Lao-Tzu, the sixth century Chinese philosopher, advised, “To lead the people, walk behind them”. This sums up the political philosophy of Narendra Modi, who senses the public mood and leads by following the wind in the sails of a new trajectory being mapped by the Indian people. It’s a different kind of brave new world, because traditional markers of identity and prejudice are being shunned for a new unity based on a common and equal citizenship, common and legitimate human aspirations.
At Jhansi, heartland of the proud Bundelas whose last queen died on the battlefield and was disrespected by a foppish pretender as Rani ki Jhansi, Narendra Modi skillfully steered the political discourse away from the treacherous old shoals of caste and community in a manner that has put the Congress, the ruling Samajwadi Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party on the defensive. Shaking them out of their complacency by jolting their traditional votebanks, he called the bluff of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party fighting the Congress in Uttar Pradesh while keeping it afloat in Delhi. “Now that you have got the CBI clean chit” (in the disproportionate assets cases), he taunted, “at least withdraw support now”.
The hardest punches were reserved for Rahul Gandhi (mentioned only as ‘princeling’), who has in recent times been forced by the Congress to lead the charge against the Bharatiya Janata Party and particularly to derail the speeding Modi juggernaut. It is easier said than done. Indeed, one of the reasons why an accomplished orator like Modi does not need speech writers is that Rahul Gandhi’s speech writers (or Rahul himself) make such a hash of it that all he has to do is pick up the pieces and display them with witty annotations.
Modi did spare the Gandhi scion for his insensitive remarks about being bitten by mosquitoes and getting stomach cramps during the course of his jhuggi-tourism – something even metropolitan India has viewed with distaste. But he ripped the Congress’s wannabe Prime Minister for his assertion that after the Muzaffarnagar riots Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency got in touch with some Muslim youth in the relief camps.
There were, of course, many things wrong with this statement that Rahul Gandhi had uttered so casually, but with utmost confidence, to the chagrin of the entire Muslim community in the State. The Gujarat Chief Minister dissected him with clinical efficiency. “Who”, he asked, “is Rahul? An MP? Why are our intelligence agencies sharing reports with this man who has not taken any oath of secrecy?” (an allusion to Rahul Gandhi’s refusal to join the Union Cabinet under Manmohan Singh and hence not legitimately entitled to intelligence information).
Secondly, as Congress is dominating the coalition at the Centre, “how can ISI enter UP and do this? What are you (Government) doing? You must give an answer”. Above all, he challenged Rahul Gandhi to either name the persons living in relief camps and mingling with the ISI, or else make a public apology for this “grave allegation” and “communal slur”. Congress spin doctors will have a tough time wriggling out of this attack, which cannot be ignored because the entire Muslim votebank is at stake and its entire leadership enraged. It’s a double goal for Narendra Modi; it surpasses any appeasing move the BJP could have dreamed up, and subtly avenges the inane insinuation – that “Hindu terror” is worse than jihadi terror – that Rahul Gandhi made to an American ambassador some years ago (exposed by Wikileaks).
How, the Gujarat strongman asked, can the people trust the Congress when it functions like a news agency and gives information regarding ISI activities in India, when its job is to fix these things? India cannot have faith in such rulers; it is time to throw them out, lock, stock, and barrel.
Guiding the huge gathering deftly through the party’s major election plank of corruption, poverty and lack of development, Narendra Modi mused at the coincidence that wherever the Congress was in power or supported the regime in power, farmer suicides tend to peak, be it Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and so on. The reason is Congress’ callousness towards the poor.
Honing in on Bundelkhand, which is backward despite having adequate water resources, and relies upon the modest remittances of workers who migrate to other States seasonally, he dwelt upon the package promised to the region by Rahul Gandhi at the time of the last Lok Sabha election. In the part of Bundelkhand that fell within Uttar Pradesh, no development took place – no wells were dug or check dams built, no farmer mandis built. Rather, the money was neatly divided between the ‘netas’ in Delhi and Lucknow, “it was to close their mouths”.
In contrast, the fund sent to Madhya Pradesh for the portion of Bundelkhand that fell within the State, was fully invested in the region by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The result, according to the Planning Commission headed by the Prime Minister, was the best utilisation of the package with 30 per cent of the land irrigated and a three-fold rise in crop yields. The Congress, SP and BSP, he said, are “loot experts”; it is time to “send them packing”.
Uttar Pradesh has the ability to liberate itself from this curse of poor leadership, which alone can change the fate of the nation. The old politics of electoral arithmetic, the ahankar (arrogance) of the Congress, parivar-vad (family) of the SP, and vyakti-vad (individualism) of the BSP must be set aside if the State and the region are to rise above the current poverty. If BJP is given just 60 months as opposed to Congress’ 60 years in power, it would change the fate and face of the nation, taqdeer badal denge, tasveer badal denge.
The poverty-driven out-migration of Bundelkhand, he pointed out, contributed to the prosperity of States like Gujarat, where the youth sweated to support families back home. Gujarat, he said, was experimenting with a new model where youth from other States would fix their own work schedules for six months and return home for six months to manage their fields and live with their families, with full job security. This kind of out-of-box thinking and planning is now vintage Modi; he throws a new surprise in almost every speech.
With Lok Sabha elections looming, he concluded, the UPA must give an account for the corruption, price rise, rising incidents of rape. It cannot hide behind silence or Rahul Gandhi’s inane remarks about ‘feeling angry’ when his grandmother died. The ruling Congress party, Modi pointed out, unleashed genocide on thousands of innocent Sikhs, many of whom were burnt to death, and till this day not one has been punished. Yet Rahul Gandhi feels no anger at this genocide, and is instead pouring salt on the wounds of the victims’ families. It is difficult to see how the spin doctors can transcend this faux pas, and it bears mentioning that Narendra Modi spared the Amethi MP’s blushes on the murder of his father at the hands of the LTTE, thanks to the ill-conceived policies he pursued in Sri Lanka.
Subtly contrasting Rahul Gandhi’s rootless, heritage politics, with his own humble origins as a tea-seller in railway wagons, Modi mocked at the Planning Commission’s “mental poverty” in fixing Rs 26 per day as the poverty line for rural India, and Rs 32 per day for cities, when the amount could not cover the cost of a family’s daily cup of tea. Invoking popular symbolism, he said to save the nation from the corrupt (beimaan), the lotus (kamal) must be brought (to power) because Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) only sits upon the lotus!
And, continuing his Delhi promise to serve the people (main nath nahin hoon, das hoon), the BJP’s numero uno said, “don’t make me Prime Minister”. As the crowd thundered in disagreement, he concluded, “make me the chowkidar. I will be chowkidar of the country, and no theft of the treasury will be allowed by any panja”. This allusion to the Congress party’s election symbol sent the crowd into raptures.
In short, ably supported by the short speeches of former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, party president Rajnath Singh, and the once-stormy petrel Uma Bharati, Narendra Modi covered the gamut of the enduring poverty and underdevelopment of the State, the stinging agony of unemployment, the drought and plight of farmers, and the idiotic ranting of the Congress vice president. In the process, he shifted the template of the State’s politics, appealing equally to all citizens while shunning the now repulsive model of caste and community votebanks. Few could have believed that such a campaign would at all be possible, that too, in a State like Uttar Pradesh.
Niticentral.com, 25 October 2013
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/10/25/narendra-modi-sentinel-of-the-national-treasury-150600.html