Opinion: Why this Kolaveri di, Mr Modi?

As Prime Minister Modi stood up to speak on the motion of thanks to the President's address on the Budget, the nation, drawing from past precedents, was expecting the prime minister to discuss and reflect on the nation's economic goals, the path to be taken and the challenges involved in the process. But the prime minister was in no mood for a constructive speech. Rather, he chose to launch a frontal attack on the Congress party.

Modi's speech was akin to brutal bantering of an election campaign, where the sole goal usually is to tear apart the contesting candidate. But this was on the floor of the parliament and the occasion was rather a customary motion of thanks following one of the most important budgets of the recent years.

Why did the prime minister lose his cool? More importantly, why the entire speech targeted the Congress party by bringing in instances, such as Partition and the Kashmir, for which the blame game is going on for just too long. Hindsight is always 20-20. It is purely an exercise in rhetoric to say that Kashmir would have been all ours if Vallabh Bhai Patel had been the prime minister.

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Advocates of strong nationalism, such as Prime Minister Modi, often like to keep faith on "blood and iron" policy of statesman, such as Bismarck. But the prime minister would do well to keep in mind that Bismarck succeeded in putting together a united Germany because of growing force of nationalism on the ground that favoured such a unification measure; the Prussian military could not have put together a bunch of recalcitrant states if they were unwilling. As a practitioner of politics, Modi would do well to ask himself, hand on heart, whether such willingness to join the Indian Union was visible among Kashmiris at the dawn of Indian independence.

Rather than playing the blame game with Congress over Kashmir, Prime Minister Modi would have done well to reflect on how it plans to resolve the Kashmir question. That would have constituted a constructive speech worthy of a statesman.

To blame Congress for the Partition is not new either. Partition historian Ayesha Jalal has shown through meticulous research, the Congress's responsibility in the Partition of India. Not agreeing to the Partition would have meant either a civil war or a weak central government. But this kind of academic debates was not what the nation was expecting. And, honestly speaking, Modi was not even logically analysing these issues or contextualising them within the current politics, he was slamming down the Congress for all our national ills.

He wanted to blame Congress for all the ills of the nation-state. But the nation can turn back and ask him why is this blame game necessary because what we want, rather, is a constructive approach to finding solutions to fundamental problems of poverty, security, and corruption.

Maybe the fact that he did not have the answers or a roadmap for these issues that led Modi to take an offensive stance. After all, who does not know, offense is the best defense.

Modi has a lot to worry about. The Budget of 2018 has not pleased anybody. Even launching of the so-called world's largest healthcare system is raising concerns. Experts are pointing out that this not what an universal healthcare should look like because the government of India, in this case, will be spending public money to pay offinsurance agencies, both private and public.

There are doubts pertaining the provisions announced for the agricultural sector. Unemployment continues to be the Damocles' sword hanging over the current government.

On GST, launched with much fanfare, the Modi government has made several compromises. The demonetisation measures have received almost a wholesale flak from experts to the common man.

The sheen of the win in the Uttar Pradesh election has lost much of its lustre, particularly, after the Gujarat election. And new elections are coming up in the North-Eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland where BJP is treading very carefully. There are very crucial elections coming up in Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Modi, in one sweeping stroke, wanted to completely discredit the Congress. From the Partition to corruption, according to PM Modi, everything marks the failure of the Congress to stand as a plausible political alternative to the BJP.

The vicious reaction of Modi is leading me to wonder if, after all, the 'lion chest' prime minister is unsettled by the challenges he foresees in the upcoming elections. Modi's dismissive attitude towards Rahul, calling him a dynast and, therefore, not a democrat, is actually a tale-telling sign of angst in the BJP camp. Contrary to their expectations, things are not moving as smoothly.

Modi's speech today at the Lower House of the Indian Parliament did not bear the mark of a confident leader. Rather, it appeared a masked attempt to find legitimacy through discrediting of the opposition party. The Indian electorates may find out the chink developing in the armour, Mr Modi.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)