POTENTIAL REPLACEMENTS?
Perhaps the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the umbrella Hindu right-wing organisation behind the BJP, will try to find Modi’s replacement in India’s most-populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which is critical to forming a government in New Delhi.
Yogi Adityanath, the state’s saffron-robe-wearing chief minister, has acquired a reputation as a strongman. He is known for carrying out house demolitions, particularly of Muslim properties, as extrajudicial punishment following episodes of communal violence. He appeals to the hardliners as someone who can take forward Modi’s agenda of religious polarisation at a national level.
However, before staking claim to the highest political office, Modi had also built up his image as an effective economic administrator in the 12-plus years he ran Gujarat, an industrialised state on India’s western coast. Adityanath will find it hard to replicate Modi’s “Gujarat Model” in Uttar Pradesh, which is more populous than Brazil and poorer than sub-Saharan Africa.
Besides, this time around, the liberal and the left-wing parties opposed to the RSS and its Hindu-first agenda will be extra vigilant about allowing any fresh mythmaking around a political personality. NDA partners will do the rest if they manage to curb the role of Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been Modi’s number two for years.
Shah’s control over federal investigative agencies – and the way he used them against political opponents – has made him India’s most-feared man. Alliance partners, now that they can name their price for supporting the BJP, will want to operate without having to constantly worry about the risk of jail or constant surveillance, as would the media. Anchors and editors politely nodded when Modi, during the recent election campaign, spoke of a 1,000-year vision and claimed that he had been sent by God.
The next person to make such outlandish statements will hopefully be stopped before they reach high office. So who after Modi? Maybe nobody like him. Or at least that’s the preference of voters. Financial markets should just get used to it.
