The Bharatiya Janata Party’s win in the Indian elections has just concluded as predicted, and with it the elevation of Narendra Modi to the Prime Ministership. One of the questions that the election answered was that the BJP does not need its allies in the National Democratic Alliance to provide its Lok Sabha majority; it has won enough seats on its own to form the union government alone. It will include the NDA components in the government because of state-level compulsions: those parties are mostly in alliance with the BJP at the state level, and their inclusion in the national government is in exchange for the alliance at the state level.
On the face of it, to lay any stress on Modi being from the Teli caste might seem out of place, but his caste would probably be appropriate enough a question for him, because he belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and is a member of a powerful sister organization within the Sangh Parivar. The Parivar is perceived as being a Hindu fundamentalist party, and Brahminical to boot. It is no coincidence that the BJP’s previous two prime ministerial candidates, including the party’s only previous winner, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishan Advani, were both Brahmins.
Therefore, for Modi to be propelled to the Prime Ministership of India has a parallel only in the UK’s Tory Party being the first to have a woman PM, in the late Margaret Thatcher, ahead of more liberal parties. Modi, like almost all Indians, is firmly rooted in the caste scheme, unlike his Congress opponent, Rahul Gandhi, who is a fearful mishmash. The founder of the dynasty, Jawaharlal Nehru was a Brahmin, but his daughter Indira complicated matters by marring a Parsi, Feroze Gandhi. Her son Rajiv was cremated after a funeral according to Hindu rites for a Brahmin, instead of the Parsi funeral he should have got by virtue of his father. As if the caste dichotomy was not enough, he himself married an Italian, Sonia Maino, who now heads the Congress Party, but has put forward her son Rahul as candidate for Prime Minister. Rahul is thus a … what? He would be a Brahmin like his father. But if he follows his mother, as his father presumably did, he would be a Christian. Modi looks good that way. His Teli subcaste has aspirations to being Bania, which would keep them within the Vaish caste. The Indian caste system casts its shadow as some Telis aspire to Kshatriya classification, while modernity intrudes, with others wanting Telis classified as Other Backward Castes, and thus entitled to apply for jobs or reserved seats on its quota.
But apart from being a Teli, Modi is coming after having been Chief Minister of Gujarat. He is credited with achieving economic progress there, which is expected to replicate in all of India. No one seems to be factoring in reality, which is that while his achievement was as chief minister, he does not control the other chief ministers, not even as Prime Minister. However, his heading reflects numerous things. First, the influence of Gujarati Brahmins all over India in matters of business. Marwari Brahmins and Sindhi Brahmins are not identical, but are closely allied. The links of businessmen with the Sangh Parivar are well known, to the extent that the Hyderabad-born Sindhi-speaking Brahmin Advani was both BJP President and candidate for PM. Modi also reflects the return of Gujarat to centre stage in Indian politics. Gandhi was a Gujarati, as was India’s first Home Minister, Vallabhai Patel. Morarji Desai was India’s first Guajarati Prime Minister. There is also the unknown effect of the Indian diaspora abroad, which has a strong Gujarati component, to the extent that Gujaratis now dominate the motel business in the USA. The last famous Modi was Sohrab Modi, the Mumbai-born Parsi actor, who was considered a personification of handsome-ness. Narendra would prefer electability, and there has been such a hard sell this election that there has been the prospect raised of him developing a cult of personality.
It is valid to ask how a Teli could become the standard-bearer of a Hindu fundamentalist party, and the answer lies within the Bhakti movement, whereby all, including those of low caste, can become devotees, or bhakts, of such figures as Ram and Krishna. There is also the concept of Hinduism not being so much a religion as a “belonging” to India. Because of that, the Rashtriya Swayam Sevaksangh, or RSS, has not only admitted low-caste recruits, but has given them high positions. Modi, like other non-Brahmins, has found the RSS an appropriate organization for self-improvement. It was in the RSS that Modi won his spurs, and one of the challenges he faces as Prime Minister will be maintaining an appropriate relationship with the RSS leadership.
It is because of the RSS that Modi is so strongly associated with Hindu nationalism. This is not quite the same as Indian nationalism, which is supposed to encompass all the religious minorities of India, particularly Muslims. Modi is also associated indelibly with the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, soon after he was first elected its Chief Minister.
With India facing unrest in Kashmir, symbolized by another boycott of the recent elections, his attitude towards Muslims could make him fail in the bedrock of his electoral promise: the economy. Corruption might well be an issue, but it has not been emphasized by the BJP. First has been economic management. It is an old issue, and one to which the outgoing Congress government paid attention, by having Manmohan Singh as PM. Manmohan was not only a PhD economist, but also the Finance Minister credited with the reforms of the 1990s, and then by making P. Chidambaram, the Finance Minister, President. However, Modi has propounded greater development, and thus a solution to the ills of the Indian economy, which include stuttering growth, rising unemployment and stagflation.
Though Modi has also been elected because of his nationalism, the economy cannot afford any adventures, which in turn means settling issues with neighbours. It is an advantage that Pakistan is also headed by a Prime Minister who was elected on a pro-growth platform. Modi and Mian Nawaz Sharif share goals. But time will tell whether this economic orientation will prevail over the nationalistic stands both have taken.

The writer is a veteran journalist and founding member as well as executive editor of The Nation.

Email:maniazi@nation.com.pk