The event is scheduled in Hyderabad. But it has caught the fancy of party workers in Delhi. Reason enough for them to put up posters of their hero, Narendra Modi, in solus, minus other party leaders. There’s no doubt that Modi sets pulses racing in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Hoardings have come up at various vantage points in Delhi with only Modi in the picture. Their message: “Nayi Soch, Nayi Ummeed (New thinking, new hope)”.
To be sure, these hoardings may just be trial balloons to check how the message of Modi goes down with the voters. Party sources say this hoarding was only one of the many being tested out for approval and adoption by the Central Campaign Committee. Initially, only one hoarding was put up, but when it became a talking point in party circles, the numbers multiplied late on Thursday night and by Friday morning they were visible in many places.
The man behind these hoardings, Om Prakash Sharma, a seasoned Delhi BJP leader, is hopeful that his idea will be picked by the BJP’s Andhra Pradesh unit, which is organising Modi’s rally in Hyderabad on Sunday. Sharma, a man for many seasons in the party, has become a diehard supporter of Modi and turned lyrical when talking to Firstpost. Using a mythological metaphor, he said: “In the month of saawan (the monsoon season, as per the Hindi calendar), all believers chant Bum Bum Bhole (a chant for Lord Shiva). Now, an overwhelming number of people in the country are chanting the NaMo mantra. To fight and correct all the ills prevailing in the country under a corrupt Congress regime, the nation needs one man: Narendra Modi. I have put up these hoardings. Those party colleagues who like it can pick up this idea.”
But the idea is unlikely to be just one’s man’s personal preference for Modi. The hoardings send a clear message ahead of the Delhi assembly elections and the 2014 parliamentary poll about the party’s leadership. There is a feeling among some party leaders that this could be a deliberate, well-thought-out move to use these hoardings as trial balloons to check the acceptability of Modi in an urban area. If it works, it will be cascaded elsewhere.
Andhra Pradesh BJP President G Kishan Reddy said he had no idea about these hoardings and did not think they were to be used at Modi’s `Nav Bharath Yuva Bheri’ rally in Hyderabad over the weekend. “Some Delhi unit workers may have put up a hoarding of this kind but I am not aware of the nature of these hoardings. I don’t think there is any guideline for us from the central party leadership to use the same.”
Reddy is aware that he is organising a big-ticket event, something that may not translate into as many votes, but its success could send a favourable message across the country about Modi’s impact on the fortunes of the BJP.
The Hyderabad rally has a special significance for Modi for multiple reasons.
First, for the first time an Indian political leader will actually be charging a registration free of Rs 5 for attending a public youth rally. The actual turnout of the crowd, and whether they get their money’s worth of thrills, will thus be closely watched.
Second, it will be Modi’s first foray in South India after he was officially declared to be the face of BJP’s campaign for the 2014 parliamentary polls.
Third, Modi’s famed 3D holographic projection will be experimented with for the first time outside Gujarat. His speech will be beamed live at various locations outside the stadium for those who are interested in a bit of tamasha and could not make it to the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium.
Fourth, the BJP does not have a substantive base in Andhra Pradesh and whatever little support it has will be seen in the proposed new state of Telangana. The big question in the minds of many BJP leaders is whether the Congress’s announcement about the creation of Telangana has taken the sting out of Modi’s rally. Kishan Reddy told Firstpost that Telangana was never an issue for this rally. The event was meant for unveiling Modi’s idea of building a new India amongst youth and how to get rid of the corrupt misrule of the Congress party. It thus has been named Nav Bharath Yuva Bheri, which is also in sync with the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda.”
The Andhra BJP chief says not everyone has to compulsorily pay Rs 5 to attend the meet. Some are paying more, so the amount – meant for charity – would be compensated by other enthusiasts.
Fifth, Hyderabad is a communally-sensitive city, and so every word he says will be marked and analysed for hidden meaning. The All India Majlis-e-Ittihad ul-Muslimeen (MIM) has a strong presence here and its leader, Akbaruddin Owaisi, was booked for making a hate speech some months back. A substantive portion of Owaisi’s speech was devoted to demonising Modi. Andhra Pradesh BJP leaders said neither Modi nor any local leader would speak a word on MIM during or after the event, no matter what the provocation, “at least till Modi’s flight takes off.
Sixth, Modi’s rally is being held in the immediate aftermath of two critical events: one is the announcement on Telangana, and the other is the killing of five Indian soldiers by the Pakistani army and terrorists along the LoC in Poonch sector. National security has been the BJP’s and Modi’s consistent theme. Modi would naturally be expected to aggressively take on the Manmohan Singh government on its engagements with Pakistan and link that to national pride.
Soon after news of the killing of five Indian soldiers broke, Modi had tweeted: “From China’s intrusions to Pakistan’s ambushes- UPA Government has been absolutely lax in securing Indian borders. When will Centre wake up?” In another tweet he had called the incident as “unacceptable”.
Telangana could be a tricky issue for Modi. The BJP has for long been supportive of the demand for separate statehood, but the goodwill created by its backing may not have translated into votes due to organisational weaknesses. Now that the separate state has been announced, the BJP will have lost its thunder on this score. Everyone will be watching what Modi says, since Hyderabad is a key bone of contention between Telangana and the rump state of Seemandra after the bifurcation.
The online registration and mobilisation patterns indicate that Modi is drawing an equal number of people from Telangana and Seemandhra regions. Even in Hyderabad, the number of settlers from other regions is substantive. Modi will thus have to tread cautiously. The party wanted to convert Modi’s rally into a Telangana victory event, but this idea never took off. Moreover, the movement in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra against Telangana means that support for the BJP from these places could be less.
Balasubramanium Kamarasu, national co-convener of the BJP legal cell, is flying to Hyderabad to attend the rally. It is like a big festival for him back home. He claims that since Modi’s popularity goes much beyond sub-nationalist sentiment and cuts across age, caste and class barriers, people will turn out in large numbers.
Andhra BJP leaders believe that Modi’s rally could benefit the BJP in the long run, particularly in Telangana, where it could emerge as the principal challenger to the Congress in times to come. Their argument is that the Congress has shrewdly eliminated or minimised the potential of any real fight from the Telugu Desam and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) after the announcement, while the YSR Congress is not a factor in this region. TRS will have no agenda after the creation of the new state, and already the party appears to be heading for a split, leaving the BJP with a chance to emerge as a rival to the Congress in the region. But this can happen only post-2014, once the party builds an effective organisation.
For now, the impact of the Hyderabad rally will be more national than local.
