PM- elect Modi: An innings well begun

Prime Minister- elect Narendra Modi’s 30- minute acceptance speech on Tuesday on being formally elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party — a crucial formality without which he cannot take oath as Prime Minister even if he was named his party’s PM candidate during the election — was a reminder, if one was needed, that Mr Modi is in complete control of the situation as far as his own party goes.

He had the newly elected Lok Sabha MPs eating out of his hands and, if visuals are any guide, his detractors — including the old war horse L. K. Advani — firmly sidelined. This confirms his no- nonsense image as leader and leaves the impression that he would not be amenable to lobbying for Cabinet berths. This is no bad thing. Thus, the RSS’ guidance on the matter of government- formation having been received, the next PM is going to be his own man.

The enhanced salience of the RSS itself can hardly be in doubt. Mr Modi alluded to “five generations” of its dedicated work ( the body was founded in 1925) — without once referring to the outfit by name — which has at last produced the first PM from its stables with a clear parliamentary majority, and noted the importance of the “sangathan”, or organisation, on which the fountainhead of Hindutva prides itself.

Mr Modi has begun well on the whole, and made a conciliatory speech toward his political opponents. On Wednesday — the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi — he even reportedly tweeted his tributes to the late leader. This was in keeping with the style of the Vajpayee era.

A significant point made by the man who is scheduled to be sworn in as PM next Monday has not been widely reported. He said that if the BJP ( under his leadership) had received a fractured mandate, the vote could be read as a product of anti- incumbency to a significant extent. However, a clear majority meant that the BJP had been accepted by the people for what it stood for, and this increased the responsibility on him to perform and rise to people’s expectations. He expressed the confidence that he would do his utmost to fulfil the hopes of the country and that his will be a government for all sections of the people.

This is in line with what PMs are wont to say when they come in. For the country’s sake we wish that Mr Modi succeeds in his “good governance” mission so that social conflict and systemic malfunctions are suppressed, a sense of justice and succour obtains among those most in need of it, and hope is kept buoyed through better economic management and job creation. The incoming PM must be held to the promises adumbrated in his first key post- poll speech.