“Since communication skills are essential for political success, it is not surprising that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s voluble prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, is edging ahead of the far more subdued Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’s frontline campaigner for the forthcoming general elections.
Yet, if Modi is forging ahead, it is because of two reasons. One is his no-nonsense persona and the other is his focus on development. Both of these have an appeal for the audiences, mainly youth.
While the confidence that he exudes adds to his appeal as a “”strong”” leader, the emphasis on growth shows that he is his own man who is not overly bothered about the pseudo- religious pro-Hindutva predilections of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological guru.
However, even if the RSS is conspicuously silent, the so-called Internet Hindus are carrying on their venomous communal propaganda with considerable zeal. To quote from one of their messages circulating in cyberspace, the Hindus are waiting for “”Shri Modi to take our ‘Hind’ away from the feet of Italy and Islam””.
With friends such as these, who needs enemies? It cannot be gainsaid that if they become more vocal, then they can trip up Modi, for their crude sectarianism will stoke the longstanding fears among the Muslims about the Sangh parivar’s agenda of establishing a Hindu rashtra.”