The Last Laugh May Still Belong to Modi

Political victories are like Delhi winters. They arrive with great fanfare and disappear before you know it.

The Opposition is celebrating Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as if it has captured the Red Fort. It hasn't. At best, it has won a skirmish. Governments rarely surrender because they are convinced. They retreat because they are calculating.

A king occasionally sacrifices a commander to save the fortress. History is full of such examples. Those who mistake the sacrifice for defeat usually discover their error too late.

The real story, therefore, is not Pradhan's exit. The real story is what Narendra Modi does after it.

If the Centre now shifts its attention to FCRA investigations, the resignation may prove to be a tactical withdrawal rather than a political collapse. Those who believe the NEET agitation was the final act may soon realise it was merely the opening scene.

Then comes the second act.

The BJP has every political reason to turn the spotlight on Opposition-ruled states. Karnataka. Tamil Nadu. Himachal Pradesh. Kerala. Every paper leak in these states will now become ammunition. Every examination scandal will be accompanied by the same question: "Where is your education minister's resignation?"

Politics has a delicious sense of irony. Yesterday's accuser often becomes today's accused.

The Opposition now faces the burden of proving that paper leaks are not merely a convenient slogan against Delhi but a problem it can solve where it governs. If it fails, the moral outrage that filled television studios will evaporate faster than election promises.

Indian politics has another peculiar habit. It produces strange conversions.

Remember Hardik Patel? Remember Alpesh Thakor? They built their reputations by taking on the BJP. Today they sit inside the very party they once challenged. There are no permanent revolutionaries in electoral politics. There are only permanent opportunities.

That is why it is dangerous to write political obituaries too early. Today's protest leader can become tomorrow's cabinet colleague. Today's villain can become tomorrow's ally.

Politics, after all, is not a morality play. It is a game of survival.

The final verdict on the NEET controversy will not be written by television anchors or social media warriors. It will be written in examination halls across the country.

If paper leaks continue—whether in BJP-ruled states or Opposition-ruled ones—the public will eventually conclude that everyone has failed. But if the BJP succeeds in making the issue one of governance rather than one of a single resignation, Narendra Modi may yet convert an apparent setback into a strategic victory.

The Opposition may have won the applause.

The last word, however, has not yet been spoken.