NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi’s first halt after Sunday’s stunning poll verdict was at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office in Ahmedabad.
It was an impromptu call, something he chose to do even before he made the thanksgiving trip to his assembly constituency of Maninagar.
He went with sweets and shared them with each and every worker in the Sangh’s Gujarat headquarters.
In victory, Modi seems to have decided to be magnanimous. The “chhappan ki chhati (chest of 56 inches)” apparently houses a humble heart, too.
On Sunday, he held out an olive branch to the RSS in a gesture of forgiveness for its open revolt against his government. On Monday, he asked for pardon for chief rebel Keshubhai Patel, who was slapped with a show-cause notice on the eve of counting day for anti-party activities.
This is the time to be humble, he confided to a friend on Sunday night as he reflected on a victory won against all odds. The results seem to have softened him, but his sharp mind is ticking away, planning his next moves in preparation for the big leap from Gujarat to the national stage.
Interestingly, he flagged off his peace moves even before the results were out, with a call on ailing former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Delhi on the sidelines of the National Development Council meeting. Although Vajpayee is no longer active because of poor health, he continues to be a father figure to the BJP. Despite their public clashes over the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat, Modi obviously felt he needs an endorsement from Vajpayee to gain larger acceptability.
The preliminary overtures complete, he chose Monday’s meeting of the BJP legislative party to issue a call for reconciliation, going out of his way to scotch speculation that he intends to muscle his way to the top by challenging the existing order.
“Those who say Modi is bigger than the party don’t know the history of the BJP and the Jan Sangh. A son cannot be bigger than his mother,” he declared, scarcely hiding the emotion in his voice.
At 57, Modi has time on his side. Which is why he has not set any timeframe for his plunge into national politics. The widespread view is that Modi will strike only after 2010, when Gujarat’s golden jubilee celebrations are complete.
The next three years are reserved for consolidating and building his “Mr Development” image in the hope of erasing the communal taint that continues to haunt him.
Modi’s immediate goals are to send as many MPs from Gujarat as possible in the next parliamentary polls. This way he will ensure that he doesn’t meet the same fate as he did in 2004 when the BJP won just 14 of Gujarat’s 26 Lok Sabha seats. He will try to maximise his assembly gains to establish a solid presence in Parliament. This will provide him the necessary platform for his future moves.
