MINISTER CHIRAG PASWAN SHINES THE LAMP ON PM MODI’S CLAY FEET

Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped taking decisions, leaving the door open for allies to declare their intent at will by shouldering the responsibility? Take for instance, the Modi government’s decision on the
UPSC’s lateral recruitment process. Modi took a decision and ally Union Minister Chiraq Paswan put it to rest, indicating that Modi is now only a figurehead, a rubber stamp, in this NDA government “led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

That the Prime Minister won’t be able to take a sneeze without an okay from allies Janata Dal (U) and Telugu Desam Party was talked about. But that even the five- MP Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) can make Modi surrender is a new one. No wonder Prime Minister Narendra Modi went almost on all fours to
introduce Chiraq Paswan with fanfare one thought was reserved for Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s only job now is limited to international guest appearances.

Chirag Paswan was sore and cross at the NDA government’s approval for lateral recruitment process. Who will take on LoP Rahul Gandhi on issues like reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs)? Prime Minister Narendra Modi was more interested in polishing his global image by putting an end to the Russia-Ukraine War. Somebody had to take on LoP Rahul Gandhi,
who was out to “save Dalit” and refused to get distracted by Kolkata.

LoP Rahul Gandhi’s focus on the “job at hand” is proving to be unnerving for the NDA. Modi’s swagger hides more than what it reveals about the Modi-led NDA government. The cancellation of the lateral recruitment process at Chirag Paswan’s intervention hides more than what it tells of the power shift in the NDA. Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party called Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bluff and put the spotlight on the BJP’s
thinking on job reservations. The BJP’s commitment to equity and representation in government jobs was always in doubt. In fact, the BJP lost Lok Sabha seats because of this perception that Modi would scrap reservations for the SC, ST and the OBC once he got “400 paar!”

The reaffirmation that the NDA government would not go down that slippery slope was important for the LJP at least. And while the decision to rollback adds shine to Chirag Paswan’s image, it has also cemented Prime Minister Narendra Modi image of a paper tiger called “Surrender Modi”. Modi surrendered to China’s Xi Jin Ping, Modi surrendered to agitating farmers, Modi surrendered to the angry women of Shaheen Bagh and now “Modi surrendered to ally pressure” with more surrenders in the cards.

Talk that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will rollback the Wakf Board Amendment Bill 2024 is being heard all over Raisina Hills. The decision to send the Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee itself a sign of the Bill’s fate. The full capitulation will come soon even if in bits and pieces. The BJP fears losing more elections than
winning a few! The Narendra Modi-led NDA government cannot afford the shenanigans that the BJP indulges in from time to time, like the Wakf Board Amendment Bill 2024. Modi squandered 10 years, Modi lost his chance, period.

The first meeting of the JPC on the Wakf Board Amendment Bill 2024 is slated for this month. After Modi’s capitulation to Chirag Paswan, Nitish Kumar cannot be seen as a complete walkover. Young Chirag Paswan versus aging Nitish Kumar have this power thing between them. “If Chirag can do it, why cannot Nitish also?” could run the BJP to the ground on the Wakf Board Amendment Bill 2024. Then, there is the TDP with its own pet theories and ideas. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu can surprise even a stone-cold Sphinx if so inclined.

The bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and the assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, and in Maharashtra, loom. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have hit the deck running out campaigning. Will Modi take the risks needed to win elections? The last time he did it, the BJP lost plenty of seats. This time the NDA government could fold like a pack of cards. LoP Rahul Gandhi has made it clear he is focused on Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes plus OBCs and not let “distractions” come in his way. Rahul Gandhi, too, will be out campaigning and asking for a Caste Census will be his top card. The Modi government’s commitment to
reservation quotas will be the crux of the campaigning.

In a way, Chirag Paswan saved the Modi-led NDA government from a plastering in ensuing elections. By
opposing the lateral recruitment process, he has at least given the NDA a fighting chance. His intervention has blunted the INDIAlliance’s campaign to some extent. It is another matter that the Prime Minister’s image of “Surrender Modi” will dog the BJP for weeks and months to come until Prime Minister Narendra Modi fails a floor test and ends up surrendering 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to a worthy successor from the INDIA bloc.