For BJP juggernaut, Modi is the engine and Hindutva is the fuel

‘Double-engine sarkar’ is a phrase popularised by the BJP to woo the electorate of state assemblies. It promises better development in a state if the same party as the one ruling at the Centre is chosen.

Over the years, the phrase got weaponised, threatening the nation’s federal structure, and the Opposition-ruled states began to see the Centre as a belligerent power that sent a not-so-subtle message to the state electorate that they may not get a fair share in the allotment of resources if the BJP is not elected.

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If the same phrase ‘double engine’ is applied to those who ensure successful poll outcomes, it throws up a different picture altogether. There can only be one leader or ‘one engine’ on whose shoulder the entire burden of victory must rest and others simply must fall in line, a truth further underlined in an age of ‘Trump-ism’.

Extending the analogy to Delhi, Himachal

The phrase fits in snugly when it comes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The humongous success in the Gujarat polls testifies this, and we are not even talking about the 2014 or 2019 parliamentary conquests. When it comes to victory, it must be credited to the ‘engine’ leading the pack. It is Modi’s charisma and hard work that has paid rich dividends. In the case of Gujarat, being a son-of-the-soil provides additional benefits. 

The analogy of ‘one engine’ applies to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as well as it has managed to wrest Delhi’s municipal body from BJP’s clutches solely based on Arvind Kejriwal’s promises.

The narrative changes slightly when it comes to Himachal Pradesh. The Congress, aided by local leadership, managed to edge past the BJP by a slight margin. If Congress had only one leader at the helm, instead of many fighting each other, it would have managed to pull away from its rival and get additional five or six seats that would have given it more than a comfortable majority — a necessity when BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ is ever snapping at Opposition’s heels. 

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The Congress might have won the election, but it may still get derailed as the enemy stays within, with factional leaders pulling the party in various directions.

Hindutva runs out of fuel in hill state  

The Congress faces a bigger problem. Its ‘engine’ is decoupled and often refuses to fire; Rahul Gandhi has taken a different course and is walking the length and breadth of the country, leaving the party’s electoral battles to its own devices. He is unable to form his team of confidants as, on the one hand, he despises the veterans and, on the other, his younger friends whom he trusted, such as Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada, deserted him. He is now trying to create a new identity for himself and the party by rubbing shoulders with the masses.

There is another crucial element in the electoral game and that is the fuel that fires the electoral engines. In the case of the BJP, Hindutva is almost like a nuclear fuel that seems to have simply exploded in the Hindi heartland. Its impact has quickly spread to other regions as well. Modi, propelled by this ideology, is stealing the march over others.

But what about Himachal? Despite Modi’s appeal to the voters in the hill state that they should “vote for me, and not the candidate,” the BJP failed to retain its government in the state. 

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It is because the ‘Hindutva fuel’ has had its limitations in the state. Himachal Pradesh has only 2 per cent minorities, and it has a large, literate population in the government sector serving either as teachers or soldiers. The controversial Agnipath scheme and the Congress’ promise of retaining the Old Pension Scheme seem to have done the trick for the party.

The case in other states

As opposed to Himachal, the ‘Hindutva fuel’ has worked in Gujarat for the BJP. The analogy could be extended to other regions as well. In the southern states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the BJP is still knocking at the doors as the Hindutva quotient has low acceptability. In Karnataka, it has made a dent and in Telangana, the BJP is now making serious efforts to grab power. In all these places, the ‘engine’ is always Modi.

The story changes a bit when it comes to Uttar Pradesh, which is almost one-fourth the size of Europe and packed with various sub-nationalist sentiments. Hindutva binds them together and the BJP has a local ‘engine’ in the form of Yogi Adityanath. But the state still needs Modi to chug his party out of the complex caste polity and give it a nationalist identity. The Hindutva fuel has hit a pause in Bihar as the state is still partly in the grip of Mandal politics, where a strong local ‘engine’ can trump Modi’s ‘Kamandal’.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the saffron ideology that abhors diversity and goes by the slogan of ‘One Nation’ for almost everything should also have only ‘One Leader’ at the helm. Interestingly, the same principle applies to most political parties in India, which have adopted the Westminster model but get presidential when it comes to the leadership question.

The Kejriwal experiment

As opposed to Modi, Kejriwal is still experimenting with his fuel. He has managed to win Delhi state, its municipalities, Punjab and steal 13% vote share from the Congress in his first outing in Gujarat. His new formulation of transactional politics based on ‘post-ideology’ polity has worked so far, but for how long?

Portraits of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh form the backdrop of his chief ministerial throne. He may add images of Shivaji when he goes to Maharashtra or who knows even Sir Chhotu Ram when he enters Haryana. But Mahatma Gandhi? Unlikely, as he is rooting for images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha to replace Gandhiji on currency notes. 

Whether Kejriwal turns out to be Elon Musk, who has revolutionised electric engines, or ends up like Ramar Pillai (now convicted for fraud), who ‘invented’ a herbal fuel called “Ramar biofuel”, only time will tell.

The Congress, meanwhile, is running astray. Rahul Gandhi, who should lead from the front and act as an ‘engine,’ is reluctant after massive crashes in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary polls. His supporters strongly believe that he is the only one who can pull the party out of the current morass it finds itself in. The Congress, unseated and thrown out of power after facing serious charges of corruption, misgovernance and policy paralysis, is yet to find the ‘fuel’ to face the potent ‘Hindutva’ onslaught. Meanwhile, Rahul, who is yet to prove his leadership mettle, is on a ‘yatra’ to find that elusive fuel that may fire his engines.

Room for alternatives

The results of Himachal, Gujarat and even Delhi municipality, however, show that there is space for alternative narratives in politics. Though the saffron party’s massive election machinery is propelled by a heady mix of Hindutva, clever social engineering, heavy funding, indomitable zeal to win, oratory and the charisma of Prime Minister Modi, it may still not be totally invincible. 

Amidst this, India’s Opposition in general and Rahul Gandhi, in particular, are yet to find the right messaging with which they can take on the BJP.