A new haze of normalcy has settled down on Delhi, at least for now. Narendra Modi's face on posters is no longer staring down at you from every petrol pump station. The ubiquitous reminders of a cult leader are gone — though the bookshop at Terminal 3 still displays in its “new arrival” shelf at least seven Modi books, obviously penned by the cunningly calculating authors much before the voters decided to deny his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a clear parliamentary majority.
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A truncated prime minister is not entitled to any personality cult. Simple. The first and foremost democratic task before the nation is to honor the voters’ preference and dismantle the Modi personality cult.
How to start a cult
The Modi cult that got institutionalised these last ten years had three elements to it.
First and foremost, Modi has built for himself a reputation of being a great communicator, one who can mesmerise any audience with his demagogic prowess and sell them any slogan or jumla (empty promises), if you like; he was declared by many to be the invincible vote-catcher. The ultimate measure of a leader in a democracy.
Suddenly we were a nation of one- hero-worshipers.
Second, with this reputation — very often exaggerated — Modi was able to convert the entire BJP into a tamed house-cat. Senior leaders were packed off into some exotic advisory role. None of the remaining leaders were allowed to get into the picture frame; everyone had to walk a few steps behind him. He could change chief ministers with the same ease as he changed his kurtas (traditional Indian long shirt) — and, no one in the party and among his political allies dare raise his or her voice at the master's choice or decision.
Third, a basic ruthless, unheard of and unemployed before, to knee-cap all sources of opposition and resistance – the Congress and other parties, civil society, and other assorted dissenters. The coercive powers of the state were unleashed against those who refused to fall in line. The same rough hand was shown to the media and was given a choice: my way or no way. Revenue calculations by the media barons and careerism compulsions of the editors won over professionalism and public duty.
How to end a cult
For ten years, the Modi cabal used the tax-payers’ money to manufacture a personality cult around the man. And the Modi coterie used the aura of that personality cult to use the governmental paraphernalia to elevate him beyond questioning, criticism, or critique; never had the country been subjected to such a comprehensive exercise in mass hypnosis. Suddenly we were a nation of one- hero-worshipers. A civilisation that takes pride in having the luxury of choosing from as many as “84 lakhs devis and devatas” (8.4 million gods and goddesses) was now being asked to worship only one god.
This was too much for this ancient land. Under the Indian Constitution, the only god is the voter.
Modi thoroughly exposed himself on the campaign trail. A man whom the aspirational Indians thought was a leader of maturity and sagacity turned out to be unworthy of our collective respect, leave alone reverence. He thought having a personal cult would be like a license to say whatever he likes — distort facts, fabricate history, deliberately mis-quote and misread the others — and people would still believe him and vote for him. Then, when he finally claimed to have had a kind of a non-biological birth, he came across as totally unhinged.
The voter saw through Narendra Modi, a man who could not be respected as a statesman or a wise ruler, or a king. The voter has taken away his ball — his invincibility as a vote-catcher. Modi himself barely made it in the district of Varanasi, located in his constituency.
After ten years of false narratives, a kind of national emptiness overwhelms us.
Of course, it would be useful to remember that these last ten years the Modi personality cult has developed an infrastructure of vested interests as well as created its own ecosystem. The Modi cheerleaders are pretending that nothing has changed or will change; they are betting that the truncated prime minister will continue to use money power and the danda (punishment) to climb back into our national esteem. This is elitist arrogance, already rejected by the voters.
National emptiness, and glorious uncertainty
A personality cult is the very anti-thesis of a democratic constitutional arrangement. But, sadly, the judiciary seems to have settled for a strange jurisprudence that any questioning or criticism or even insult to the prime minister was a crime against the nation and that the offender had to be put away in jail. This judicial indulgence has perhaps been the source of deepening of this personality cult in its most unhealthy manifestations. The democratic forces would devoutly wish that the judicial leadership will have the sagacity and the courage of Article 32 to heed the voter’s yearning for an accountable governance.
More than the judiciary, it is for the 200-strong Opposition in the Lok Sabha (lower house) to insist that the prime minister will answer questions on Wednesday, in the Rajya Sabha (upper house) on Thursday. Parliament is not a forum for any prime minister to demonstrate his rhetorical skills nor a place for his party men to shout “Modi, Modi.” The Opposition benches must make sure that the Parliament becomes once again the supreme national institution of accountable governance — and not a podium for a demagogue.
Though Modi has returned to the South Block — the prime minister's builing — as a truncated prime minister, he has lost his most precious asset: his trustworthiness. For now, he has surrounded himself with familiar faces, who want to reassure him that the old order has not changed. And, then, there is the compromised media landscape displaying advance stages of Stockholm Syndrome.
After ten years of false narratives, fudged statistics and forged “achievements,” a kind of national emptiness overwhelms us. A decade long infatuation with Modi has now developed into a glorious uncertainty. A country of one billion people cannot achieve any national greatness just on One Leader’s whims and fancies. Undoubtedly, as a nation we have the inner resilience and the civilisational certitude to rebuild our collective confidence, and, use the democratic energies to build an inclusive future. That task cannot even begin unless we start the process of dismantling the Modi personality cult.