"love jihad". 

One of India's most aggressive leaders is displaying a softer side these days.

After his protracted convalescence from COVID-19 and an extended stay at hospital, union Home Minister Amit Shah is being uncharacteristically soft-spoken - even in the midst of an election campaign, a mode which usually sees the politician, 55 years old, pulling zero punches.

Consider some of his statements in a recent interview to CNN-News18:

1) "Whatever the numbers in the Bihar assembly elections, even if the BJP gets more seats, Nitish Kumar will still be our Chief Minister". One can almost hear the gusty sigh of relief from Nitish Kumar at his in 1 Anne Marg home (the official residence of the Chief Minister) as he tries to minimise the impact of Chirag Paswan who is determined to deliver as large a bruiser as possible to Nitish by putting up candidates against his.

Last week, in an interview to NDTV, Paswan, 37 years old, made the rather OTT declaration of having Narendra Modi in his heart, a la Hanuman with Lord Ram. He then said a BJP leader will be the next Chief Minister of Bihar, where voting begins on October 28. Though the BJP has tried to reassure Nitish Kumar that it is not secretly egging on Paswan in his mission to undercut Nitish, sources say Kumar threw a major tantrum and refused to hold peace talks with JP Nadda, the nominal BJP president, insisting that he would deal only with Shah.

All this was duly conveyed by his friend and deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP. Shah was then advised that Paswan was playing a dangerous game and what looked like a certain win in Bihar could be derailed by a too-clever-by-half play of the BJP to trump Nitish as the largest vote-getter.

Shah provided the required TLC and assurances to Nitish and promised he was the only Chief Minister in the running. All this even as Paswan shows no signs of reining it in. Effectively, Shah is getting exactly what he wants while appearing to be in benevolent ally mode. 

2) Now consider Shah's stand on the "Boycott Tanishq" campaign led by a bunch of vicious trolls who objected to an ad showcasing an interfaith marriage. The advertisement was pulled by the Tatas last week amid much criticism for capitulating to hate politics and blackmail.

"Such small attacks on India's social harmony cannot break it. The fabric is very strong. It has withstood many attacks. It is unbreakable. I believe there should not be over-activism of any kind," said Shah on the poisonous troll army that described the ad as promoting "love jihad".