Modi Will Create History if he Succeeds in Making People of Uttar Pradesh Accept a Gujju as Saviour
Poverty is often the petri dish of power. Uttar Pradesh is one of
India’s most deprived states, but politically, the most powerful. Every
seventh Lok Sabha MP is from there. Before Narendra Modi became the PM,
eight of India’s 13 PMs were from UP. Since Independence, they have
collectively ruled the nation for 47 years. For Modi, the ninth PM to be
elected from UP, the state’s political numerology is significant. Atal
Bihari Vajpayee became the BJP’s first PM, because one-third of BJP Lok
Sabha members came from UP. In 2014, the party won a record number 0f 71
seats. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first PM, and Modi, the present PM,
are both from the state. Other PMs who were launched in UP were Indira
Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi, Charan Singh, Chandrasekhar
and Vishwanath Pratap Singh.
Last week, various parties and
leaders, including Modi, initiated moves aimed at acquiring dominance
over UP. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, fearing the total
decimation of his outfit, decided to bring the ossified Janata Parivar
factions together, hoping that it would keep their traditional vote bank
intact. The RSS has also scaled up its activities in UP, with its top
leadership spending more time in the state, deploying additional forces
to consolidate its base and capture new pastures. Last week, the PM
chose to stay overnight in his constituency, Varanasi, as part of an
unfolding plan to consolidate his grip over the state. He chose to
represent the holy city because it is a symbol of Hindu heritage and one
of the most sacred of Gangetic destinations. Aware of the fact that he
is the first non-UP leader to become the PM after getting a handsome
mandate from Varanasi’s voters, Modi has decided to return the favour.
He doesn’t belong to any of its dominant castes such as Brahmins,
Thakurs and upper caste Kayasthas like Shastri, but it hasn’t stopped
Modi from getting the new Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar (who is
likely to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh within 24
hours of his swearing-in). This reflects his intention to raise the
level of UP’s participation in his Cabinet. It is for the first time
that the PM, the home minister and the defence minister, all represent
Uttar Pradesh in Parliament. Though both Modi and Parrikar aren’t from
UP, along with Rajnath Singh, they make a formidable troika that can
demolish all hostile political combinations.
With the induction
of Parrikar and other ministers, UP will have the maximum representation
in the Central government—Uma Bharti, Kalraj Mishra, Maneka Gandhi,
Santosh Gangwar, Gen. V K Singh and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan. Previously,
such a situation had happened only during Morarji Desai’s reign, during
which he inducted four Cabinet ministers from UP, including Chaudhury
Charan Singh as the home minister. Rajiv Gandhi ensured that powerful
leaders like Narain Dutt Tiwari, V P Singh, K C Pant and Mohsina Kidwai
were given prominent positions. Barring G B Pant, who was India’s first
Home Minister from UP (then the United Provinces), it was only Charan
Singh who held the honour. Additionally, for the first time, three of
the five members of the all-powerful Cabinet Committee on Security
represent Uttar Pradesh. It is not just a coincidence that they enjoy
the full confidence of the RSS leadership. Although Modi has his eyes
fixed on Bihar and UP since almost half the Lok Sabha seats the party
won are from these two states, it is the only in UP where his twin
mantra of Hindutva and development can deliver handsome dividends. On
the face of it, UP is caste-ridden, communally polarised and is bereft
of any national leader. But for a large number of aspirational UP-ites,
Modi has projected himself as the messiah of modernisation, a liberal
Hindu and a leader with nationwide appeal.
If the future contours
and content of BJP’s Operation UP is an indication, Modi would be
spending about 20 days every year in the state. He has already
established a full-fledged office equipped with state-of-the-art
technology to monitor not only Varanasi but also the entire state. A
special cell is to be set up in the PMO under a senior officer who would
keep a real time watch on all developments in Uttar Pradesh. But Modi’s
trump card appears to be the Ganga. By putting Uma Bharti, a Ganga
devotee, in charge of the river rejuvenation project, he expects to
influence the voters of 45 Lok Sabha seats and of over 200 Assembly
seats situated along and around Ganga’s path. UP is the only state in
which the RSS, the Union government and the state BJP work in perfect
coordination. While RSS workers identify relevant issues at the ground
level and present their wish list to their leadership, the state unit of
the BJP forwards it to Om Mathur, the Central leader in charge of Uttar
Pradesh.
It was Amit Shah who chose Mathur, who had assisted him
in the Gujarat and Maharashtra Assembly elections for the job. He is
supported by a few trusted political aides from Gujarat and other
states. In addition, all the infrastructure ministries have been
instructed to pay special attention to pending projects in UP, give them
the extra push to take off, and also pump in generous funds. Both
Bharti and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari have done a detailed
study of various water- and road-related issues and will be spending
their maximum time in the state. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah
Naidu has been pushing for the development of the maximum number of
smart cities in UP. If Gujarat was the laboratory for the Hindutva
experiment, Modi is turning Uttar Pradesh into an exhibition venue to
showcase his development agenda, while retaining Hindutva as the core
ingredient. His plan is to restore the state’s national status it had
lost in the churning of regional politics. Team Modi is now marketing
the PM in the state as a leader who would replace titans like Nehru,
Indira and Vajpayee. Modi will create political history again if he
succeeds in making the Hindi-speaking and god-fearing UP bhaiyyas accept
a Gujju as their saviour.
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
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