Can PM Modi be shielded from criticism by shifting blame on his ministers?

New Delhi: Over the past several months there has been a peculiar situation, wherein a few Union Ministers are being blamed while there is an attempt to shield Prime Minister Narendra Modi from any form of criticism over many tricky issues.

It has been seen that senior Union Ministers, including Nirmala Sitharaman and Nitin Gadkari, have been made the fall guys and have seen targeted attacks on them over policies implemented by the Modi government.  

The two ministers have been severely criticised over policies related to their respective ministries. Sitharaman has repeatedly faced backlash for not being able to provide tax relief to the middle class. Her senior colleague, Gadkari, has been bearing the brunt of attacks after increasing the burden of tolls on the middle class.

Sources stated that this is a clear case of an attempt at creating compartmentalization within the government which is trying to save its head from coming under any negative perception building while allowing such criticism of other leaders to continue unabated.

Through these blame games, the narrative builders seem to be clearly trying to shield PM Modi from any criticism over these issues despite knowing fully well that he is heading the cabinet of which Sitharaman and Gadkari are members. This deflection has also made PM Modi’s image comparatively free from any direct attacks by the opposition.

Narrative building on social media regarding these issues seems to be fuelled by the Bharatiya Janata Party supporters and their right-leaning influencers, with seemingly a tacit backing of the party’s IT cell. The social media is flooded with memes and caricatures targeting the two ministers, while not even bothering to mention that these two were part of PM Modi's council of ministers.

This is apparently a move by the saffron unit to shield PM Modi from any direct criticism over any issue that is perceived to be against the middle class.

Interestingly, over the past few months, this has seemingly turned out to be a bad strategy for the saffron unit. It is felt that such perception building about PM Modi was needed and could have worked in the early years of his term. However, with PM Modi now serving his third successive term, this strategy of shielding him from any sort of direct criticism in social media by deflecting the ridicule towards the ministers will be hard to pull off even by BJP standards.

It would not be easy for the party to sell the concept as people are likely to see through it. Questions are already being asked on whether these ministers are operating outside the ambit of the Prime Minister’s Office or without the knowledge of their top boss.  

"If the PM takes credit for various successful policies he also needs to take blame for policies that are unpopular amongst the middle class like increasing tolls and no tax relief for the salaried class. The saffron unit needs to stop behaving in a way that it is still a novice political outfit which has just secured power and to start acting like a mature organisation," said a political analyst.