RSS's targetting Mother Teresa: A danger for Modi, an opportunity for AAP

Ever since Narendra Modi received an overwhelming mandate in the Lok Sabha election in May last year, India's politics is witnessing a shift in its balance. This shift is certainly not a very welcome one and if the tendency is not addressed soon, it could pose a damage to the idea of India that could take years to heal.

Do we, as Indians, want more incidents like Babri demolition and Gujarat riots to occur in this country which can seriously peg us back?

Modi finally condemned attacks on minorities but only after losing a prestigious poll

Certainly not but how can the danger be avoided? Prime Minister Modi has finally started speaking on the issue of attack on minorities after his party failed miserably in the Delhi polls but can it really pull the Hindutva fanatics who have taken the massive mandate of 2014 for granted?

Can Modi really change the ground reality in the Hindutva camp? LK Advani had perished trying to do the same

His senior party colleague Lal Krishna Advani had once tried to soften the saffron colour to establish himself as a perfect successor to Atal Behari Vajpayee but ended up being humiliated. Advani failed to make reforms in the saffron camp's ideology even when the era of coalition politics was on.

A life-time opportunity for saffronists to execute Uniform India Project?

Now, expecting Modi to create a magic overnight when the BJP has an absolute majority and the saffronists have considered this as a lifetime opportunity to remake India on majoritarian lines is perhaps too much of an ask.

Is 272+ is becoming a disadvantage for BJP now?

The idea of '272+', which the BJP had striven for before and during the Lok Sabha election, has begun to look one which is not offering much dividends. If Hindutva is an iceberg, then Modi's Titanic has definitely hit it. How Modi controls the damage which is being carried out everyday, it will be interesting to see.

Modi initially had no opposition, but now AAP has a base to build on

Modi had an advantage till February 10 when the Delhi election results came out. Till then, the BJP was without any opposition. Besides routing the Congress in the Lok Sabha and regional parties like Shiv Sena, INLD, JMM and getting the highest vote-share in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP and its affiliate bodies began to feel over-confident and made a mess in Delhi where Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) pulled off an striking victory.

This loss has pegged back the BJP for some time and negated the advantage Modi had since May 16 last year.

But now, the rise of a anti-force in the AAP has given all those Indians who are feeling threatened by the saffronists' excesses some hope. Soon after the debacle in Delhi, Modi was seen condemning attacks on Christian schools and also took an initiative for the return of priest Alexis Prem Kumar from Afghanistan to win the confidence of the minorities back.

RSS's targetting Mother Teresa will ruin Modi's good effort to free Alex Prem Kumar in no time

But the very next day, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat remarked that late missionary Mother Teresa worked with aim of conversion, inviting a huge reaction from the minorities.

Arvind Kejriwal made a soft but strong political statement when he asked to spare Mother Teresa

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal made full use of the opportunity, requesting to spare the Mother. A smarter Kejriwal made a strong political statement this time to ensure that the opportunity to capitalise on a narrow space for opposition to Modi doesn't go waste.

BJP can be the new Congress if it doesn't have a reality check

With the Congress and Left parties fast becoming extinct and seasoned leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Jayalalithaa losing their clout, a void has been created in Indian politics and parties like the AAP are feeling that up.

And just like the BJP, Lalus and Mamatas and other regional parties capitalised on the decline of the Congress across India, parties like the AAP now have their eye on making inroads into the BJP's bastion to ensure a bigger political future.

Modi faces a threat from this evolving politics. If the AAP doesn't commit a suicide as it did a year ago in the near future and back its claim to fame in the 2019 Lok Sabha election with a good performance in Delhi, then Modi will have a struggle in his hand to return to power.

For leave aside economic reforms or foreign policy success, if the negative trend of conversion and targetting minorities, including past icons, isn't checked soon, the stability of the 272+ government will be rocked from within.

After the RSS chief's attack on Mother Teresa, one thinks whether the prime minister had kept silent for far too long and opened his mouth only after facing a poll debacle. Modi's predecessor had also maintained a deadly silence (on corruption in his case) which ultimately led to his tragic downfall.

Is the BJP listening?