Thursday, 13 June 2013

The (un)making of India


                                              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.


No comments:

Post a Comment