Our Prime Minister Has His Unique Ways To Celebrate A Voting Day

By Sushil Kutty

How come Prime Minister Narendra Modi always invariably makes a symbolic statement on Election Day, doesn’t matter where and when the election. Once, he sat in a cave in Kedarnath and meditated with eyes shut to what people thought of the gimmick as long as they saw him though most of his core Hindu vote-bank were willing partners in the “crime” and marked him as a devout Hindu; therefore, deserving their vote.

In today’s world of the smartphone and social media, pictures and images travel as fast as data moves and Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows this as surely as he must know that such poll-gimmicks give him an advantage over other politicians and political parties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses the perks of power to advance his agenda and does so unabashedly. Modi’s dip in the ‘Sangam’ the other day was timed to coincide with the voting in the Delhi Assembly elections and in the Milkipur bypoll.

February 5 was chosen for the “Prime Minister’s Day out” specifically because Modi knows how to communicate even with his eyes closed and lips clamped closed shut. The camera never left Modi’s image out in the cold even with the mist on the river surface.

All the television channels kept up a commentary, giving a second by second coverage of the Prime Minister approaching the Sangam’s dip-spot. Boat traffic at the stretch of holy waters was severely crippled, maybe on purpose, brought to an abrupt halt, no doubt planned days earlier or overnight. What if an errant ‘Nishad boatman’ flipped a paddle and it had struck the “PM’s Steamer”?

It is another matter that the Prime Minister’s presence was seen by over two crore plus devotees at the ‘Sangam’ craning their necks for a glimpse of the country’s topmost VVIP ducking his head in the allegedly most contaminated watery confluence on earth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no longer the spritely politician of 2014. Ten years on, he has added several ‘365’ days to his presence on the planet and he can no longer duck his head below water. On February 5, the Prime Minister held on to a rope with a hand for support and not quite fully submerging.

Yep, time takes its toll on even the best. Eyes shut and in the garb of a saffron saint waist-up, Prime Minister Modi fell just short of ducking his head in the Ganga-Yamuna-Saraswati tri-point and if voters in Delhi and Milkipur got an inspiration, the Election Commission cannot be bothered with such trivia!

People lining up in queues outside polling booths isn’t rare in the world’s largest democracy. It happens all the time. And everybody is part of this festival. If anything, the poll body should have ascertained and anticipated the Prime Minister’s ‘dip-date’ and scheduled the poll date accordingly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot be blamed for the constellation of stars aligning and deciding for him and all and sundry which day should be the holy water dip for the VVIP and which day left for the hoi polloi, the ‘aam aadmi’ and the ‘aam aurat’?

Guess what, the Milkipur bypoll recorded more than 65% voting. Was it because Prime Minister Modi took the Mahakumbh dip and the Hindus of Milkipur took the hint and voted in droves for the BJP candidate in one en-mass?

There are allegations, yes. The Election Commission should have taken note, said one analyst. And what’s this we are hearing? Milkipur’s Hindu voters were full of remorse for the Faizabad Lok Sabha defeat and wanted to avenge the Yogi’s humiliation. Awadhesh Prasad and Akhilesh Yadav’s cronies were even challenging Lord Ram and claiming victory!

Now, if the BJP goes on to win the Milkipur bypoll, the credit will go to Prime Minister Modi with the BJP’s IT Cell calling it another Prime Ministerial “masterstroke”: Yogi Adityanath lost Faizabad; therefore, Ayodhya; therefore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the dip at the ‘Sangam’ on Voting Day; therefore victory in Milkipur!

The last time when the Samajwadi Party won Milkipur, the voting percentage was 60%. This time it’s 65%! ‘Modi Magic’ at work? Milkipur, which is a reserved assembly seat, saw the highest voter participation since the first elections were held in the seat in 1967, when Nehru was Prime Minister.

So, Modi beat Nehru and if that isn’t beating, what is? There are those who are calling the Milkipur bypoll a grudge fight in Lord Ram’s Ayodhya, usurped and annexed by the ‘adharmis’, ‘Yadav Raj’ triumphing over ‘Ram Rajya’. If Milkipur is won, ‘Mahakumbh’ would serve its purpose and Modi not Yogi will be hailed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to be all of India’s ‘hriday samrat’, not just that of the Hindu’. ‘Sants’ and ‘monks’ are dime a dozen, flitting in and out of every tent within the Mahakumbh perimeter.

There is a feeling going around that Milkipur is a shot at BJP’s redemption after the Faizabad defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi breathed life into Lord Ram.

Eight months on, Modi has won back Ayodhya with a dip in the ‘Sangam’ on Election Day. Prime Minister Modi never misses a chance to act a gimmick like the one on February 5 to influence voting, which is a time-tested Modi USP. Also, the reason why Modi makes it a point to flaunt it on voting days. (IPA Service)