Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no exception that he has quietly been repositioning his political position with his graduation from the BJP’s most admired and powerful leader to lead a coalition under the banner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) having stalwarts like Nitish Kumar and Chandra Babu Naidu with their unquestioned moorings of India’s secular politics.
In this context, it is natural to ask how Modi, who had been much maligned for his ‘Hindutva’ agenda, could emerge as an unquestioned leader representing the country’s secular political space, especially being endorsed by Nitish and Naidu. History, however, is full of such contradictions. During the Mughals, Aurangzeb, known for his secular approach a veena player and who used to offer tribute his Hindu grandmother by giving offerings to the Hindu priest during the Shraadha or the remembrance period every year, had taken refuge under the umbrella of Islamic radicals after killing his brothers and putting his father, Shahjahan in prison.
It is also quite intriguing that how Modi, who was accused and had faced media trials for years for his alleged role in the Gujarat riots has finally evolved a constituency among Muslims, especially in Western UP, Jharkhand and even in Madhya Pradesh. He may not be having the similar following among them like Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav in UP, who had been nursing their Muslim constituency by promoting some aggressive people among them; who often used to claim themselves as their saviors from the various aggressive so-called Hindu outfits.
Interestingly, during the last two decades, a strong group of highly educated Muslim youths, mostly the recipients of scholarships and study grants under various government schemes, including a large number of women, has had a significant presence. The policy of Dr. Manmohan Singh to introduce a number of schemes for Muslim youths, including the girls, seeking higher education, which fortunately was continued during the Modi regime, appears to be quietly blossoming in the country’s fragile social and religious horizon.
Modi’s Drive to Win Muslims: Modi’s historic speech at the centenary celebrations of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on December 22, 2020 in considered a milestone in the country’s politics, when he declared that “nobody can be discriminated against for adhering to a particular religion or faith. He was quite vocal that there could be ideological differences, but the nation is first. His address had become more significant, especially when a section of the BJP had been demanding that the name of the university should be changed to ensure it does not harbor Muslim radicals. During the pre-partition years, the AMU students, mostly hailing from the families of the rich landlords had spear-headed the movement for Pakistan. For Modi’s historic speech, the AMU vice-chancellor, Professor Tariq Mansoor, is being praised and credited for inviting him to this auspicious occasion. Mansoor had asked that the centenary celebrations should be kept above politics. In fact, the founder of AMU, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had always been for a strong Hindu-Muslim unity. Later, the British had succeeded in turning this institution into a hub for the supporters of the Muslim dreamland, Pakistan.
With this seedling of a secular approach, Modi has also ensured closer ties with a large number of Muslim countries in various parts of the world during the past five years. His consistent political drive finally evolved him as an acceptable political icon even among the new generation Muslims. He is now rightly being credited for re-scripting a new alignment in the country’s social and political environment accompanied by an aggressive dose of nationalism. Earlier, the BJP under him had overwhelmed Sonia’s Indian National Congress (INC). He is now going to challenge the country’s disparate opposition with his new secular credentials.
The history is full of instances that the rulers re-anoint themselves with new narratives according to the obtaining situations; and democratic regimes are not exceptions. It may be recalled that country’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, often accused by Indian leftists, especially the Communist Party of India (CPI), as a representative of the Indian bourgeoise, had announced his socialist policies at the Congress session held on January 10, 1955 at Avadi. Similarly, his daughter, Indira Gandhi, had trounced the party’s old guards by nationalization of banks professing her commitment to the country’s poor.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Modi has resorted to reinvent an image of a secular leader more acceptable to the country.
Modi off the Hook of RSS: With his new incarnation as the NDA leader, it will be difficult for his political mentors in the RSS to evict him from the office after attaining 75 years. He will be 75 in September 2025, but this discipline may not be applicable to him. The BJP leaders. L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were superannuated under this formula, but they were not leading a political alliance. With Modi leading the NDA, a coalition, he has to serve the country to fulfil the wishes of his alliance partner leaders, Nitish Kumar and Chandra Babu Naidu. Therefore, according to his admirers, he cannot be asked to quit either by the BJP or the RSS. It may be recalled that initially, Modi was unanimously elected the leader of the NDA; later his name was endorsed by the BJP Parliamentary Party.
It is interesting that by ensuring his smooth transition from the BJP’s leadership to become the new unquestioned leader of the coalition, he is no longer under the existing discipline protocols only applicable to the BJP. It, perhaps, could have been invoked if the BJP had repeated its successes in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections getting absolute majority in the House in the 2024 polls also. The party could have sought his replacement, but it is now a political outfit badly trounced in the election held about 10 months ago. It is further weakened, perhaps crippled politically, by the presence of the 101 Lok Sabha members of the party facing prosecution for committing murders and rapes before different courts in the country.
The NDA, however, was revitalized almost at a lightning speed after BJP’s poor show in the 2024 elections. The BJP lost 62 seats, bringing its total down to 240, below the 272 required for a majority in the Lok Sabha. It was for the first time since 2014 that the BJP could not win a clear majority on its own. Interestingly, for this debacle, Modi’s unanimous election to lead the NDA escaped the wrath of the party and the RSS, the mentors of the BJP leadership.
Modi’s New Avatar: It took almost six months, if not more, for those harboring anti-Modi ideas, in the ruling BJP as well as in the opposition benches, that Modi in his new ‘avatar’ or incarnation as the NDA leader has a much larger constituency of supporters across the country than he had been enjoying as the BJP leader. Also, Modi is not leading a minority government of the BJP and being supported by a few political groups or parties for remaining in the power, but he is heading a powerful alliance under the banner of the NDA having a 292-strong presence in the Lok Sabha. With this formidable support, Modi has returned to lead the country for a third term. His political clout has further been augmented in the political arena with the crucial support Nitish and Naidu; thus, his new tenure is being aptly called Modi 3.O ×N^2 .
