The (Un)making of India
It is now official that Modi will lead the BJP in the 2014
elections. The Bishmapita of the party was seen ailing on a bed of sorrow for a
couple of days as he heard the Modi bugle calling for a Congress-free India. He
knew Modi can never be an Arjun as he has no need for a guide, mentor and
counselor. Unlike his original, the 21st C Bishmapita found the bed
of sorrow too degrading and desperately waited for some overtures from his paternal
organization to break his vow of resignation.
Unmindful of the wounded Bhishmapita, Modi blew his conch in
Goa to liberate India from Congress. Unlike Kejriwall who has blown his conch
for a corruption-free India, Modi limited his agenda to congress-free India,
which in essence means no opposition to his rule. This is the rhetoric of
demagoguery, an impassioned appeal to the emotions and prejudices of the
populace. Modi brooks no opposition as he had systematically demolished all
leaders in Gujarat -Waghela, Keshubai Patel, Sanjay Joshi . It is now the turn of Advani
who had built him and built BJP in Gujarat before Modi took centre stage. The
infamous remark that equated Indira with India, is now applied to Modi as Modi
is Gujarat and Gujarat is Modi as no second name is heard in that state. When
he railed against Rahul for calling India a beehive,he showed his true dictatorial
instincts. After all the beehive is the collective effort of bees built with a
purpose to protect the dweller. Namoji has demonstrated time and again that his
rule is a one-man show and he sets no value by collective leadership.
Modi knows that he cannot and will not be indicted by the
courts on the 2002 riots, on the killing of Ishrat Jahan or Sohrabuddin Sheikh
fake encounter cases, as they will take cognizance only of the direct
involvement of his officers. He has not said a word in their defence as though the
police officers had acted suo moto and not on his behest. The fact remains that
all these tragic events took place under his rule and his silence or ‘maun’(though
he calls the PM ‘maun mohan singh’) is an endorsement of his greatness that that he is far above all such puerile and
petty actions indulged by his jejune officers. He kept a studied silence
when his acolytes demonstrated in front of Advani’s house against Bishmapita’s refusal
to endorse his coronation in Goa.
Otherwise Modi is a garrulous tongue lasher. In fact unlike
the BJP spokespersons who constantly sport an angry look and wear their morals
on their sleeves, Modi indulges in cheap humour concocted with unverifiable
statements. The latest is his mocking the PM that ‘when he went to meet him,
the PM didn’t move or talk a lot, and instead sat very peacefully’. His cheap guffaw
to provoke people to laugh is his crowd pleasing stunt- a far cry from any
dignified statesman-like talk. His talks reek of exaggeration whether it is
1900 crores that he fictitiously charged the government to have spent on
Mrs.Gandhi’s medical bills or that she had lost her mental balance or almost in
Nazi style spreading false propaganda about his greatness which he equates with
Gujarat’s greatness. It was Churchill who said : ‘A lie gets halfway around the
world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.’ Whatever disclaimer the Congress party may
give will sound hollow after the lie spreads through the media and social
network like wildfire. His exaggeration extends to making ridiculous claims
about Gujarat tomatoes and Gujarat milk on the tables of Thailand and Malaysia.
So are his proud claims that he is the architect of modern Gujarat when
Gujaratis are known to be genetically wired to business and making money. The
post-coronation claim of his seeking and getting Advani’s blessings has been
exposed as a fib by the sulking patriarch himself who felt humiliated because he
was not contacted. This is Modi’s creative
falsehood at its best.
Apart from exaggeration, Modi employs dramatic skills in his congress-bashing
speeches. His body language and his choice of abusive words show lack of
culture and sophistication. He is
articulate in Hindi and Gujarati but his pride, bombast and gimmickry are used
to attack persons and not principles or ideology. The political arena is not a
bull ring even if Modi fancies himself as the matador to kill the bull( or the
cow and the calf). It is not a battlefield to settle personal scores but it
calls for intellectual debate on national and international issues shorn off
false claims, prickly innuendoes and vengeful ire.
He has given the signal to his party to stall all efforts of
the government towards strengthening internal and external security. Whether it
is NCTC or GST or Food security bill, the Modified BJP sees no virtue in any of
these measures because they are Congress sponsored while it gives them the whip
to lambast the ruling party as stricken with policy paralysis. Heads I win,
tails you lose.
I have no political affiliation except affiliation with the
nation. I dread entrusting the nation to a person who badgers, who is
overbearing with overvaulting ambition and intolerant of opposition. India does
not have friendly neighbours and one has to have a remarkable degree of
statesmanship, diplomacy and wisdom to steer the nation through inimical
waters. Lack of polish and finesse, highfalutin words, and supercilious
attitudes will not win India friends. Modi’s rise may be the closing of Indian
mind, civilization, culture and glory.
The alternative to Modi is not seen in the horizon. Rahul is
no match for Modi because he is inarticulate and lacks the punch to fight him. The
only redeeming features about Rahul are his youth, polish and his cherubic
looks of innocence and sincerity to make India poverty-free. But he doesn’t
have the experience nor the magic wand to wish away poverty. India needs a visionary
who can think with his heart and feel with his head. Unless Congress finds someone
who is articulate and not obdurate, intelligent and not pick apart, firm and
not arrogant, strong and not egoistic, democratic and not dictatorial, honest
and tolerant, and above all possesses wisdom with humility that goes with it,
it will be a Modi saga that will sadly be
the unmaking of India. It is time for Congress to search for young blood to lead
the nation. There are many Congress men and women with good education, lineage,
character and commitment and who are equally facile in English and Hindi. They
have to take centrestage to counter Modi’s lies and false claims to greatness. It
is said that a thorn alone can remove a thorn. It is not necessary to descend
to the level of Modi and make wild sweeping charges and the answer to Modi lies
in nailing his lies with facts and figures in a dignified way.
Congress is certainly on a weak wicket as the scams have
been unfolding prior to the commencement of every parliamentary session. But
scams have not been the monopoly of Congress as was demonstrated in Karnataka.
Power breeds scam and UPA has had its share of black sheep. Several punitive
actions have been taken, but they have always come a little too late. The
number of ministers and Congressmen who have been shown the door is proof of
the saner and honest persons in the party to weed out corruption to the extent
possible. If Modi never felt the compunction to resign for the heinous 2002
riots, it is strange and ironical that he bays for the PM to resign over all
scams. He thunders and that is taken by the naïve populace as a sign of
strength. Belligerent and bellicose, he gives the impression of a dynamic man
of action but being combative, pugnacious and aggressive is nothing but sheer
machismo. Congress has earned enough scorn and obloquy and is perforce to wade through
all this muck and slush. Just as the priceless treasure too frequently
hides at the bottom of a well, it needs some courage to dive for it, and
procure the jewel. Congress has to take the plunge to come clean at the end.
Can this be done? Yes, it can be done if honest
Congress politicians come forward and follow ‘do’s and ‘don’t’s as given under:
(a) Never stoop to low politics of indulging in calumny
and defamation
(b) Give a royal ignore to all malicious vilification
(c ) Prepare a simple understandable document on the
major achievements of the nation that
should include an honest appraisal of what has been achieved, what was the
target, why the target was missed and what effective measures are to be in
place to achieve the target.
(d) Congress should enlist the services of many
educated, well read thinkers in the country. With their inputs Congress should
prepare a vision statement taking off from where the nation stands now.
(e) In plain language without resorting to harsh
criticism, let the government list out how all its efforts to bring in FDI( to
generate employment that Modi is sniping at), Insurance Bills, NCTC(that would
have prevented the Chhatisgarh bloodbath), GST etc had been stalled to
highlight the Opposition’s strategy to create a deliberate policy paralysis.
(f) Thanks to our erudite PM, we have still a standing
in International community. Despite the gravest provocations, India has been
able to maintain successful diplomacy with neighbours. The best policy till now
adopted by the nation is ‘do not enter a quarrel, but being in bear't that the opposed may beware of thee” This has been in
evidence in our successful dealing with Italy both in the case of shooting
Indian fishermen and in the August Westland deal.
(g) Let Congress take the lead to
package politics into morality and not package morality into politics as the
opposition is doing.
(h) Give the young an opportunity to articlulate and project a new ,clean, dynamic and resurgent India.
(i) A white paper on
Telengana is important to educate people the dangers of partition of states and
the efforts to reconcile differences between two groups without any
discrimination against anyone group. The underlying principle should be a
unified India.
(j) A detailed paper on the government’s efforts to reach out
to the tribals in the eastern corridor and to quell Maoism should be
documented. This should include the salient features of Land bill that had been
stalled by the opposition.
(k) Let the Government educate the people in straightforward
language what are the implications of Lokpal bill and how certain amendments
are necessary for the government to administer and function. The populist
slogan of “aam admi’of giving power to people to decide on issues without their
proper background knowledge and reality will unleash anarchy. The democratic
principle of giving people the right to information and the right to express
grievances have been in force with the Bhagidari schemes of the Delhi government. So have been its
efforts to provide education and welfare measures through the ‘ladli beti’ schemes. These things have to be continued
with greater vigour. So should the food security bill be made into a reality to
give women power.
(l) Engage the opposition in debate on if it comes to power:
how will it handle Tamil conflict in srilanka, annex
Katchatheevu,
how will it deal with security-internal and external
how will it get more foreign investments into the countru
how will it endorse Lokpal bill as given by Anna Hazare
how it will get through the Land Bill while qcquiring land
for developmental projects without harming the interest of the tribals
how it will resolve Telengana crisis and how will it prevent
conflicts among people on such divisive caste based policies
how will it have an inclusive programme other than what the
Congress has deliberated etc
(m) No grandstanding on any issue
(n)Last but not the last, only give tickets to absolutely
honest, educated and well informed people who have a sufficient knowledge of
ground reality.
I hope we have a stronger, cleaner, honest and committed
government emerging from fire, cleansed of all impurities. At present the
battle seems to be between Davids and Goliaths with the latter likely to
trounce the former. But the nation will survive and peak to glory when small
and humble Davids with faith in truth, goodness and morality triumph over Goliaths
with their spread of falsehood, arrogance, swaggering ambition and greed for
power. Let the Goliaths do all the unmaking of India and let the Davids do the
making of a new India.
