The Wheel Of Fortune

The Wheel Of Fortune

The people who spoke or wrote of Narendra Modi as a potential prime minister five years ago were few and far between. These futurists saw the flaws in a twisted definition of an essentially self-serving and vote-bank building secularism. The inequity in this, the subversion of the constitutional intent, was lost on most, because ‘it’ was accepted as conventional wisdom having been so oft repeated. It was regarded, not just as a Nehruvian shibboleth, but the very idea of India!

So this intrepid minority spoke up in favour of another vision of a Modi defined secularism, that spoke not of victimhood and entitlement, but of equal opportunity for all without fear or favour. And this vanguard pointed out its truth and efficacy being demonstrated in the form of greater prosperity for all the people of Gujarat.

Modi stood then, as he does now, not so much for the building of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, or even the abolition of Article 370 in Kashmir, but surging development and growth. Gujarat was posting 12% GDP figures year on year including a 10% growth in agriculture against a national figure that languishes at between 2 to 3 % per annum.   

Modi was already the epitome of the success of a right-of-centre vision, uncluttered by religious and majoritarian overtones, that has now become quite fashionable. The old Hindutva surge after LK Advani’s Rath Yatra to Ayodhya had indeed given the BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee a spectacular full term in power. But the Vajpayee Government was marked by its moderation, inclusiveness, pragmatism, and tremendous economic progress. Ideology was firmly and consciously put on the back burner.

But many people, thanks to persistent and fear-mongering Congress propaganda, actually lumped Modi together with a vigorous Hindutva agenda. So, only a few saw the NaMo emphasis on development politics and efficient governance to the exclusion of other notions, at first.

The NDA lost the 2004 election, despite a brilliant innings under Prime Minister Vajpayee, because the Congress managed to portray the ‘India Shining’ poll campaign to mean a cold economic growth without jobs for the masses. And Congress thought it had its winning formula with welfarism for the poor, waivers of farm loans and the like, particularly when it came to power unexpectedly after 8 years in the wilderness. And the economy be damned. It worked for them once again in 2009, confronted by a disunited, fractious, uncharismatic and confused BJP. This convinced Sonia and now Rahul Gandhi that wefarism was the best way to continue.

Of course, the Atal B ihari Vajpayee government’s achievements could not be brushed aside in 2009 either. But the BJP’s clear loss for a second time had a precious few thinking of the Gujarat Chief Minister as a potential BJP/NDA prime minister the next time around.

UPA II, led by the Leftist views of Sonia Gandhi’s extra constitutional N AC (National Advisory Council), went economically downhill almost from the start. The global economic crisis from 2008 did not help, but the singular lack of imagination and fresh ideas of our Government destroyed the economy, compounded by the massive and unprecedented corruption.

Vajpayee’s legacy stands undiminished after all this time. With its consistently high growth rates, the successful handling of the Kargil War, the efforts to improve relations with Pakistan, the achieving of nuclear weapons status, and the initiation of the Golden Quadrilateral roadways, it contrasted very favourably with the horrors of UPA II.

And good governance is still alive and well in the BJP ruled states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh certainly, and to some extent in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, while they were under BJP rule too.   And Vajpayee’s demonstrated ability to hold a large and disparate coalition together is not forgotten either.

Still, conventional wisdom, influenced by the majoritarian view of that twisted secularism, pigeon-holed Modi, for as long as it could, as a polarising figure with no appeal outside Gujarat.  So it was commonplace for Narendra Modi to be routinely vilified, demonised and abused in print and on TV. And anyone who had the temerity to back Modi was facilely labelled a Fascist.

LK Advani, the patriarch, Modi’s staunch backer in those days, knew what it felt like to be vilified. Advani had been widely blamed, without substance, for guiding the bringing down of the Babri Masjid. But today, the wheel having turned full circle, the octogenarian Advani is regarded as a moderate.

The young voter on the rolls today, is in a 65% majority, and largely unconcerned with ideology. It wants decisive leadership modernisation, infrastructure development, and economic progress above all else. This constituency of aspiration has warmed to Modi’s constant emphasis on development, growth and jobs.

The public intellectual today is witnessing a changed BJP and finding very little to complain about in any objective way. The old outrage at the ‘idea of India’ being threatened is not relevant anymore. All Gujarat’s accomplishments in the economic area are a template of what is being offered by NaMo to all the people of this country. And he is more than ready to take the Vajpayee legacy of moderation and good governance forward at the Centre.

Modi is a person who gains through the adversities he is subjected to because of his considerable personal fortitude and patience. Five years ago, there were very few advocates of a right-of-centre solution to the problems of this nation. Today it seems like an idea whose time has come.  

(911 words)

March 29^th, 2014

Gautam Mukherjee