I have long believed that the
greatest problem India faces is that it’s people don’t have a strong
sense of pride. There is so much division among people on the lines of
class, caste and religion that we neither have an affinity towards our
fellow citizens nor for our towns, cities and states, for that matter,
not even for our elevators and stairwells where people litter, spit and
even pee, with total disregard. Poverty doesn't disturb us. Oppression
doesn't bother us. General lawlessness doesn't alarm us. It doesn't
enrage us that we have been an independent country for more than 60
years and still we are a third world country. There are more starvation
deaths in India than the sub-Saharan region. You can be killed in your
own country just because you’re from another part of your own country.
We feel privileged if we get electricity everyday and water twice a day
for two hours. We don’t even like to smile at each other on the roads.
Whereas
nationalism lacks glaringly, we are full of jingoism. We talk big but
act small. We are crazy about a stupid game like cricket. We like to
imitate rather than innovate or create. What’s the problem? Why do we
have outsourcing companies but no big software development companies (just to give a small example).
Why do most Indians excel abroad but not here in India? Why don’t heads
roll when an entire cryogenic project is sabotaged and the career of a
brilliant scientist is ruined? Why do we eagerly kill or die for a
temple, a mosque, a church or a gurdwara but not for a hospital, a
school or a playground? Legend has it that once in a town when there was
a power cut during the telecast of the Ramayana serial the people of
the town burned down the electricity board office. The same people never
even raised a whimper when there were routine power cuts during the
board exams and all the students had to study in darkness.
Everything boils down to we’re not proud of ourselves.
This
is the void that Modi seems to fill. He exhorts people to work hard,
excel in their respective fields and work for the collective betterment
of the country. He doesn't want to create ladders of communalism and
casteism to rise. For once there is a political leader who wants people
to work for excellence rather than depend on government subsidies and
doles. Finally the country has a political leader who has the guts to
show the middle finger to the world. I don’t know how much he really
means to do, but when I begin to compare, he is the only leader who says
things that I really want to hear.
I don’t want to
hear the same old secularism versus communalism diatribe not because I
don’t want our country to be secular but because yes, without these
diatribes our country is already secular (in fact it has remained the most secular country or region throughout millennia),
and second, by continuously pandering to minority vote our political
parties have developed a mindset that you only need to offer empty
promises and raise doomsday scenarios in order to come to power.
Development doesn't work. Progress doesn't excite. It’s caste and
religion. Minorities are under threat. Dalits are being marginalized and
exploited.
I’m not saying minorities shouldn't be
protected and the rights of the Dalits shouldn't be protected. But the
justice system should work for everybody not just for minorities and
Dalits. If our justice system works, if our political system works, if
our bureaucracy works, we don’t need affirmative action. We don’t need
special status for minorities if development is inclusive and people are
punished in a timely manner in case of communal bias.
You
cannot constantly blame the majority Hindu community for historical
wrongs its forefathers may or may not have committed on certain
sections. Historical wrongs were committed against Hindus themselves so
then why the Muslims aren't made to feel guilty about them (there, I just became an Islamophobe)?
I’m not saying they should be, I’m just saying if the blame game needs
to be perpetuated, why not create an equal playing field for every
religion and every community?
This is the mentality
that Modi opposes, and so do his supporters. These people get angry when
they are made to feel apologetic about their majority status, about
their festivals, about their rituals, about their gods and goddesses,
about their patriotism and nationalism and about their “the nation
first” approach. They’re fed up of the pervasive mediocrity in almost
every field in the name of inclusion and tolerance. They want
excellence. They want to compete with the world and when they talk about
competition, they don’t mean competition with Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Bangladesh or even Taiwan. They mean competition with the USA, with the
European Union, with Japan and with China. They want to turn India into a
global brand. Just as people respect “Made in Japan” and “Made in
Germany”, people should respect “Made in India”. No longer we want to
depend on our proverbial “jugaad”.
There is also an
underdog feeling. Another thing that makes me support him is the
witch-hunt he has been subjected to for such a long time. The greatest
number of riots have happened under the Congress rule and its various
offshoots. The Gujarat 2002 (well, how can something on Modi be complete without a reference to this particular period?)
riots were contained within 2-3 days. There is documented evidence that
Modi sought help from both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that were
both Congress-ruled states at that time, and both the states refused.
There is documented evidence many from the BJP itself have been
targeting Modi and the Gujarat riots were a part of the scheme. There is
documented evidence that even Congress ministers were involved in the
riots — the mob that set Ehsan Jafri eblaze also had member from the
Congress party.
Modi has been maligned so much, the
onslaught has been going on for such a long time, unmitigated, that many
have begun to feel, what the heck is going on? No politician, no matter
how vile or incompetent he or she has been, has not been targeted so
much, both nationally and internationally. It can’t be just
“divisiveness” because in the name of religion everything goes in our
country. What is it? Communal riots are unacceptable, but they have been
happening in India since time immemorial and there have been very few,
very few instances of they being contained within a few hours. Recently
Yagoendra Yadav of the Aam Aadmi Party said the Muslims will need
another country if Modi comes to power. How can he get away with such
inflammatory utterances and not Modi? Manmohan Singh said Muslims have
the first right to national resources. Sonia Gandhi cried for two terror
suspects. After the recent Muzaffar Nagar riots aid was provided
selectively to the Muslim community, if at all it was provided. Salman
Khurshid in his book wrote that both Sikhs and Hindus deserved the blood
bath that took place in the 80s. In a metro like Delhi Kejrichandra
says corruption is India’s biggest problem but in front of Muslims he
says the biggest problem the country faces is communalism. For Rahul
Gandhi, the greatest threat to India are Hindu organizations and not
Islamic terrorists, Naxalites and Maoists. Shinde says the RSS runs
terror camps. Why aren’t these people communal and divisive, and why
Modi is? Why does Modi destroy the “idea of India” but not people like
Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Karunanidhi or even
the infamous Owaisi brothers? Why aren't the communists taken to task by
our intellectuals for totally destroying a progressive state like West
Bengal? Why aren't the then chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra demonized for not sending help to Gujarat during the 2002
riots? I’m not even going into the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom carried out by
the Congress party. Why aren't there inquiries set up for this
dereliction of duty, this galling incompetence? Why does Modi become the
all-encompassing evil all “secular” forces need to come together
against? There has to be a reason.
The reason is that
the beneficiaries of the status quo don’t want it to change. The nexus
between politicians, religious leaders, industrialists, scholars,
artists and journalists has been working for them for decades. They
prefer this deep divide between the haves and have-nots. Mediocrity is
the name of the game. You have muscle, money or contacts? Great! You
have none. Good.
The best bet for a mediocre person is
to curtail people from achieving excellence and this excellence can be
from any field. They don’t want people to get educated. They want people
to toil for even basic needs such as food, shelter, electricity,
security, education, travel and health. They want to keep different
peoples of the country perpetually divided because when you unite you
can put up a united fight and this can jolt the status quo. One more
problem when you unite as that there is a collective dialogue without a
conflict and this is dangerous for people thriving on divisive and
actually communal philosophies. Through doctored education and
propaganda we have been divided into tiny nations, islands in ourselves.
When
you need to constantly put massive effort into caring for just basic
needs, when do you get time to become socially, culturally and
politically aware? When there is nothing to compare, there is no
accountability. India is dirty, well, it is because India IS dirty.
India is poor, well, with so great a population, poverty IS inevitable.
Remember that bureaucrat that said that the Indian benchmark for
cleanliness is different from other countries (during the preparation of the Commonwealth Games)
when dog shit was found on the bed sheets. With such a big
administrative structure, corruption IS bound to happen. For everything
there is an excuse.
The current arrangement has been
good for many people. You get plum postings without ever working. You
get elected simply by pandering to a particular community. Intellectuals
promote each other and don’t allow alternative voices to come forward.
Remember how Wendy Doniger was repeatedly being called “authoritative”
by the same usual suspects? In the name of news channels we have reality
shows. In the name of sports we have the colonial hangover of cricket
destroying other games in the process.
Modi’s approach is that quality of life is your right, not a privilege. He doesn't want to give you “poori roti”, (a whole piece of bread)
he wants to nourish you with healthy food. He wants you to work hard
and become self-dependent rather than expecting the government to dole
out goodies because of your caste or religion.
When he
speaks he knows his facts. Of course sometimes he goes overboard and
there is too much of “mitro Gujarat mei maine ye kiya hai aur vo kiya
hai” but one, he’s normally talking to the masses so a little bit of
rhetoric is needed, and two, he talks about Gujarat because that’s where
he has worked.
The best thing I like about him is he
has totally changed the narrative of the political discourse whether
people like it or not. To the so-called secularists’ dismay, they are
the ones who are constantly found to be talking about different castes,
identities and religions whereas he talks about Indians. He talks about
inclusive growth. He doesn't care whether you are a Muslim, Hindu,
Christian, Sikh, Dalit or OBC. He has a firm grip on how resources
should be used for maximum benefit. Just look the way he has cleaned up
Narmada. Gujarat is quickly turning into the biggest producer of clean
energy. Yes, there are kinks, and there are claims that Guajarat is a
state that anyways does better compared to other states, and not being
an expert I won’t be able to counter your argument.
He
talks about concepts our other clueless politicians and highly biased
intellectuals can never even think of even if they are born twice. To a
person who really feels for the country, Modi seems to be taking the
country forward and the rest of the politicians seem to be taking the
country backward.
Will he deliver? Frankly I don’t
know, I cannot vouch for him. I’m not a BJP propagandist and I’m
certainly not working for Narendra Modi. I support him because, as I
have already written above, he says things I want to hear. He has facts
on his fingertips. He talks about solutions rather than problems. He is
unapologetic about his leanings. He’s not bothered about his
international image. He couldn't care less whether you term him secular
or communal as long as he gets to do his job. His own party works
against him. Despite such a prolonged hounding, he has risen and not
disappeared into political oblivion. I mean look at that perpetually
scheming Kejrichandra. He’s a total creation of the media as well as
political machinations. Without these factors he and his bunch of jokers
are nothing. Look at Modi on the other hand. He has borne the most
vicious media onslaught. His own party men and women are constantly
scheming against him. The entire English speaking intellectual class
loathes him. Not a single media channel has done a real documentary on
what are the real conditions in Gujarat. Why? Because they've got very
little negative to show. Had the conditions being bad, do you really
think an award winning documentary wouldn't have been commissioned and
telecast in a loop, especially on NDTV?
What about his
divisiveness? Doesn't he pose danger to the minorities, especially
Muslims? You tell me which party isn't divisive in our country? Which
political party truly works for the country and not for self-interest?
The Congress party, the darling of the secularists, have milked the cows
of communalism, casteism and poverty dry while letting Muslims die and
remain backward invariably. DMK and the AIADMK are the epitomes of
corruption. They say Karunanidhi’s sons are as bad as Saddam Hussein’s
sons, or even worse. Communists have done what they are best
at — destroyed multiple states. Laloo and Mulayam run their own fiefdoms
and all Nitish Kumar wants to do is become the PM of the country even
if we has to explode bombs.
An average Modi supporter
is not as fanatical as he or she is made out to be. If that were the
case, the Togadias and Singhals would have been mainstream politicians
rather than fringe elements. Considering all these, I don’t think Modi
poses a threat to Muslims. Besides, I believe that he has bigger goals
and he knows that playing communal politics doesn't pay in the long run.
He is intelligent. Most of our politicians are corrupt and nearsighted.
They cannot see beyond the next elections. Modi on the other hand is
farsighted. This, I’m sure, will keep the Muslims of the country safe,
even if you think he is a hard-core Hindu nationalist.
Still buy the “Modi is a polarizing figure” crap? This tweet from @madhukishwar pretty much sums up my own response:
Source:
https://medium.com/news-and-politics/fc6aadb1e5fb
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