Cong's spin doctors have their hands full : The Modi juggernaut continues
- Sangai Express Editorial :: November 20 , 2013 -

It seems to be Narendra Modi everywhere.

Not surprising, given the fact that he is the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP, the principal Opposition party and someone seen as the best man to steamroll the Congress aside.

The surprising thing however is that it is the Congress which seems to be helping him in no small measure to occupy centre stage.

Mr Modi and his backroom boys seem to have done their homework well, sending the Congress scrambling for words and strategies to counter the cleverly aimed barbs, innuendoes and propaganda.

Soon after Modi occupied centre stage and was projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP, the Congress lost no time in picking its men to counter any moves initiated by the Chief Minister from Gujarat but the important point is none of the men hand picked by the Congress party are its Prime Ministerial candidate.

The not so young Gandhi scion, Rahul Gandhi, who has been projected as the man to lead the battle of the ballots, has not so far come out with any significant address or statement to take the wind out of the Modi juggernaut.

Rather it has been the Chief Minister of Bihar and JD (U) leader, Nitish Kumar who has been landing the blows on Modi where it matters. Says something significant.

The Gujarat model may or may not catch the imagination of the voters across the country but there is no denying the fact that in its efforts to neutralise the cleverly devised strategy of Mr Modi, the Congress party has only helped him in occupying centre stage.

And so it is that while Mr Modi and the BJP seem more than keen to make the 2014 Parliamentary election as some sort of a show down between the Gujarat Chief Minister and Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has deemed it fitter and wiser to surround Mr Gandhi with a body guard of trouble shooters and instead let him focus on the agenda of the Congress party and what the Gandhi family has done for the country from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Taking recourse to the Parliamentary form of democracy, one may say. So while to the BJP and its allies the 2014 Parliamentary election should be seen and interpreted as a toss up between Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi, the Congress seems to be shying away from this.

This is where it has unwittingly helped Mr Modi to occupy prime space and set the Modi juggernaut rolling.

What however should not be forgotten is the point that it is not only propaganda, debates or strategies worked out by the backroom boys and spin doctors that will ultimately matter when polling day comes.

Given the current political dynamics across the country, what will ultimately matter is the Nationwide acceptability of the party in question and how it balances its act vis-a-vis its tie up or alliances with the regional political parties.

There is also the question of whether Mr Modi can be seen sans the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, which many have dubbed as nothing short of a pogrom.

That the BJP is working overtime to neutralise this is evident from the manner in which it has never failed to rake up the Sikh massacre at New Delhi in 1984 following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The seemingly insensitive comment from the late Rajiv Gandhi, which went something like this, 'when a big tree falls there are bound to be tremors' is another point which the BJP is trying to capitalise on whenever 2002 is mentioned.

This is apart from the series of graft charges which have been levelled against the UPA II regime, with even the office of the Prime Minister coming under the scanner in the Coalgate scam.

Early days yet, but for the moment, the Modi juggernaut continues and it will take more than mere jibes and counter charges to stop this and surely the spin doctors of the Congress party have their hands full.

How well they understand the homework to be done remains to be seen.