Noah Harari- the Hebrew University, author of the best selling Sapiens,Homo Deus says about elections. It is not policies or promises that fetch votes or make the difference. Voters vote on ‘Feelings’. They alone matter. That is why charisma is at the core. Politicians with the gift of the gab trump the pedestrian ideologues.
In his ‘21 Lessons in 21st Century”, Yuval writes,
“You might object that people were asked ‘What do you think?’ rather than ‘What do you feel?’, but this is a common misperception. Referendums and elections are always about human feelings, not about human rationality. If democracy were a matter of rational decision-making, there would be absolutely no reason to give all people equal voting rights – or perhaps any voting rights. There is ample evidence that some people are far more knowledgeable and rational than others, certainly when it comes to specific economic and political questions”. Feelings alone make the difference.,
Cut to INC and India. Elections are not known to be decided by a remark, but Sonia Gandhi’s “maut ke saudagar” jibe ( Merchant of Death) did play a huge part in 2007 Gujarat elections.The expression sounded the death knell to Congress’ chances,and even after a decade and half, they are still smarting under its impact.Congress has continued to lose in 5 elections on the trot. .
Then we had the irrepressible Mani Shanker Iyer Aiyar causing not just embarrassment to his party with his statement, but many believe, to this day, that Aiyar’s ‘chai-wala’ barb at Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha helped the then BJP prime ministerial candidate a great deal. Modi often referred to it in his campaign to highlight his humble background.Aiyar had then claimed that Modi can never become prime minister but could sell tea at a Congress conclave, which was then underway.
And in 2017, Mani was at it again. Calling Prime Minister a ‘neech aadmi’, Iyer triggered a political storm on the last day of the Gujarat poll campaign. While Modi retorted Aiyar by saying it only relects his Mugalai mindset, many politicians including Congress vice president rebuked Aiyar for his remark. Though Aiyar apaologised for his remark after facing backlash, it is certain the statement did help BJP.
And that thoughtless remark of Aiyar was after his reference of succession to Mughal kings by their sons to justify Rahul Gandhi’s, then impending elevation as Congress president. Modi seized on his Mughal reference to liken Gandhi’s elevation to “Aurangzeb raaj” and put the Congress on the back foot.
On April 28,2023, Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “like a poisonous snake”, triggering sharp reactions from the BJP. Addressing an election rally in Ron, in Gadag district, Kharge said in Kannada: “Modi is like a poisonous snake. Don’t try to lick this snake to check whether it is venomous or not. If you taste it, you are dead.”
The elder Kharge clarified saying he meant that the BJP was like a snake. “I did not call him (Modi) that. I have said earlier that I do not make personal attacks. What I said was that the (BJP) ideology was poisonous. If you support the ideology and want to taste it, death is certain,” he said, responding to media queries. The younger Kharge, as a candidate, nevertheless, has carried on with variants on this theme.
All this had upped ante in the elections. Emotions were and are riding high, as rarely, if ever, a party in Karnataka has been returned to power. The anti incumbency factor has always tripped the ruling dispensation. It did seem that Congress was tilting the scales, what with the dissidence and switch over of prominent candidates from BJP.
On 17th April, 2023, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar the Congress, after being dropped by the BJP as a candidate elections , became a prominent leader to switch sides. Mr Shettar, a powerful Lingayat leader, resigned as an MLA and quit the BJP. He met with senior Congress leaders, and formally switched sides, on being allotted the seat BJP denied him, flying from Hubballi to Bengaluru, in a special chopper.
BJP was on the back foot. Trust INC to come to its rescue. On 2nd May,2023, BJP and Modi were served a gift by INC, by promising to ban Bajrang Dal, in its manifesto. . A perfect dolly in the slog overs for Modi the magic campaigner to latch on to. Modi slammed INC’s promise by likening it to ‘An Attempt by Congress to lock up Bajrang Bali after locking up Lord Ram for a long time. Until BJP worked overtime to get him released”.
He said, “ Today it is my great fortune to bow down to this holy land of Hanuman ji and see the misfortune, today when I have come here, at the same time the Congress party has decided to lock Bajrangbali in its manifesto. Earlier Shri Ram was locked up and now they have taken the decision to lock up those who chant Jai Bajrangbali,” It really was an emotion tugging speech and when he closed with ‘Bajrang Bali ki Jai’ ahead of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, the crowd went berserk. And the less than one minute clip has gone viral to INC’s misfortune.
Forget it. INC is its own enemy. And it’s leaders have bad luck in their tongues. Bajrang Bali construct was a perfect curve ball, INC has thrown at itself. Possibly making up for the absence of Mani Shanker Aiyar, who BJP may have been sorely missing!
(Writer is practicing advocate in the Madras High Court)