The Limelighted Shortsighted

The Limelighted Shortsighted.

I don’t know if you are proud, or, at least, satisfied by your achievements as you cross three forth of a majestic term. Or, if you find that you were shortsighted despite the limelight you were so privileged with.

May 2014 was not an ordinary month in the history of free India. It was an unprecedented moment when the entire nation showed solidarity with a mysterious name Modi. The Indian voter believed your words, expecting that even if half of your promises came through, India would take a giant step forward.

The foundation of the conviction was so strong as everything else appeared negligible in the face of Modi. Oh! What a golden opportunity was that for a PM!

An economy fairly well placed. The global markets back from the recessive moods. Oil prices crumbling its charts. A billion Indians enthusiastic. A huge battalion campaigning within and outside the nation to further mobilize support for a PM. Not shy of confronting or aggressively downsizing even a minor spurt of a criticism. Media, of all the communities, changing its tack with the view to present the glorious side, often hide pitfalls, and, further going out of its way to find the good side amidst scattered critical views.

No Prime Minister was ever publicly honored with such a favorable posturing.

As a matter of fact, the Indian voters, except for the BJP, or to a certain extent the Communists, have never been loyal to any party. They have been cruelly favorable to see through a stronger Government against circumstances. They brought down the Indira Government when the opposition looked sizeable enough to give an alternative. They did not show any emotion in bringing down Rajiv Gandhi once they realized his political novice could weaken the Government at the Centre. They stood behind Vajpayee when he looked strong. They also showed faith in Sonia when an experiment was made with Manmohan Singh. Equally, they were willing to accept a mysterious Modi despite several accusations as they felt that it was worth seeing a new alternative than standing by a Government in doubt.

How does it matter to a common Indian citizen what ideology the political parties follow? How does it matter to an electorate whether a caste, community or sect is given an edge of a privilege? How does it matter even that the candidate has criminal records against them? So long as they believe that the candidate has the will to deliver opportunities for education, health, public utilities and income.

So you were right in opting for “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas”. However, you did not deter from giving cues of inclinations that were opposite to your promise. If you were wise, you were also shortsighted in knowing that the electorate is wiser. If you were shrewd or crafty, you were also shortsighted in knowing that the electorate is just a little more endowed in being shrewd or crafty, literacy aside.

Your missions engaged strategies that had become ‘touch me not’ after Indira Gandhi proved that they were eventually devastating, and the Governments before you were scared to ever use them.

I am sure you knew that the whispers that often fear a strong Government, get more dangerous than the applauds you get because people want you to stay charged in the faith that you are a doer, and you will not hide. So, they want to push you to the farthest point of your potential. Surgically. So that they have squeezed the best meat out of you.

Building BJP as a party. Engaging media and the network of administrative chain to glorify you. Using emotional tools to keep the ‘this man has the capacity to do something’ perception ride over pitfalls. Coercing trusted opinion builders to essay out the ‘good work’. They took your priority over just sticking to seeing through the ready plans work more energetically, demonstrating, therefore, that a strong Government at the Centre can do much more than a Government founded in a coalition of varying purposes.

Come on, Mr PM. You were so evident and visible in telling what you wanted to keep in the hiding.

Why was it so compulsory for you to deny the religious, communal and cultural diversity in India? Did you not think to disrupt would draw out whatever nutritional values the soil retained for a yield. Did you seriously believe that consolidating a dogmatically inclined community would inspire a young evolving nation well connected with the modern world?  You may blame Congress for appeasing. But they may be appeasing a range of diversities. Choosing one in multiple societies to surge above the rest is a fanciful appeasement. Did you not expect that would open up unmanageable corridors of disapproval.

So, why would you shy away from the core? And why did you ignore the opportunity in hand? 

Were you scared that your weakness would tumble out of a facade that was working in your favor, if you chose the priorities of the nation above a willing to die battalion?

These are questions that are likely to become stronger by the 2019 elections. You may still win, but can you deny that you alone have weakened your position to win better.

You will be megalomaniacally inclined if you still believe that the crying farmers will be insensitive to the photograph of your reading the miles long letter of applaud sent by a farmer proud of you.


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