Politics of Sacrifice

Since the days of Mahatma Gandhi, a true leader in India has been considered to be an embodiment of three quintessential features-asceticism, sacrifice and celibacy

- Abhik Bhattacharya

IN December 2016, a few weeks after demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally, said: "Jyada se jyada kya kar lenge? Arey hum toh fakeer aadmi hai, jhola leke nikal lenge (What can my opponents do to me? I am a hermit. I will exit with my few belongings)". While this part of his speech became famous in the following days through social media, it was not the first time that the projected image of a political leader as a fakir or saint got political traction.

Since the days of Mahatma Gandhi, a true leader in India has been considered to be an embodiment of three quintessential features-asceticism, sacrifice and celibacy. Among these, the most powerful tool has been the evocation of sacrifice. As Modi was shown meditating in a cave in Uttarakhand just a few days prior to the declaration of the 2019 General Election results, his persona was viewed from the lens of abstinence-a stage where a person sacrifices the comfort of material life to achieve some high moral ground.

While the portrayal of Modi as a saintly figure is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decade-long strategy, in the last few years, projecting his spiritual side, spreading the message of love, abandoning material comfort and showcasing a deep engagement in the ideal of 'sewa', Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the embodiment of the necessary saintly impulses that seem to counterweight his rival's projected image.