Is Narendra Modi a liability for BJP outside Gujarat?

He has looked the part. Steely eyed, unsmiling, an inflexible jaw line. In the world that Narendra Modi inhabits, any sign of weakness could be a fatal error. Any suggestion that he is less than what he appears to be would give his critics - and they are legion - just the flicker of hope that Modi is, after all, vulnerable. And the weak don't last the week in politics.

Modi lives up to the title of the "saffron strongman, " conferred on him by his liberal detractors, with ease. A primary reason for his nonchalance is Gujarat's strong economic indicators, endorsed by business celebrities - recall the confidence with which Ratan Tata chose Gujarat as the new home for his Nano factory. Again, on the ideological front, Modi has been very good at projecting himself as an uncompromising voice on terrorism.

So, when Modi announced his arrival in Patna last week for the BJP national executive with ubiquitous advertisements in local dailies, speaking of Gujarat's generous help to Bihar during the Kosi floods and a file photo of him and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar holding hands in a symbol of unity and friendship, it was not out of line with his studied effort to project a larger-than-life image.

Good for him, but not for Nitish, as it turned out. Nitish angrily promised to return Modi's monetary help, and he even called off a planned dinner for BJP leaders, while branding the advertisements "unethical and uncivilised. "

The intensity of the reaction seems to have taken Modi by surprise. People who interacted with him in the wake of Nitish Kumar's angry outburst found Modi genuinely flummoxed.

But should he have been? With state elections bearing down in a matter of months, this ad blitz was ill-timed. Nitish Kumar has painstakingly wooed a sizable section of "backward" Muslims in Bihar over the years. He has given them job reservation and political empowerment, and has carefully positioned himself as their well-wisher. His obvious effort has been to blunt the Muslim antipathy towards his political partner in the state, the BJP, and neutralise the advantage enjoyed by his "secular" rivals, RJD and LJP leaders Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan.

Modi's self-promotion through these full page ads, beaming while holding aloft Kumar's hand in warm camaraderie, was obviously tearing into this nonthreatening image that Nitish has built for himself amongst Muslims. Modi - an astute politician - would surely have realised this.