Sunil Sethi: Mr Modi's strengthening flavour

An old naval captain dropped in to see me two days ago, a man who once served in the Indian navy, then for many years steered merchant vessels, sailing the high seas to Brazil, Nigeria and Iran. He is now a slightly wobbly septuagenarian; in fact, he is my uncle. Not known for pronounced political opinions, I thought the visit might be handy for his views on the turbulence that currently grips the naval establishment. But no; all he wanted to talk about was Narendra Modi. "We must put this man in - at all costs," he said, adding that it was the country's only chance to get a stable, forward-thinking government. He wasn't prepared to countenance dissent and, after a while, began to sound like retired colonels with their "country's-going-to-the-dogs" lament often heard in cantonment clubs.

His litany of complaints against the United Progressive Alliance's record in its second term - in fact the full decade of Sonia-Manmohan raj now lumped together in popular public perception - was familiar: the economy is in a shambles, political corruption unbeatable, and the state of cities pitiable. The Congress party's doles have neither improved education nor put more food in the mouths of the hungry. He scoffed at the idea of a non-BJP or non-Congress alternative. The Third Front was a non-starter and the Aam Aadmi Party too inexperienced. As for the trinity of "Teen Deviyan" - Amma, Didi and Behenji - and their prime ministerial ambitions, he sneered loudly, dismissing it as the "sisterhood of sycophancy". He compared Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to Marie Antoinette in a reference to the 66-kilogramme Parliament-shaped cake her fans recently cut as a birthday gift.

But his worst insults were reserved for Rahul Gandhi. "That young man won't be prime minister in a hurry. Give me one great, original, forceful idea of his - just one - that has captured the country's imagination?" As he tottered down the stairs, he dripped sarcasm, "Can an Alpha Male rule with a controlling Clan Mother?"

If about a fifth of the 815 million voters eligible for this summer's election are first-timers aged 18-25, there are likely to be as many senior citizens in the 60-plus age group. Narendra Modi's strengthening flavour derives not only from the BJP's political strongholds, or backing from corporate and business interests, but from increasingly cross-generational support.

Reports from Uttar Pradesh, which constitutes 16 per cent of the total electorate, suggest disillusionment with its young chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, and indifference to Rahul Gandhi. Mr Yadav's energetic bicycle rallies and freebies of laptops to students stand eclipsed by the Muzaffarnagar riots and lavish movie star entertainments in his constituency. Chastened Congressmen privately admit that the party's tally of 21 members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh in 2009 will be whittled down to single digits in the coming election. The BJP will be the biggest gainer in the country's most populous state.

Despite growing support for the BJP's image-conscious and media-savvy candidate for the prime minister's job, does Mr Modi breed disquiet in the liberal intelligentia and dread among the country's 170 million Muslims? Yes, because of the traction that figures like Dinanath Batra of the Shiksha Bachao Andolan and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Ashok Singhal tacitly derive from Mr Modi's strength and growing clout. Narendra Modi has neither stood up for freedom of speech during the pulping of Wendy Doniger's book nor condemned Mr Singhal's hate speech on the danger of Muslims swamping the Hindu population till such time as Hindu families produce five children each.

However, in his new book, India's Muslim Spring (Rupa; Rs 395), journalist Hasan Suroor builds the opposite case, arguing that Muslims in the 18-25 age group are more conscious of their rights and rootedness than their parents' generation. Unfettered by the baggage of Partition, they are embarrassed by Pakistan, and do not suffer from the identity crisis of whether they are Muslims or Indians first. In fact, through wide-ranging interviews he shows that young women and men adopting the burka or hijab or keeping beards are signs of comfort in their identity and being part of an accepting mainstream.

BJP President Rajnath Singh offered abject apologies to Muslims this week for any mistakes made by his party. If Mr Modi were to express a similar sentiment, Moditva would carry more conviction as a brand for a strong, clear-sighted and tolerant India that not only retired naval captains think about.