As BJP Scrambles to Defend, Gyanesh Kumar Row Hits Brand Modi at the Worst Time

The BJP strategists are growing alarmed with the party’s perception battle taking hits, one after another.

That the BJP had to ask party workers across the country to light lamps and diyas seeking blessings for Modi attest to widely held belief that the political brand of the prime minister is under stress.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint.)

In two days since the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) erupted into a major row, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded two of its most voluble spokespersons—especially slotted to counter Congress leader Rahul Gandhi—Sambit Patra and Sudhanshu Trivedi to rationalise the revelations and shift the focus to a political slugfest between India’s two largest parties.

With the aim clearly being on blunting the spotlight on questions over the legitimacy of the recently held elections post-SIR, the BJP is seeking to play a game it knows well—narrative warfare—with its core argument that the people’s mandate is being sought to be negated by an orchestrated and regular campaign against the Narendra Modi government.

The SIR-led rupture in the ECI, exposed by The Indian Express report, adds to a series of heartburns for the Modi government.

The SIR row has arrived at a time for the government when the wound of having sacked a Union Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, on demand of a street protest, is still fresh.

The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led Gen Z protest already has arguably dented the carefully built Brand Modi.

That the BJP had to ask party workers across the country to light lamps and diyas seeking blessings for Modi attest to widely held belief that the political brand of the prime minister is under stress.

In such moments, when the BJP is in the midst of a month-long celebrations of Modi’s birthday while fighting Gen Z angst and 'chanda chori' woes, the ECI’s SIR row further makes the third term of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government its most chaotic so far.

The Curious Case of BJP’s Gyanesh Kumar Defence

History comes as the most potent weapon in the BJP’s debating arsenals. When pushed to the wall, the BJP digs out historical episodes while seeking to win brownie points in debates with rivals. The stage could be Parliament, television studios, or the party spokespersons’ bytes to cameras.

So, Trivedi equated Gyanesh Kumar with TN Seshan, arguing that the former CEC, in days of the late Rajiv Gandhi’s term as the Prime Minister, dictated terms with other members of the poll body.

To those willing to lend their ears, the BJP is telling tales of an intra-EC fight over the years. Thus, the core revelation of the newspaper’s investigation that the two members of the ECI have been dissenting is just an old pattern at the Nirvachan Sadan, per the BJP’s damage-control thesis.

While the ECI is yet to come out with all three members in the public to assert a sense of the "a house in order", the BJP’s core concern is not to let the Opposition dominate the perception battle. For the BJP, particularly with Modi and Amit Shah at the helm, dominating perception is key to winning elections. The key to the strategy is to dwarf rivals from media spaces—print, broadcast, and social.

But the BJP strategists are growing alarmed with the party’s domination in the perception battle taking hits, one after another. Thus, the urgency to enter into the frame as limelight shifts to the Opposition parties in the aftermath of the SIR row is heavy in the BJP.

BJP’ Twin Threats—Rahul Gandhi and CJP

Accustomed to ridiculing Rahul Gandhi in the early heydays of the Modi government, the BJP is now waking up to the reality of the youngsters showing more interest in the Congress leader than the PM. Further disconnect with the youth is being attributed by a section of the BJP leaders to the wont of the party’s top guns’ comfort with monologues while the Gen Z relates more to conversations.

Rahul Gandhi’s no-holds-barred attacks on Modi has begun unsettling the BJP strategists. They worry that a section of the youth has begun believing in Rahul Gandhi’s accusations against Modi. The CJP leaders’ attacks on the Modi government add further to the woes of the BJP.

With the CJP now raising the demand for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar, the BJP has its task cut out for a multi-front battle.

Moreover, a prolonged paralysis of Parliament further threatens to dent the image of the PM. By all accounts, winter session of parliament is not just likely to be stormy but mostly predicted to be paralysed.

The Opposition’s closing of the ranks in seeking the removal of Gyanesh Kumar—a motion is already pending in the Rajya Sabha—may take priority over all other issues.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament had also been washed out for all practical purposes. That the ruling BJP and the Congress lack even a modest communication channel is well-known. The ECI’s SIR row adds to Congress’ attack on Amit Shah by demanding a debate for accountability on the issue of the 20 July police crackdown against the protesting students in New Delhi.

Sweating for Semi-Final Polls

The BJP has to enter the electoral ring in another five months. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is already invoking Mahmud of Ghazni in his speeches in the state. Shah is speaking of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) by 2029 in all NDA-ruled states. In sum, the BJP is showing signs that the party will take shelter under the polarising plank for the Assembly elections lining up for the next year.

But the BJP’s biggest poll mascot remains Modi and his brand is under relentless attacks. Since July, the Modi government’s edifice of good governance has been severely tested on streets.

Political seasons sometimes change abruptly, and in the BJP’s case the summer this year brought loads of pains—NEET paper leaks crisis, the CJP protest, Ram Temple donation theft row, and now the ECI’s SIR controversy. Now that the BJP braces up for the harshness of the winter season, the political heat threatens to unsettle the domineering air of party’s top brass.

With the scale of hardships caused by the ongoing SIR of the ECI to the people and the deepening sense that the exercise is meant more for exclusion than inclusion of voters, the BJP leaders fear a sharp polarisation of anti-party vote base. The ECI’s SIR controversy, per a section of BJP leaders, may unite the Opposition to the discomfort of the party.

(The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist, who for over two decades has covered the BJP for India’s leading English dailies. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint does not endorse or is responsible for them.)