The serpent's kiss

The Hindustan Times reports on the glowing tributes issued in Gujarat CM Narendra Modi's favour by leading industrialists at an investors' summit in Delhi. Anil Ambani, who lost more of his wealth in 2008 than any other individual, wished that "Narendrabhai" be "the next leader of the country", while Sunil Mittal hailed this "CEO" who "can run the nation". Praise even came from less expected quarters, such as Ratan Tata, who is often regarded with Narayana Murthy as a model captain of industry.

Some of Modi's BJP colleagues joined in the gibbering, with an anonymous functionary claiming that the party would win 30% more seats if it declared Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. And the TV-watching middle class have, to a large extent, been calling for this very act for some time.

If one were to go by such media reports, it might seem obvious that Modi is indeed a future Prime Minister. But I'm not quite so sure. Recent history shows us that corporate support is no guarantor of success. If anything, quite the opposite. The first Indian politician to describe himself as a CEO was Chandrababu Naidu, who less than a decade later lies ruined and forgotten, his party machinery destroyed by the Congress' agrarian base. SM Krishna, the man who promised to make Bangalore into Singapore through his partnerships with the IT industry, fared little better. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is more secure, but his coddling of industrialists did more to hurt the CPM in West Bengal than any previous action of the party. Look further back in history, and the example of Swatantra, a party which had large swathes of corporate backing, is another illuminating one.

Narendra Modi will never be Prime Minister until he can broaden his appeal to include a majority of Indians. His popularity at present is restricted to the aforementioned businessmen and middle-class, Gujarati Hindus, and Hindutvawadis in two of three other states. His assertion of the Gujarati identity, the single biggest contributing factor to his current success, will not take him particularly far. He would do well to ditch his corporate backers in favour of a less vocal but far more important person: the Indian voter. The average voter couldn't care less about FDIs, growth rates or terrorism. In most districts, even Hindutva no longer really cuts it. Until Modi can transcend these differences, he is likely to meet as sticky an end as Swatantra and the TDP. If only those who the gods love die young, then the gods in question here are clearly the men that Indian newspapers delight in calling "India Inc".