Silence May Not Be Golden as PM Modi Lays Low During Unrest

Modi has kept a low profile instead of addressing the JNU sedition case and the Jat agitation.

Narendra Modi. (Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Amid the clamour of unrest sweeping university campuses and the state of Haryana near New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided on a strategy that risks emboldening political opponents: Silence is golden.

Advisers describe a leader who is on top of events, but who prefers not to get sucked into rowdy debates on India’s public square.

In recent weeks, thousands of students have protested across the country against the arrest of a student leader for alleged sedition, while anger among the powerful Jat community over caste-based job quotas spilled into deadly clashes in Haryana.

He (Modi) believes that his popularity comes from being seen as a serious politician who gets on with his work. He does not believe in giving a running commentary.

<b>BJP leader</b>

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh (left) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right). (Photo: Reuters)

An adviser said that Modi, 65, would instead give a sober assessment of recent unrest to parliament, which convened this week for its budget session in a climate of confrontation that is likely to further stall his ambitious economic reform agenda.

Modi’s reticence, also evident during floods last year and a high-profile attack by militants in early 2016, has undermined the image of a decisive leader who swept to power in May 2014, defeating a Congress government led by the taciturn Manmohan Singh.

The silence raises questions about being on top of your brief. That conversation has begun: Modi is a person who we thought was a decider; a CEO-like leader. But if we are now getting signals that he is not necessarily the effective administrator we thought he was, that is becoming a problem.

<b>Milan Vaishnav, Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace</b>

Modi’s Popularity

A new opinion poll showed Modi’s popularity holding up while Congress has bounced back from its dire election showing of 2014, validating a strategy of blocking reforms and latching on to protests as they flare up.

If a general election were held now, Modi’s nationalist alliance would win, but with a sharply reduced majority. Congress would double its seat share, according to the poll for India Today magazine published last week.

Leadership Vacuum?

Modi’s silence on unforeseen events contrasts with his reputation as an effective communicator, through rousing speeches and social media, when broadcasting his vision of inclusive growth and development for India’s 1.3 billion people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation from Red Fort on the 69th Independence Day. (Photo: AP)

When he does retreat from public view, aides have been known to step in, not always with happy consequences.

JNU’s Kanhaiya Kumar

After the arrest for sedition of Kanhaiya Kumar, a student leader in New Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh circulated a fake tweet that falsely suggested a campus protest had the support of a notorious Pakistani militant.

Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of JNU students’ union has been arrested on the charges on Sedition (Photo: AP)

Delhi’s police chief showed no remorse when officers failed to prevent lawyers manhandling Kumar in court, while education minister Smriti Irani backed a decision to fly Indian flags, from 207-foot (63-metre) flagpoles, on campuses across the country as a reminder to “anti-national” elements.

Meanwhile, the unrest has revived Congress’ leader-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi, who has joined students at the barricades and shows no signs of ending opposition to a key tax reform that has been blocked in parliament.

Jat Quota Protest

In Haryana, its chief minister fell foul of the powerful Jat caste, which turned to violence when he failed to meet their demands for affirmative action on jobs and education.

More than a week of protests killed 19 people, injured 170, destroyed businesses, paralysed transport and cut water supplies to metropolitan Delhi.

Violence during the Jat agitation for quota. (Photo: PTI)

A spokesperson for Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said he was determined to address the legitimate demands of the Jat community while those responsible for the violence would be punished.

He will carry on. He enjoys the full faith and confidence of party leaders.

<b>Amit Arya, spokesman </b>

At the weekend, rather than intervening, Modi blamed unnamed outside conspirators for “hatching conspiracies every day to finish and defame me”.

Leaders have echoed his rhetoric, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday criticising “false propaganda, anti-government propaganda”.

When Modi starts seeing a conspiracy in everything I think he is in serious trouble. It is an admission that he is not able to manage the thrust of his government. So he has to apportion the blame to someone.

<b>Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of “The Man, The Times”, a biography of Modi</b>

(Rupam Jain is a Reuters correspondent. This article has been published in a special arrangement with Reuters.)