“The government’s third term will lay the foundations of India for the next 1000 years”
“January 22nd, 2024 is not a mere date on the calendar, it is the origin of a new kaal chakra”
“We have to lay the foundation of India for the next one thousand years”
“We have to expand our consciousness from Dev to Desh, Ram to Rashtra—from deity to nation”
“This is Bharat’s time, and Bharat is now going to move forward. After centuries of anticipation, we have reached here”
— Excerpts from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches
Modi is an enigma wrapped in mystery and history. Like those of a Greek oracle, his statements are open to innumerable interpretations and oratory objectives. It is the addiction of leaders to pontificate on their next five-year plans during election time. Theirs is an adjective-alloyed algebra that counts promises fulfilled and makes new promises. But Modi is a political exception.
His charisma-charged, clairvoyant clarity envisages not just the coming decade or century, but 1,000 years of India’s dazzling destiny. In his last speech in parliament, he claimed that he was riding into his third term and embarking upon memorable policy initiatives which would be celebrated for aeons to come. With perfect timing, he invoked the god of Ayodhya as his imprimatur on India’s identity by saying, “Lord Ram has now not only returned to his home, but has come to a grand temple that will energise India’s august cultural traditions for the next 1,000 years.”
This 100-minute speech reiterated his vision explained on January 22 in Ayodhya. Three days later, the government convened a daylong session to record the saga of Ram temple construction for posterity. Such repeated invocations of Ram and Indian culture are aimed at rallying the majority behind a Hindutva ideology with the Viksit Bharat vow.
But why this time-frame of 1,000 years? Many Modi-meisters are at a loss to dissect his potent philosophical politics since the PM is always unpredictable. Analysing his actions over two decades as both chief minister and prime minister, it is obvious that Modi has followed a specific narrative: setting records such as the Statue of Unity and Ram mandir, and coining mesmerising slogans such as ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, ‘Vocal for local’ etc. He is sculpting the contours and painting the colours of an ever-enduring, new Bharat. The speculative toolkit for a cultural, political, religious and economic renaissance which Modi could employ during his next term with 340 seats is both pervasive and precise.
A revised Constitution: If Modi garners a two-thirds majority in both Houses of parliament, he will introduce changes to replace the Nehruvian and Congress credo with Mission Moditva. The Preamble to the Constitution is likely to be rewritten. Expect many impactful amendments which give more powers to the Centre over the states. The government has dropped enough hints by distributing the original copy of the Constitution to MPs at the inauguration of the new parliament building. The entire opposition rose in protest because it didn’t include ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in its Preamble, having been introduced by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. Secularism has lost its credibility and desirability; Modi is likely to drop both words and introduce a nationalist definition of Bharat. Even the article ‘India that is Bharat’ may be amended by erasing India and retaining Bharat.
Revival of cultural heritage: The BJP has always been bemoaning the abominable plight of ancient Hindu monuments and icons. School students gain little information about pre-Mughal India, which is taught only in college textbooks. Over a thousand Indian temples and pilgrimage sites are either in shambles or badly connected. Modi has been visiting South Indian Ram temples for the first time after becoming prime minister. He has gone to all the famous and revered Hindu shrines in the South. While much of India has been Hindutvaised, the active political Hindu is missing in the South, which has many more deities and temples than the North. The ministry of culture has allocated funds to restore Hindu temples.
It is likely that Modi may propose a legal mechanism to take away temple administration from local governments and hand them over to Ayodhya-like trusts appointed by the central government. The BJP leadership is peeved with foreign-funded NGOs, which have been spending massive amounts of money to restore Islamic monuments over Hindu landmarks.
Renaming cities and institutions: Besides renaming India as Bharat, all BJP-run states will be told to rename cities with English or Islamic names. Mid-level leaders have already been raising the issue in the courts. A BJP leader filed a petition in the Supreme Court to replace the names of all cities and historical places that he claimed are named after foreign invaders; the petition was dismissed. But the name-changing spree continues, spearheaded by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other CMs, and BJP netas in opposition-run states.
Uniformity in diversity: The Constitution provides enormous powers to the Centre to legislate on various issues. The BJP has been agitating over citizenship rights given to infiltrators from Bangladesh and Pakistan. It has been demanding a uniform civil code for all of India. BJP-ruled Uttarakhand has already introduced a UCC. During the next five years, all BJP states will adopt laws which ensure social uniformity in marriage, on which Muslims enjoy special privileges. The government will push for implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a National Registrar of Citizens, which will erase foreigners from voters’ lists.
One Nation, One Election: Modi will implement his favourite idea of conducting simultaneous elections. The BJP feels that it can win elections in the states only in Modi’s name. The Indian Constitution gives enough powers to the Centre to dissolve any assembly before the completion of its term. Governors will be given more powers so that they can legally influence the decisions of state governments.
The driving principle behind Modi’s multi-vector push is ensuring that India becomes a Hindu Rashtra in all but name—where people from other faiths enjoy equal rights, but not extra privileges. Modi wishes that history will remember Bharat as a Modified nation, and ModiKaal be perceived as India’s new golden period where all signs and symbols of centuries of Islamic and British rule, that started with Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 CE, will disappear into the mists of time.
‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’ will be the war-cry of change. Modi is reinventing the abacus of the past with quantum equations of nationalism to decolonise the Indian psyche—from 1,000 years of exploitation to ten empowering centuries of Ram Rajya, where hi-tech and trillion-dollar economies are the Vedas of Bharat’s future.
Prabhu Chawla
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com
Follow him on X @PrabhuChawla