Time To Concentrate On
The Essentials
Narendra Modi’s rise to popularity and national leadership
has been both awe inspiringly swift and spectacular. There must, inevitably, be
several people who are jealous, both near and far, people who thoroughly underestimated
him. And others who are feeling insecure because they have never been friends
of Modi. Even US President Obama has
been quick to blame former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, somewhat fraudulently,
for the anti-Modi American stance so far.
On his own part, NaMo has promptly suggested that over-zealous
supporters of the BJP/NDA, some purporting
to be his own supporters as well, must watch what they say in this highly
charged atmosphere during this election season. They should not say or do
anything to stir up communal passions or hurt the sentiments of any section of
the population. This tactic may be routine for the Congress, with their
illogical, if truly impotent, sneering about fascism, communalism,
divisiveness, poison, dictatorship etc. who nevertheless are indulged in their
perfidy by most of the intelligentsia.
But are the fringe elements trying actually to undermine
Modi and his development-first message? It may well be, given the obscurity of
the people spewing the hatred. And are they possibly acting on behalf of those
who don’t like the Hindutva agenda pushed to the back burner by the BJP/RSS of
today? Or for others, with covert prime ministerial ambitions of their own?
There are also those of the elderly old guard who fear redundancy in a future
Modi government. All these elements are similarly apprehensive and motivated to
dampen the public’s enthusiasm for Modi.
The fringe extremists who erupt from time to time into hate
speech and bullying behaviour, airing their ignorance, intolerance and personal
prejudice, are not doing this country, or the BJP/NDA electoral campaign, based
on an even playing field brand of secularism, the blindest bit of good!
But such disruptive people are quite happy to sow discord
for its own sake, irrespective of consequences, whether they be an Owaisi or a
Togadia. Thankfully most people do not take such extreme views seriously. Owaisi, nevertheless is something of a
Congress pet, because his kind of savagery is more suited to its style of
self-serving but divisive vote-bank politics.
And then there is the Congress candidate from Saharanpur,
UP, one Masood, who threatened loudly to cut Modi into little pieces; is proud
of having done so, and swears he will say so again, jail, prosecution, EC or no
EC. Rahul Gandhi thought it fit to go to
Saharanpur, share the stage with Masood’s wife and brother, soon after Masood’s
outburst, to campaign for his victory. Masood himself was in police custody at
the time, but the Congress Vice President was apparently quite comfortable to
show solidarity with the candidate.
Narendra Modi personally however is determined to put
development first, despite all these distracting noises. More so, because India
is in terrible economic shape, and without generating growth, a tall enough
order under the given circumstances, but without which, the new government will
not be able to meet many of its stated objectives,
or indeed, the aspirations of the people. So compared to the challenge of
achieving growth in a shrinking economy, all this snarling and posturing is
irrelevant, trivial, and counter-productive.
Many Indian Muslims today, including some noted senior
clerics, are aware of this charade. They want to put the fear-mongering theatrics
of the Congress, SP, BSP, RJD, TMC, BJD etc., who put on an unabashed if insincere
play for Muslim votes, behind them. They want to vote for the sake of
straight-forward progress and prosperity under Modi. The Muslim weavers of
Varanasi, for example, have said they want the prosperity Modi has brought to
their weaver brothers in Surat. They know Muslims have prospered in Gujarat in
many fields, without a single communal riot since 2002, and they want Modi to
run the country now.
The people of India who are voting for Modi now are quite fed
up of communal politics, and so is
Narendra Modi. But this is perhaps difficult to digest for many people caught
in a time-warp, including hundreds of well-known public intellectuals, who have
made a profession out of fanning such flames, promoting old-time Nehruvian
Socialism and hypocritical notions of pluralism without substance. These hollow
theoreticians will be put out of business soon, and are therefore doing all
they can to turn the clock back. Back to
a time when caste, sub-caste, creed, religion, class, education, cultural and
geographical differences and so on, were the nuts and bolts ingredients of
political calculation. They are casting shrill doubt on Modi’s pitch to promote
the interests of ‘125 crore Indians’. They can’t believe their ears and are
therefore suggesting it is all a lie.
Besides this, nobody in the Indian political firmament ever wanted to be judged on performance
before Modi, not from the BJP and Congress, and certainly not from the ‘family-owned private limited’ regional
parties. Modi has raised the bar in this also, providing the promise of a real
accountability for this coming government, and all future governments.
Before Narendra Modi, there has never been a prime
ministerial candidate who has risen to the position, by dint of merit and hard
work, from poverty and a backward caste, without any family ‘influence’, and in
the face of tremendous opposition. There has never been a contender for the top job who has been a Chief
Minister of a state before. This is a sign of a maturing democracy, a grass
roots leader grown to seize the day, after 67 years, In a world generally ruled
by money, patronage and massive privilege.
Narendra Modi, B JP’s bold prime ministerial candidate,
abused by his detractors day and night, has still captured the public mood for
change; and the long established and much devalued power structure in the
country is scheduled for an unprecedented overhaul and renewal.
(976 words)
April 22nd,
2014
Gautam Mukherjee
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