Democracy is taking revenge on Narendra Modi. This election may well be the long deferred moment of truth for the man who invoked popular mandate to bypass norms, laws or the Constitution. We cannot yet say that he will lose this election. But a journey through Saurashtra is enough to suggest that the BJP is losing ground in this crucial region. Exit polls would measure the extent of this loss, but at this stage the indications are enough to think about what was unspeakable some time ago: Modi can lose the election.

Democracy’s revenge is of course not taking the expected path. For one thing, Modi is not being punished for presiding over the massacre of Muslims in 2002. Let alone remorse, there is little memory of the massacre in popular consciousness. We asked a college going boy about what happened in 2002. He only knew about the train that was burnt in Godhra and the terrorist attack on Akshardham. If anything, the amnesia on 2002 is so complete that Modi’s gamble of raising Sohrabuddin is unlikely to help him in this region that did not witness any violence at that time. If there is one community that does not seem to exist in this election, it is the Muslims. They are untouchable for the BJP and forgotten by the Congress.

Nor is it a routine case of anti-incumbency, or more appropriately a punishment for mis-governance. True, the shine of Vibrant Gujarat wears thin once you step away from the urban middle class colonies. Yes, the government has suppressed information on farmers’ suicides and the reality of development is at some distance from Modispeak. Yet the claims of the Gujarat government on development are not altogether false. A Dalit Congress Sarpanch in a remote village would concede that electricity, education and health facilities have gotten better in the last five years. This confirms the impression of popular approval of the government in the Indian Express-CNN-IBN-Divya Bhaskar-CSDS survey held last month.

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