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Chastened modi

By Prem Chandran Narenda Modi, who completed hundred days in office as Prime Minister, should by now be a chastened .....




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09-07-2014
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: Oct 2012
: Adur, Kerala, India
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Thumbs up Chastened modi


By Prem Chandran
Narenda Modi, who completed hundred days in office as Prime Minister, should by now be a chastened leader. He started with a feeling that the whole of India was craving for his leadership; this for the reason that he managed a thumping victory for the BJP through a series of high-pitched campaign rounds along the length and breadth of the country. Not even the most optimistic among the Sangh Parivar hoped to have a windfall of the kind the party got, ending a notorious era of coalition politics that bled the country. But, the kind of resistance that he is faced with today from the power brokers in Delhi who are now languishing on the sidelines, and the elitist “intellectuals” therein, is proof that Modi will have miles to go before he conquers the hearts and minds of India. The honeymoon is just about over. It will not be long before knives are out targeting him.

The resistance that is sought to be built up against Modi was most reflected in the criticism of the Teachers Day address he made September 5, when the Central Government recommended schools across the country to arrange for live screening of his interaction with a select gathering of Delhi school students. For schools, it meant little. If a far-flung village school does not have a TV set or electricity connection, it can be arranged for an hour or two for payment of a few hundred bucks. Generator sets can be hired for paltry sums. But, the first resistance came from a Delhi school headmistress, who allegedly played into the hands of some people. And then there was resistance coming from across the country, especially from those in West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee is today willing even to make peace with her bête noire, the CPM, if only to keep the BJP and Modi at bay. Highly communal (minority secularists) Kerala too dug its heels in against the Modi show, though by citing technical snags in telecast of the Modi speech through a channel being subscribed to by government schools. Mamata Banerjee spoke out dismissively against the Modi show. Above all, elitists across the country had serious reservations as to what purpose this would serve other than troubling the students and teachers to overstay in school for a couple of hours.

Narendra Modi himself is not unaware of the reservations against him, as is clear from his mention of himself as being an “outsider” in the middle of the “insiders” in Delhi. In fact, other than the RSS office or Gujarat Bhawan, Modi knew too little of the elitist capital even as an RSS pracharak or as CM later, especially its power structures and the power brokers of the elitist variety, the wheeler dealers who promote selective interests and seek to take personal benefits or a commission out of every deal. They had their heydays under the Sonia-Manmohan dispensation; not any more; at least for now. They have to wait for their good days again, which might come in due course.

It is not necessarily the Nehru family that wants to hang on to power; some among them may rather do without it. It is the paraphernalia that surrounds the family for ages who have become power centres in the capital generation after generation that is keen on perpetuating the dynasty rule. That includes the whole lot of faceless Congress politicians too, whose very survival depends on the image of the family. It is in their interests that the family should not only survive but also thrive. Many of them outside of politics too acted as “advisers” in the power corridors, or there are men who occupy key positions not necessarily in the government, but in the structures that surround power; and that includes some in key media-related establishments as well. Some pose as “intellectuals” and establish a line with the Communists, so as to use them when necessary. Over the past six decades, they have formed into a community by themselves, act as the second line of defence for the family, and only a few of them are Kashmiris, per se.

It might sound curious to some, but in the forefront of those who take on Narendra Modi are the Communists, the CPM, whose leaders make it a point to put a spoke into the Modi wheel at every turn. True, the party shows its relevance through JNU-style elitist “intellectual” interventions by way of issuing public statements, lapped up by the English media in particular. As if to make up for its total rout from India’s political scene other than in Tripura, and partly in Kerala, its rootless leaders are now issuing one statement a day, if not more, “demanding” that the government do this, that, or that, if only to make their presence “felt”, and then go into slumber for the rest of the day. Such is the plight of the party today that without paying pocket money to slum dwellers in the capital, it cannot organize even a protest march. So goes the talk in knowledgeable circles. But, with a sense of self-importance, the JNU-bred leaders are in the forefront of the “resistance” movement against Modi.

On the other side, the unalloyed fact, however, is also that the Modi government is yet to make a mark. There is little to crow about, and there is little to feel confident about the sense of direction that it is taking. It at best is taking a cautious approach to matters so far. If it continues to do so, it is likely to lose its face. Its first priority, for its own survival itself too, might be to confront the breed of vested interests that are still out to make a kill. Indira Gandhi, put on the defensive by the old-guard Syndicate in the past, took the wind out of their sails by taking two major measures: bank nationalization and ending the privy purse system for royal families. Yes, she had in her the Machiavellian political instincts. By doing so, she appropriated the platform for the poor that was so far occupied by the leftists. She made mincemeat of the leftists, and fashioned herself as a champion of the poor. There started the downfall of the Communism and the socialist outfits in the country. Communists spoke for the poor so that their leaders could climb the ladders of power, just as socialists took Dalits and the other backward sections for a ride, became leaders, and some of them like Mulayam Singh went to the appalling extent of promoting their families, instead of working for the poor. That, along with the slogan “Garibi Hatao” helped her survive for the rest of her life.

Some changes are however evident under the Modi dispensation. For some reason, the economy is showing positive signs, and there are also those who attribute it to the “good ground work” that the previous UPA II government has done, the results of which the new government is said to be reaping. Likely, unlikely. We can argue both ways. However, it is safe to assume that the political stability that India has achieved, by one political party winning the numbers to provide a stable government for five years, has helped. It contributed to investor confidence as well as a revival of the pro-business atmosphere. There now is a feeling that the government has the courage to see things through. Trouble-makers like the Communists and the socialists like Mulayam Singh cannot stand in the way of the government’s policy formations. Rather, these leaders are now in a hard struggle to retain their political turfs against erosions into the BJP camp, be it in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or West Bengal. In Modi, here now is a leader who is seen to command strength and power. And, for the RSS, that might have a say in matters of governance, national interests are a matter of first priority, not the ideology as of the Nitish Kumar kind that by now has limited itself to promoting secularism -- a euphemism for vote bank politics. In fact, by raising the ante against Modi and fooling Muslims into a corner, these leaders might have done a disservice to the minority community. When leaders have no stature to command the support of the masses, this here was the way. The stand that the Modi government took, vis-a-vis talks with Pakistan, that there cannot be talks with the government as well as Kashmir militants at the same time, was a bold one. It showed the government has character.

Narendra Modi won a massive mandate by virtue of the support he got from the young voters of this country, as also the poor and the middle-class who were awed by his campaign aired by television channels. They together formed the bedrock of his support base; not the elitist self-styled intellectuals, whose numbers may be negligible, but carried with them the “fire power” as opinion-makers as also a “killer instinct” when it comes to a situation in which their vested interests are hurt or need be promoted. In electoral terms, they matter little. For, most of them do not turn up at polling booths. And, none of them has a mass base. But, they are capable of twisting things and raising the dust. They dominate the media by loose talk and supposedly intellectual hair-splitting.

Under the circumstances, it is likely that the direct-connect philosophy that Modi is following, by addressing the nation on Independence Day from the Red Fort, or by talking to schoolchildren on Teachers Day, or by connecting to ordinary masses via All India Radio, arose out of a realization that he should do without the "editorial/reporter support" from established media in this country, led by the kinds that figured in the Nira Radia tapes for whom their personal interests come first. There are no more junkets when the PM goes abroad. It is mostly a limited number of officials and a few of the mediapersonnel and business honchos who accompany the PM. Modi is no weakling to survive on “media friends’ ” support, as many others do. He kept them where they should be, and it should be so in future as well. The job of the media is not to dictate policy, but to faithfully report facts and present views. They should not be allowed to cross the Lakshman Rekha. That is where the strength of a leader is most perceptible. The social media, energized by the youth of the country, was for Modi, and it continues to be so. However, the youth will remain with Modi only as long as they see hope in him. And, there is free flow of news and views in the social media.

It looked like the youth of the country expected a change from Narendra Modi, which was that he would give a strong leadership to the country. He, they thought, was one who had a backbone as also nationalistic spirit to the core, and would not vacillate on issues. His should not be a leadership that would seek to please all, but one that acts where action is needed, irrespective of the consequences to the party in power. Modi as CM was one leader in the country who had an individuality, the grit and determination to do things. Even as he was persona non grata to elitist secularists across the country, he skillfully evaded the arrows sent by them in a flurry, concentrated on his work in Gujarat, and made a major difference to governance there.

Modi cannot be another Manmohan Singh. There no more is a Sonia Gandhi pulling the strings from behind. The RSS has already advised its cadres to give the new government a year’s time before it is criticized. That’s sensible enough. And, there no more are the “coalition compulsions” that Singh said stood in his way, meaning the DMK and NCP kinds of self-seekers who, in a free-wheeling atmosphere, took the nation for a ride. It is time for Modi to show he means business, and that he means to change the fate of India for the better by displaying a long-term visionary approach, that as promised should as well be ‘inclusive’. The coming assembly elections might come in the way of decisive action, as was demonstrated on the railway reform front two months ago. Yet, time waits for none. Modi must govern, and govern in ways better than the Sonia-Manmohan combine. That is the calling of the times. premcee@gmail.com; www.indiahereandnow.com

Last edited by Premchandran; 09-20-2014 at 07:46 AM

 



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