Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister addressing a rally in Neemuch on Wednesday
In a high-decibel, aggressive speech quite contrary to his usual mild-mannered mien, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the BJP extended a Hindi proverb to compare Narendra Modi, his party's prime ministerial candidate, with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
"
Kahan Narendra Modi
aur kahan Rahul Gandhi.
Kahan moonch ka baal, aur kahan poonch ka baal," Mr Chauhan said at a rally in Neemuch in his state on Wednesday. That translates to - "where is the comparison between Modi and Rahul; the former is the hair from the moustache, the latter, the hair from the tail."
The comment drew roars of approval from his audience in patriarchal Madhya Pradesh; the hair from the moustache or
moonch is said to be a man's pride. The loss of a moustache is the loss of all dignity.
Poonch, or tail, just rhymes with
moonch.
Mr Chouhan was in the process of pointing out that Mr Modi has to his credit four terms of governing as Gujarat Chief Minister whereas Mr Gandhi, he said, has been reluctant to even shoulder ministerial responsibility at the Centre. "He who lacks the courage to be a minister doesn't deserve to be the prime minister of the country," the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister thundered.
His aggression was more in the style of Mr Modi, who was on stage with him, and less the trademark Shivraj Chouhan way of making speeches. It was also a far cry from about six months ago when Mr Chouhan launched his campaign for the Madhya Pradesh elections with every senior leader of his party gracing posters save Mr Modi.
Mr Chouhan is close to BJP veteran L K Advani, who had last year launched a concerted effort to ensure that Mr Modi was not made the face of the party for the general elections due by May. In doing so, he had repeatedly pitched Shivraj Singh Chouhan as a better administrator and more universally accepted candidate.
Mr Advani was overruled, primarily by the BJP's ideological mentor, the RSS. And in September last, Mr Modi was announced the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. Since then, Mr Chouhan has been seen to toe the party line.