It seems that the abuse game has found a permanent spot in Indian politics. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called Modi “zehreeli saanp” (poisonous snake) and the BJP broke out in a rash of gleeful reactions. The sagging image of the BJP, and that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, received a booster thrust like that of a rocket blasted into space from Sriharikota. Also, cuss words are for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victim cards. To nobody’s surprise, after Modi gets cussed, the entire story of the Prime Minister’s humble origins is repeated once again. In the last edition of the Gujarat Assembly elections, AAP filled in for the Congress and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was constantly trolled and called names by AAP leaders. Thanks to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress was nowhere in Modi’s home state to call Modi names. And AAP made up for the deficiency. BJP won Gujarat with the biggest majority yet. Mallikarjun’s “zehreeli saanp” barb hit home but with a sense of gratitude from the target. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not the “invincible” he’s built up to by his handlers in the PMO, and by Amit Malviya’s IT Cell. After being called a “poisonous snake”, Modi, who went into campaigning with a language handicap, got a potentially-rewarding talking point. The BJP believes it now has more than an outside chance to strike a majority.
The fact remains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image requires constant tweaking. The image should not wither and sag. It is, in a sense, like a snake shedding its skin every year. For Modi, it is at election time. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is a serial benefactor of Modi. His “venomous snake” barb was preceded by “Modi is Ravana” when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was passing through Rajasthan. Political analysts say it helped Modi retain Gujarat. Nobody knew this till the other day, but Modi keeps count of the number of cuss words hurled at him. Whether he has a personal favourite is not known, though. The Prime Minister expects the number to hit 100 before the year is out, quite buoyant that the target was achievable because there will be five more assembly elections in 2023. Quite possibly, the BJP headquarters will analyze the different types of abuses hurled at the Prime Minister. What is known, and what is in the public domain, is this: Congress and Congress leaders are the bulk abusers of Modi. More Congress leaders have called Narendra Modi names than leaders of any other opposition party. On Sunday, Modi accused the Congress of abusing Karnataka’s Lingayat community. Modi believes strongly in the saying “gaalis fetch votes”, the more the merrier.
Confounding as it sounds, Modi insists the Congress loses elections because Congress leaders abuse him, saying “look the Congress once again has started abusing me.” He claims to have a list of abuses hurled at him by “Congress people”, and that the Congress has a dictionary of abuses. For Modi, Kharge’s “zehreeli saanp” was a Godsend, like timely rains are for a farmer. Kharge tried making amends, saying his comment was not against a personality, but against a vile ideology. Modi isn’t buying Kharge’s defence. The Prime Minister lined up the abuses and sounded quite happy.
