Hooda plan: Puncture Modi's claims without hyping him

CM vs PM — that is how  this year’s  Independence Day was  sought to be projected. Gujarat CM Narendra Modi himself pitched it as  Lal Qila vs Lallan College affair, and the media went to town with it.

The quick-on-the-uptake Modi is using every opportunity that comes his way to underscore the point that he is the Prime Minister in  waiting.  After all, the electoral battle next year is going to be a high stake one.

But to use his Independence Day speech to rebut the PM’s speech delivered from the ramparts of the Red Fort an hour earlier, and do it   point by point, as if it was a TV debate or a political rally, made many wonder what  was going  on...It  would have been different if Modi had called journalists to a cup of tea later in the day and critiqued the PM’s address.

But to use his own Aug 15 flag hoisting ceremony — he is after all  the CM of a state —  just  left a bad taste. And whatever be  LK Advani’s political battles with Modi, he took up his colleague on this, though his views may not go down well in his own party. 

Independence day speeches are not supposed to be elocution contests. At least they have not been — so far.

For all their decline, there are still institutions and occasions — and Independence Day is one of them — which have had a sanctity all their own. But then everything is being turned on its head, and it was  the Republic’s Rashtrapati, Pranab Mukherji, who in his Independence eve speech, made a point of expressing concern about the growing disillusionment about the functioning of institutions, particularly of Parliament which has become a political ‘akhara’.  That the political class should want an apology from Hamid Ansari for saying that — and he spoke  the truth — that Parliament had become a federation of anarchists, showed how out of touch the peoples’ representatives are with public mood.

It is another matter that the PM’s Aug 15 speech was lackluster. Of course his style of speaking has no highs and lows. He spoke as if it was his last speech as PM, without exuding the enthusiasm and energy that one expected that the UPA was getting ready for a third term.

If Independence Day 2013, signalled  something — it was the fatigue of the PM, yes, but also of the entire political class. The  body language and bored  expressions on the faces of those who sat at Red Fort, had their own  story to tell.

Coming now to the political dilemma of the Congress on how to counter Modi, the party has not been able to figure out how to do  this effectively. If the Congress is clear about something, it is that that it should do its utmost to stop him in his tracks. So far it had adopted the strategy of joining issue with him. But that only went to make Modi the central issue of the 2014 polls, which was turning out to be counterproductive. The Congress found itself playing into Modi’s hands.

But last weekend, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, among the Congress’ most politically savvy CMs, unfolded an  interesting strategy to take on Modi.

Hooda, currently on the backfoot on the Khemka/Vadra  affair which has stalled Parliament — though paradoxically this goes to strengthen his position vis a vis the party high command — took on Narendra Modi without making him larger than life.

In a lunch given for a small group of women journos in the capital—it was done with elegance in the CM’s chambers and given his freedom fighter family background, he chose a day which happened to be the anniversary of the Quit India movement, and coincided with festivals of Eid and Teej — he laid out chapter and verse about Haryana’s development , juxtapositioning the facts with those from Gujarat. He had prepared a dossier on these facts and figures, showcasing the Haryana model. Like Nitish Kumar he too shied away from using the word “model”, which he said was a creation of the media, and not wanting to be sectarian he expressed his happiness that Gujarat was also developing, but that on many counts Haryana had done better.

It is not so well known for instance that Haryana’s per capita income is the highest in the country among the big states (while Gujarat ranks fourth). Or that the per capita investment in Haryana is the highest in the country, or that it is a leading state among the big states in per capita plan budget. Or that it had out-performed all other states in mobilising financial resources during the 11th Five Year Plan. Or that it has the highest implementation rate of pledged investment. Or how the state is paying the maximum wages in the country under MNREGA. Or that its old age honorarium allowance, or widow pensions or pension to those with disablities is higher than that of Gujarat. And how he had put into motion plans to make Haryana an “education hub”. And so it went on.

The smart politician that he has turned out to be, Hooda was offering a nuanced – and sophisticated — way of taking on Narendra Modi. Puncture his claims but without hyping him personally. It remains to be seen whether the Congress borrows a leaf from its own chief minister’s book.

The writer is a political and social commentator.