Fear in the Corridors of Power: From Roaring Lions to Squeaking Mice

 

Fear in the Corridors of Power: From Roaring Lions to Squeaking Mice

Since its independence in 1947, India has seen plenty of parliamentary fireworks. But never before had a Prime Minister been publicly branded inside parliament as “Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod”, “Voting Thief, Quit the PM’s chair.” The chant rolled on and on, and Modi, sitting there with his trademark long face, could do nothing. If he had even a shred of pride, he might have demanded a recount to prove his “victory.” But he didn’t because he couldn’t. The truth is, the chair he clings to was won not by mandate, but by manipulation.

Ironically, the BJP knows what it feels like to lose gracefully or at least it once did. Back in 2013, after failing to secure a majority in Delhi, they chose not to form a government. That small act of restraint handed AAP and Congress the chance to stitch together power, fueling AAP’s rise in Punjab and beyond. A lesson was learned, but not the one democracy would hope for. Today, Modi and Shah have swapped humility for trickery, ensuring they never again leave power to chance.

Still, fear has a funny way of showing itself. Modi’s new routine looks less like leadership and more like evasion: ducking parliament, avoiding the public, surfacing only for heavily choreographed appearances. Shah, on the other hand, swings the legislative hammer rewriting laws to consolidate power and silence dissent. But even his bravado is laced with paranoia. When he arrived to push his latest “power grab” bill, he was flanked by twenty marshals yes, twenty before retreating to the fourth row, far away from the action. Nothing screams “confidence” quite like needing your own private militia in parliament.

Meanwhile, the opposition can smell the vulnerability. A few defections from NDA allies could collapse the government overnight. Outside the chamber, the Save Voting Rights for All march led by Rahul Gandhi and Tejaswi Yadav is drawing massive crowds in Bihar, proving the INDIA bloc is not only alive but building momentum. That groundswell is what keeps Modi and Shah pacing at night.

For all his lion-like oratory, Modi increasingly resembles a mouse darting out of his hole only when the coast is clear, clinging to cronies fattened by India’s stolen wealth. On August 21, 2025, at the close of the Monsoon session, his rare appearance only invited more humiliation. Any leader with pride might have folded under such mockery. Not Modi. This is the same man who abandoned his own wife, ditched his mother, and now claims to be “non-biological” when the questions get too sharp.

His Independence Day speech at the Red Fort was no accident, either. By giving credit to the RSS the very organization that opposed India’s independence he reminded the nation of where his true loyalties lie. For a Prime Minister who swore an oath on a constitution drafted by freedom fighters and designed to unify a fractured land, it was a betrayal wrapped in saffron. As for the much-hyped “RSS-BJP infighting”? Pure theatre. A stage trick to convince voters that BJP and RSS are separate entities, when in reality, they share the same bloodstream.

Follow the money and it becomes clearer still: corrupt corporations in Gujarat and Maharashtra keep the RSS flush with cash. The RSS, in turn, props up BJP and NDA, binding them together in a cartel powered by greed rather than governance. India isn’t being run it’s being managed like a racket.

But this time feels different. Rahul Gandhi, once sneered at as “Pappu,” has emerged as a leader who cannot be dismissed. His fiery speeches and open threats to corrupt players are hitting home. Tejaswi Yadav amplifies that momentum. Even the Godi media, once shameless in its cheerleading, now treads carefully their silence betraying fear of a changing tide.

The truth is unavoidable: BJP, the ECI, and their well-oiled machinery are cornered. The water has crossed its limits. And this time, it isn’t just the opposition that smells blood it’s the people of India.

Because when lions start behaving like mice, it’s only a matter of time before the people bring in the cat.