Modi, Manmohan Deepening Tussle

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, perhaps better known for mincing up his political opponents than for mincing his words, has in a scathing speech referred to the Congress as ‘termites’ who are ‘eating up the country’. He has also called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a ‘nightwatchman’ who had been put in office only to keep the PM’s gaddi safe for the ‘family’ – an obvious reference to the Nehru-Gandhi lineage whose heir apparent is Rahul. 
    
In cricketing parlance, the term ‘nightwatchman’ has a less than complimentary connotation, referring to a stonewalling batsman whose job is to keep the wicket secure for the morrow and his successors. However, there are those who may feel that NaMo’s verbal googly is not quite cricket, in more ways than one. 
    
In the current climate of offence-taking – whereby various sections of society claim that their religious, social or other sensibilities have been hurt – real-life nightwatchmen, known as chowkidars in the vernacular, might well object to having their job description being invoked in a pejorative context. Worthy stalwarts that they are, keeping citizens safe during the nocturnal hours, nightwatchmen legitimately can claim to belong to a noble profession, honoured by no less an artist than Rembrandt whose depiction of ‘The Night Guard’ is one of the most famous paintings in the world. 
    
Indeed, the Indian chowkidar can boast being the precursor of the uniformed private security guard who has become an increasingly common feature of the country’s landscape, given the often-exposed inability of regular law enforcement agencies to adequately protect the common citizen. In fact, security guards are no longer deemed to be just a recommended safety precaution but have acquired the elevation of being widely regarded – particularly in political circles – as much-coveted status symbols. 
    
In much the same way that hotels are rated by the number of stars that they merit, the importance of netas is often gauged by the number of security personnel deputed for their protection, all at the taxpayer’s expense of course. By virtue of his being the odds-on favourite in the race to see who emerges as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for 2014, NaMo must himself rate an impressive contingent of security guards to keep watch over him, night and day. He might have trouble on his hands if he were to be suspected of disrespecting them. 
    
And the PM has proven no stranger to repartee either, belying his dour appearance. His comeback line, raining on NaMo’s parade, has been “Jo garajte hain woh baraste nahin (Those who thunder do not rain)”. Rather than the stolid game played by a nightwatchman, that poetic outburst should have NaMo ducking. It’s indicative of a Manmohan Singh who, surely, the country has missed – capable of making a sharp point with a witty Urdu couplet rather than droning on about growth, education, health, skills development, global economic hazards and the like.