This extraordinary year can be classified into two periods from the perspective of the National Politics. The first part begins from the previous Independence Day and goes through to the current Republic Day while the second period commences from the Republic Day and stretches through this Independence Day. In this period, the people of India have witnessed both the rise and the fall of the Prime-Minister and they have also realised that what ascends quicky has to descend as quickly.
The celebration time commenced with the declaration of the Election results. Even the BJP was not expecting to attain a full majority on its own. This was probably beyond their wildest dreams. The era of their downfall began with the results of the Delhi elections. Never in the Indian history had a novice start-up party achieved this. Sushma Swaraj went on admit that they were going through an inauspicious year and it is quite possible that the Prime-Minister might declare in his Independence Day speech that stars are not in their favour.
It would be quite fair to judge the performance of Modiji based on the characteristics laid down by his enthusiast supporters. Here are a some of his qualities propounded by them:
· Development Icon
· Industry Friendly
· Non corrupt
· Hindu Nationalist and
· Efficient
Efficiency: One may not remember what Modiji spoke last year and more so because he himself might not remember it. However, who would forget that thunderous slogan of “Swachh Bharat”. Modiji was so explicit about the problems of defecating in open that and it only resulted in putting the entire nation to shame.It became a public knowledge that the half of the global population who defecate in the open reside in India. After a passage of two and half months, “Swachh Bharat” campaign was launced on Gandhi Jayanti with much fanfare. The colourful trash was arranged for the ministers to clean so as to make a good photo-opportunity without bothering their nostrils. Even a whopping Rs.94 Crores were spent to create awareness of the campaign. However, what followed in the survey of 476 towns by the very own Urban Affairs Ministry of the Central Government was good enough for the Modi government to tender their resignation. Of the top 100 best performing towns, 39 belong to the southern India, where BJP does not rule in any single state. Second position belongs to the Eastern states which also do not have the BJP government. The Western and Northern States where the BJP is in rule are on third and fourth positions respectively. If one were to take in account the top ten towns, only Navi Mumbai features on the ninth position which has got a BJP rule. And if the worst ten performers are to be viewed, then eight of them belong to the states ruled by the BJP. Varanasi, the very own constituency of Modiji is on 418th position. Is this a measure of efficiency or a case of darkness beneath the candle.
Hindu Nationalism: Our country has got a fairly large number of intellectuals who do not see any wrong in being a Hindu nationalist leader. With the advent of Modiji in power, the spirits of Hindu Nationalists surged skywards. There was no refrain on the words and speeches. Somebody uttered of all Indians being Hindus, some started classifications of “Ramzades” and”Harmazades”, some got into the Love Jihad discourses while some launched “Gharvapasi” movements. The attacks on mosques and churches surged alongwith Communal Violence. When things started moving out of control owing to bashing from the global community, Modiji scolded Sakshi Maharaj in such a fashion that he resorted to crying. This was a signal enough for all the big boys. What followed was that RSS organised an Iftar Party for the first time in its history and further, the Ulema meets came in vogue. These attempts may not have yielded any fruits but were enough to control the damage inflicted by the Love Jihad and Gharvapasi campaigns. The things have come to such an extent that the Dalits have now started embracing Islam at Jantar Mantar but Sangh Parivar is unable to do much beyond putting up symbolic opposition. They are infact unable to open their lips even against the Cross Border Terrorist attacks. Is it what one equates with Hindu Nationalism
Abolishment of Corruption: On the first anniversary of his rule, Modiji had a question to the people of Chhattisgarh. He asked that did they see or listen of any incident of corruption during this regime? The prime minister was unaware that a Rice Scam amounting to one and lakh crore rupees was boiling on the very land of the Chhattisgarh. It was to be followed by an avalanche of scams. The Chikki Scam in Maharashtra, the Land Scam of Haryana and the Vyapam in Madhya Pradesh started popping up. The methodology adopted by Shivrajsingh Chauhan in mitigating the Vyapam horror made him the butt of the jokes. Shivraj was even being equated with Yamraj on the social media. The things have come to such a passé that 70 people have appealed the President to let them die. This all was enough to blow away the tall claims of “Will eat not and not allow to eat”.
Probably, the biggest change of the year is transformation of discourse from “NAMO” to “LAMO”. The year before “NAMO” name was doing rounds in every nook and corner of the country. Everybody was keen to know Modi’s opinion on one and the sundry subject. His weirdest comments used to make huge headlines.But Modiji has now switched into a silent mode. He is not speaking beyond some crammed up election talks and pre-written speeches in the foreign lands His speaking has come to such a state of affairs that his recent speech in Gaya was post-mortemed in a matter of minutes by Nitish Kumar and it was he who hogged up the limelight instead of Modi. On the contrary, an ordinary tweet of Lalit Modi is now busting charts and is drawing more attraction than the “Man Ki Baat” of the Prime-Minister. With the mercy of Sushma Swaraj, he has even got the audacity of declaring a new Cricketing format in Australia against the ICC inspite of having a warrant against him. Lalit Modi controversy has created an unprecedented embarrassment to the Modi government. Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj keeps on getting into his tangle from time to time. Every time she speaks up, she ends up stoking a new controversy. She recently spoke in the Parliament that if it was a sin to help a cancer affected lady then she was the culprit of such a sin. And she goes on to say that her support was merely a verbal one and if someone had proofs against her, they were welcome to present them. Rahul latched onto her statement saying that if she was really supporting someone in the need of help then why was she doing it secretly. Why did she not write an official letter for the same? This secret dealing was very much a proof against her. She need to speak up that how much cash did she receive from Lalit Modi? Sonia termed it as dramatics and left the matter there but Kapil Sibal named Narendra Modi being a guardian of the corrupts. Modiji even praised Scindia and Chauhan in Bihar against whom there is a long list of proofs. There are many facts on the mutual relations between NAMO and LAMO are behind the scenes. Congress is now accusing Gautam Adani the close confidante of Narendra Modi for his proximity with Lalit Modi. Their camarederie developed when he used to chair the Gujarat Cricket Association by virtue of his position of being a Chief Minister. He later passed on the baton to his close confidante Amit Shah and their relations flourished further. The reason behind Narendra Modi’s silence on Lalit Modi is probably the fact that any statement of his might invite accusations from all possible corners and end up blemishing his clean image.
It was Ram Jethmalani who punctured the tall claims of Narendra Modi’s holy war against corruption. In order to put brakes on Corruption, the proposal to appoint Shri V.K.Chaudhary as Cheif Vigilance Commissioner was opposed by Shri Jethmalani. He wrote a letter to the President Pranab Mukherjee and claimed that such a move would be a disaster for the country. Ram Jethamalani has accused Shri V.K.Chaudhary of not only being corrupt but also a man indulged in criminal activities. He said that he often escapes by way of his relations with anti national elements. Modiji’s intentions are becoming quite evident of his willingness to eliminate corruption by such appointments. He further said that his waning respect for the prime minister has now come to full null and he would put up his case in front of the people and the Judiciary. This is the same Ram Jethmalani who had pledged his support for Narendra Modi as a Prime Minister.
Industry Friendly: Within his first six months of his rule, Modiji had blessed Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani with bounties. He raised the slogan of “Make in India” and invited the global industrial community to invest in India. However, people did not fall for these fancies existent only on paper. Amidst this he tried to formulate a new Land Acquisition Bill but Rahul’s blistering attack and jibes of “Suit Boot ki Sarkar” had the government reeling for cover. When the Delhi and Bengal election results sent apprehensive signals of being viewed as Anti poor, he started taking steps which did not find popularity with the Capitalists. Thus he was found wanting by both the sections.
What Rahul Bajaj recently spoke of Narendra Modi is pretty evident of his performance. Rahul Bajaj’s father was a great Gandhian but his thoughts have nothing to do with Gandhiji nor even with Nehru. He is famous for not mincing his words and for his clean and non corrupt reputation. He did criticize Modi initially for his role in 2002 riots but later he turned one of his admirers.
Recently, while speaking with the NDTV Rahul Bajaj said that it was after 30 years that a party had attained a full majority and the country had found a new emperor.I am not against the government but the fact remains that much shine has faded away. He said that it was not the Narendra Modi Government which they expected. This pretty much summed up the mood among the Industrial and capitalist fraternity. The icon of development was now getting eclipsed by the shades of backwardness. Well, this was bound to happen but it would happen so early was not even predicted by his worst detractors.
There are many reasons for such state of affairs. However, it would be interesting to notice one example. With all his virtues, Narendra Modi also has a handful of his share of notoriety. If one were to search the most criminal individuals, then Google throws up Modis’s image. Similarly, his image pops up while searching for the most stupid prime minister and so on.
Many may not be aware about Modiji’s penchant for writing books and his fondness for reading books. It may not have attracted much media attention but Amit Shah is believed to be participating a function to be presided by Rajnath Singh. It is reported that three books written by Modi would be launched at the function.
The title of the book is also no less interesting. It is “Samajik Sadbhav – Sadbhavna”. It seems that Modiji did not give a proper brief to the one assigned the job of writing books for him.After all, what Sadbhavna has to do with Narendra Modi? The second book is title “Jyotipunj” which features individuals who inspired Narendra Modi. It is probably his way of paying tributes to people by writing books written and offering condolences to seniors and then pushing veterans like Advani and Joshi to corners terming them Margdarshaks. His meaning of Margdarshak may be someone who is in waiting or someone who had to cut the way.
His third book is a collection of poems. What would be the irony of this era that a man who even fumbles while reading the written statements is now writing books. However, if he declares during his Independence Day Speech that he is retiring from the politics to pursue his writing interests then it would indeed turn out to be beneficial to one and all The way his book launches are being ignored pretty much shows the national mood about his waning influence. It seems very unlikely that people would be keen to listen to his Independence Day Speech when Rahul Gandhi has taken away the punch of him by terming him a timid Prime Minister.
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