The Narendra Modi government is in the habit of making mincemeat of criticism. Two elements aid and abet this enterprise. First, the taming of the media has meant that the Centre is mostly immune to scrutiny. Second, the rhetoric of nationalism, which the Bharatiya Janata Party has monopolised, enables the regime to delegitimise criticism from the Opposition and describe it as mischievous, even ‘anti-national’, The combination of these two factors has enabled Mr Modi’s regime to blunt the edge of censure on issues ranging from crony capitalism, China’s encroachment on Indian territory, the government’s poor handling of the Covid pandemic, the economic disaster unsheathed by demonetisation, among other policy howlers. Yet, the BJP and its spin masters may find it difficult to dodge the missiles hurled at the prime minister by Satya Pal Malik, the former governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The veracity of his claims is not the issue here. Mr Malik is the proverbial ‘insider’: this is probably the most damaging account from someone who has been a part of the Establishment to poke holes into Mr Modi’s carefully curated image. This lends additional seriousness to the episode. Again, the issues that Mr Malik has raked up — the Pulwama attack, corruption and so on — have been central to Mr Modi’s claim of delivering a template of governance that is clean and fearless. In fact, Mr Modi’s tactical use of the Pulwama tragedy was instrumental in the BJP’s superlative electoral performance in 2019. Mr Pal’s charges now put the prime minister’s assertions under scrutiny. It would be unwise to expect just domestic upheavals — Kashmir, especially after the stripping of its statehood, remains a strategic hot potato. New Delhi may have to douse some bilateral flames, with Islamabad already eager to milk the controversy by challenging the Centre’s official narrative on Pulwama.

Thus far, Mr Modi has responded to the crisis with his chosen weapon — silence. It remains to be seen whether Mr Malik, too, would be made to feel the brunt of institutional intimidation. As a strategy, that could backfire in the public domain. The BJP’s willingness to engage with Mr Malik’s narrative would, however, depend on the Opposition’s ability to weaponise it. Past records indicate that the BJP’s political adversaries are not too imaginative in this respect. Mr Modi would be hoping that they remain as sterile.