What is wrong with PM Modi?
Nothing I dare say, even as his critic.
He is doing everything that is politically right and possibly justified.
Mr Modi’s demonetization move tells much more than one may have ever guessed or learnt about him.
Let us begin with the fundamentals of Modi: he is a highly ambitious, aggressive and risk-taking leader. And, he makes better from the opportunities he gets.
In just one move he has given a thrust to his goal to take forward his PM tenure beyond 2019. Power is addictive. But it is only those with a genuine appetite to swallow the addictive pill who can make it work for the better.
Modi has given Indian politics a new edge, to cut across the barriers of class, castes or religion. He has in one stroke attempted to consolidate his appeal among a hugely potent electorate by nudging their deep-seated emotions.
No, it is not the poor or the deprived. It is perhaps what I would like to call the Mr Righteous, in order not to sound sexist, let us call them The Righteous.
The Righteous exist in every society, more so in age old civilisations that have been bred upon and cast against high morals or ideals. In India, it exists in a wide range of masses amidst its billion people.
Those who have held vengeance against the ‘unjust’ owners of wealth and prosperity. Those who suffer from being the less fortunate. Some who could not succeed being lazy. Some who enjoy and rejoice painting the grey white.
The Righteous chain is not necessarily the prerogative of the one deprived or challenged. The Righteous could well be a fairly well to do, except that they have deep-seated ambition amidst wide-ranging opportunities that they cannot touch. The Righteous will also be the one who knows deeply that the Heavens will come one day, the Ram Rajya. You may call The Righteous the proverbial fool as well if you wish. However, as they do not yield to a definite character, they cannot be measured on a scale.
One of them is the auto rickshaw driver who may not know the why and the how, but he believes fairly firmly that rich and wealthy are cruel people who for generations have shelved the vast resources, a part of which could be theirs. Another, the delivery boy in a restaurant chain who is mesmerised by the gloss of the living room when they knock upon the doors to deliver the cargo. Another, the executive who cannot see their daily worksheet as their mind is ticking in becoming Bill Gates one day sooner. The community may also include the milkman who adds chemicals in the fresh milk but justifies that they would not do so if they were to get a fairer share of profits whenever their conscience bites them. And, it also includes that big wealthy guy who does not yet have the best mansion in town.
They may be a Yadav, a Jat, a Rajput, Brahmin or the Bania. And they will be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian or a Parsi.
I know I am failing to define them more precisely, but there is such a broad and complex range of shades to their persona or the degree of vengeance in them against the powerful or the wealthy and plentiful. As much as the shopkeeper who barely survives to meet their ends, in their eyes is a person loaded with wealth and plenty. Merely because they have a shop, even if rented.
Trump could see that in an enormously rich America. If Modi saw that in India is no big deal, you may say. But, let us accept that Mr Modi saw that to his or his party’s advantage, or he could make that corridor open for him. Mind you; he has just nudged the corridor. He still has several options to build upon that.
Obviously it is a whole new political benchmark Mr Modi has set for the leaders within and outside the BJP. Mr Modi's ppt must be well drawn to rationalise as the new age political formulae. How this new corridor could help access electorates over a longer term as its first mover. Therefore he may well be using the ppt to lure leaders from across parties. It must be an arithmetic that the political sense will see it more sharply.
The Dalits, the Scheduled Castes, the poor, the aam aadmi is passé. Except for Aam Aadmi, which is limited by its tilt towards the Hindu land, Mr Modi’s constituency of The Righteous offers the touch and feel across the North South barrier, and covers the North East, Kashmir, the Bimaru States and perhaps every single community segment dissected by the politicians so far in India.
It also breaks the divide between the haves and have-nots, as it is an emotional, sensitive and a very personal appeal. Why not I? Why only they? I now have an opportunity. I can look into their eyes and dare.
Remember, Lalu used that most brazenly to reduce the middle class to a disabled minority in Bihar. As Lalu made the literate, the educated, the better off or the rich seek shelter across a range of other parties.
If middle-class adults are just 14% of all adults in India, the social media opinions can at best be the inconsequential minority voices. And, the Upper-class adults have the entire range of abilities to fit in with the current political trend, with a few having the more powerful potential to support a favourable political direction. Take a sizeable The Righteous from the Middle and Upper-Income Indians, and, convert more The Righteous from the lower Income Indians. That is a huge number sympathising with one another.
It is no rocket science that it is Modi who knocked at the open doors, while others ignored, or may not have seen. And he is doing so as The Righteous himself. Someone who fought so hard. And is fighting still against the more powerful who are leaving no stone unturned to make him bite the dust once again. Indira’s grouse was very different. She was fighting the battle against the foreign hand. Modi’s enemies are within and more dangerous.
At the same time, Modi is not throwing in a magical never before scarf. BJP has proliferated upon the disgruntled Indian community, ever since the days of Independence or perhaps even before. The grousing Indian who could not be at the right place at the right time. And the BJP has mobilised that community more, using the sentiments, emotions and sensitivities. So the bond is stronger and has a potentially longer life. Modi has now redefined its parameter by crossing the boundaries from the better off to the more deprived. He has repositioned the opposition, to quote the advertising term.
He will lose some among the traditional BJP base, but he will win many more numbers in this game. So, it is a pay off all the way.
If the phenomenon of driving The Righteous aggressively has ensured at least two terms for a debutant at a state level, there is no reason to doubt its efficacy on the national scale.
Conceptually it is social justice: reaching out the advantages of democracy to those who may not know what democracy is. So, he is not wrong. Is he?
Move over Lalu, Mulayam, Mamta and Kejri. Modi is here to stay.
Nothing I dare say, even as his critic.
He is doing everything that is politically right and possibly justified.
Mr Modi’s demonetization move tells much more than one may have ever guessed or learnt about him.
Let us begin with the fundamentals of Modi: he is a highly ambitious, aggressive and risk-taking leader. And, he makes better from the opportunities he gets.
In just one move he has given a thrust to his goal to take forward his PM tenure beyond 2019. Power is addictive. But it is only those with a genuine appetite to swallow the addictive pill who can make it work for the better.
Modi has given Indian politics a new edge, to cut across the barriers of class, castes or religion. He has in one stroke attempted to consolidate his appeal among a hugely potent electorate by nudging their deep-seated emotions.
No, it is not the poor or the deprived. It is perhaps what I would like to call the Mr Righteous, in order not to sound sexist, let us call them The Righteous.
The Righteous exist in every society, more so in age old civilisations that have been bred upon and cast against high morals or ideals. In India, it exists in a wide range of masses amidst its billion people.
Those who have held vengeance against the ‘unjust’ owners of wealth and prosperity. Those who suffer from being the less fortunate. Some who could not succeed being lazy. Some who enjoy and rejoice painting the grey white.
The Righteous chain is not necessarily the prerogative of the one deprived or challenged. The Righteous could well be a fairly well to do, except that they have deep-seated ambition amidst wide-ranging opportunities that they cannot touch. The Righteous will also be the one who knows deeply that the Heavens will come one day, the Ram Rajya. You may call The Righteous the proverbial fool as well if you wish. However, as they do not yield to a definite character, they cannot be measured on a scale.
One of them is the auto rickshaw driver who may not know the why and the how, but he believes fairly firmly that rich and wealthy are cruel people who for generations have shelved the vast resources, a part of which could be theirs. Another, the delivery boy in a restaurant chain who is mesmerised by the gloss of the living room when they knock upon the doors to deliver the cargo. Another, the executive who cannot see their daily worksheet as their mind is ticking in becoming Bill Gates one day sooner. The community may also include the milkman who adds chemicals in the fresh milk but justifies that they would not do so if they were to get a fairer share of profits whenever their conscience bites them. And, it also includes that big wealthy guy who does not yet have the best mansion in town.
They may be a Yadav, a Jat, a Rajput, Brahmin or the Bania. And they will be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian or a Parsi.
I know I am failing to define them more precisely, but there is such a broad and complex range of shades to their persona or the degree of vengeance in them against the powerful or the wealthy and plentiful. As much as the shopkeeper who barely survives to meet their ends, in their eyes is a person loaded with wealth and plenty. Merely because they have a shop, even if rented.
Trump could see that in an enormously rich America. If Modi saw that in India is no big deal, you may say. But, let us accept that Mr Modi saw that to his or his party’s advantage, or he could make that corridor open for him. Mind you; he has just nudged the corridor. He still has several options to build upon that.
Obviously it is a whole new political benchmark Mr Modi has set for the leaders within and outside the BJP. Mr Modi's ppt must be well drawn to rationalise as the new age political formulae. How this new corridor could help access electorates over a longer term as its first mover. Therefore he may well be using the ppt to lure leaders from across parties. It must be an arithmetic that the political sense will see it more sharply.
The Dalits, the Scheduled Castes, the poor, the aam aadmi is passé. Except for Aam Aadmi, which is limited by its tilt towards the Hindu land, Mr Modi’s constituency of The Righteous offers the touch and feel across the North South barrier, and covers the North East, Kashmir, the Bimaru States and perhaps every single community segment dissected by the politicians so far in India.
It also breaks the divide between the haves and have-nots, as it is an emotional, sensitive and a very personal appeal. Why not I? Why only they? I now have an opportunity. I can look into their eyes and dare.
Remember, Lalu used that most brazenly to reduce the middle class to a disabled minority in Bihar. As Lalu made the literate, the educated, the better off or the rich seek shelter across a range of other parties.
If middle-class adults are just 14% of all adults in India, the social media opinions can at best be the inconsequential minority voices. And, the Upper-class adults have the entire range of abilities to fit in with the current political trend, with a few having the more powerful potential to support a favourable political direction. Take a sizeable The Righteous from the Middle and Upper-Income Indians, and, convert more The Righteous from the lower Income Indians. That is a huge number sympathising with one another.
It is no rocket science that it is Modi who knocked at the open doors, while others ignored, or may not have seen. And he is doing so as The Righteous himself. Someone who fought so hard. And is fighting still against the more powerful who are leaving no stone unturned to make him bite the dust once again. Indira’s grouse was very different. She was fighting the battle against the foreign hand. Modi’s enemies are within and more dangerous.
At the same time, Modi is not throwing in a magical never before scarf. BJP has proliferated upon the disgruntled Indian community, ever since the days of Independence or perhaps even before. The grousing Indian who could not be at the right place at the right time. And the BJP has mobilised that community more, using the sentiments, emotions and sensitivities. So the bond is stronger and has a potentially longer life. Modi has now redefined its parameter by crossing the boundaries from the better off to the more deprived. He has repositioned the opposition, to quote the advertising term.
He will lose some among the traditional BJP base, but he will win many more numbers in this game. So, it is a pay off all the way.
If the phenomenon of driving The Righteous aggressively has ensured at least two terms for a debutant at a state level, there is no reason to doubt its efficacy on the national scale.
Conceptually it is social justice: reaching out the advantages of democracy to those who may not know what democracy is. So, he is not wrong. Is he?
Move over Lalu, Mulayam, Mamta and Kejri. Modi is here to stay.
Very well thought out Prabhat. Out of the tokri.
ReplyDeleteThanks - hope there is cream out of the tokri
DeleteVery well described Prabhat. Loved reading it.
ReplyDeleteThanks lOve
DeleteVery well written Prabhat. I like your defination of Righteous.
ReplyDeleteNeutral Analysis from political perspective.
Thanks - appreciate your views.
Delete