At the BJP’s National Executive Council meeting last Sunday he talked of building the five ‘T’s of Brand India — talent, trade, tradition, tourism and technology. It sounded nice, but it’s not something that is going to make the pulse of the nation quicken.

Modi then went on to outline a seven-point “rainbow” principle that he promised his government would work on: culture, agriculture, women, national resources, youth power, democracy and knowledge. While talking on these principles, he sounded much like Manmohan Singh, the incumbent PM, and it took an effort to suppress a yawn.

The third set of goals, which Modi called his ‘eight-point development model’ was far more specific and designed to please all voting constituents. For the urban population there were promises of smart cities and bullet trains to connect them. For the young, IITs, IIMs and AIIMS were to be set up in all states. For the women, a ‘beti bachao’ programme. For farmers, a national agriculture market was planned. For the masses, a preventive health care scheme. For the economy, a price stabilisation fund and special courts to punish black-marketeers was the emphasis. And for enhancing India’s federal structure, Modi plans to address regional aspirations.

What was not clear is what exactly Modi plans for the poor and needy. Would, for instance, his government continue to liberally fund the poverty alleviation programmes that the UPA government had launched, including the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme? There is also a lot of borrowed wisdom in his plans, like the impractical notion of linking India’s rivers that the BJP has espoused for years. Even setting up IIMs and IITs or e-governance is something that the UPA government had gone about doing.

There are many more patches of grey, even black, in Modi’s vision. He did not delve much into how he plans to revive industry and put the economy back on the high growth path while taming inflation. He did not specify how much he would reduce the unemployment rate. Neither did he outline a taxation policy to boost revenue nor did he enunciate how he would attract foreign and domestic investment to fund the dreams he has for the country. Like Tom Cruise did in the film “Jerry Maguire’, I am tempted to ask him, “Show me the money.” Also the jobs!

There are other cardinal areas that would have a bearing on the amount of votes that Modi and the BJP will finally get. In the vision that Modi put forth, the word secularism didn’t figure. The BJP’s slogan for the 2014 General Election is that it is “committed to a strong and developed India.” His doubters may have preferred adding the word “united” to that list. There are still concerns that when Modi talks of a strong India what he really means is a ‘strong Hindu India’.

With all recent polls indicating that while the BJP would emerge as the single-largest party it would not achieve its ‘Mission 272’, or the seats required to have a simple majority of its own in the Lok Sabha. That would mean the BJP would have to seek the support of possibly three powerful regional leaders who all happen to be women: Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, J. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu and Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh.

If the BJP and its allies get only around 180 seats then even Modi’s elevation as PM would be in doubt. Also the lower the tally for the BJP the greater would be its difficulty in running a coalition and getting its partners to accede to its plans for the country.

Perhaps where Modi’s real strength lies is not so much as a visionary but the image he has of being a determined leader who can get things done — a Mr Fix-It. But Modi must also be careful not to oversell his claimed success in Gujarat because as everyone knows one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to plans for developing India. Right now, despite the recent AAP surge, it is still Advantage Modi. To clinch the elections Modi must increasingly demonstrate the three Cs — clarity, cohesion and character — for building a renewed India.

raj@tribuneindia.com