Daily Times

Narendra Modi’s return, quite anticipated, powered by more strength and skill with a landslide victory in the largest democratic exercise appears to be a retrospect of a ‘Machiavellian moment’. The Machiavellian mastery requires a politician to be half beast and half human, and half fierce and half a fox, which ought not to quit a good course if he can help it but should know how to follow an evil course if he must.

A prudent politician should understand how to be both a beast and a man, and allow his beastly nature to wisely choose both the fierce and the fox as being fierce alone is not enough to avoid the traps in politics, and fox’s deceptiveness only is not sufficient to quell the danger. One without the other has no use in the cruel game of politics.

One recent Machiavellian play of ferocity and fox was on display in India’s 17th Lok Sabha elections. In the pre-election hullabaloo, Modi adopted the spirit of the Machiavellian logic exceedingly well. Bringing up his past record to shame him Modi did not work. He was accused of dividing the nation on communal lines, shrinking the civic space, turning a secular nation into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, threatening to abrogate the Indian constitution, politicising national institutions, jeopardising national security for vested interests, and poisoning the secular fabric. All that and more ended up helping his cause.

Modi’s portrayal with self-proclaimed titles like ‘chowkidar’, a disciplined person, pro-poor, and a man without dynastic history was meant to entice the Indian voters. Most importantly, he engaged people from all walks of life to promote his political agenda. He even engaged Bollywood to advance his political campaign like no politician had ever done in the past. He politicised almost every segment of society. As a result, his increasingly divisive policies reverberated worldwide. Time magazine put Modi on the cover, calling him the Divider-in-Chief for his politics of division. This was headline space no Indian politician had got before him.

The great electoral triumph of the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi cements the notion that no one in the contemporary Indian political arena understands the subtleties of politics better than he does

Modi’s Machiavellian understanding of the war-obsessed Indian voters’ sentiments led him into military action that brought him an overwhelming electoral victory. Indian elections were around the corner when the Pulwama attack came about. It proved a blessing in disguise for Modi to further his political ends.

Using the Pulwama attack as a pretext, Modi created the fear of war and terror across the country, the most effective tool known to control the minds of the masses. Instead of cursing his own muscular mantra in Kashmir, the actual reason of the Pulwama attack, he came up with the narartive of Pakistan being responsible, and raised the spectre of a war against Pakistan. The jingoistic Indian media joined hands with Modi to further advance his agenda to manipulate the voters.

Modi’s biggest gamble to hold on to the power came with the threat of a nuclear war. He approved sending Indian warplanes to violate the airspace of a nuclear neighbouring state. A little miscalculation could have taken the world to a nuclear catastrophe.

Modi’s Machiavellian shrewdness made many Indians believe that a large number of terrorists were killed in the air strikes depite independent international media repudiating the claims. A report by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, San Francisco-based Planet Labs, European Space Imaging, and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute concluded that India did not hit any targets. But that made no difference to the Indian voters.

The botched Indian air strike proved a marvellous success politiclly. It was followed by a nationwide euphoria. Modi, who had been grilled for months over the Rafale deal controversy, and had his reputation and popularity at stake, turned into a political heartthrob. The Indian National Congress, the major political rival of Modi, whose entire political campaign was built on the Rafale deal controversy, collapsed into a heap of nothing.

The opposition at home was not the only challenge. Many international fora and independent news agencies kept releasing evidence-based studies, and warned Indians that Modi’s reelection was likely to have consequences for Indian polity. Modi’s mastery of manipulation prevailed.

The great electoral triumph of the Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi cements the notion that no one in the contemporary Indian political arena understands the subtleties of politics better than him. The stunning results the of 17th Lok Sabha elections demonstrate the point.

The battle is over, and Modi has marched back into the corridors of power. Modi seizes the Machiavellian moment, and his Machiavellian skills of being fierce and fox, together with his mastery in Indian politics, have given him a new lease of political life for five years. What would be the future of India and its national ambitions? What would become of India’s regional aspirations? What will the Indian polity look after another five years of Modi?

The writes can be reached at ranasarfraz3417@gmail.com