Sunday, May 18, 2014

An open letter to the Indian Prime Minister-designate

Dear Mr. Modi,

Heartiest congratulations on receiving a clear and emphatic mandate from the people across India!

I always believed great leadership is what India needs at the current juncture and in your relatively successful demonstration of a development based governance model in Gujarat and in your super-effective execution of the poll blitzkrieg unleashed by BJP, I see a definite promise of this leadership need getting fulfilled.

Cynicism however being the hallmark of an oft-let-down individual/ population, I am a tad cynical despite nurturing a predominant hope of seeing a promise materialize. Upon introspection, I realize that my current bout of cynicism has been triggered by what I repeatedly hear about this verdict of Indian population being a mandate against corruption; a mandate for a long overdue Indian-spring, no less & finally a mandate for development.

Mandate for development? Probably yes. But is it against corruption & pro-clean governance too? The cynic in me doesn’t agree….

I’m cynical largely since a small but a startling fact I’ve stumbled upon pretty much trashes the claim of this election being a mandate against corruption; the fact being that AAP that contested on a national scale on an anti-corruption platform manages a mere 2% vote share and trails behind the 2.5% of an upstart regional party that symbolizes everything corrupt in Indian polity.

Even if I discount this as owing to the tell-tale impact of an escapist-legacy that AAP couldn’t shrug-off, this for sure underscores the fact that corruption wasn’t the top-of-the-mind issue for the average Indian citizen headed for the polling booth & there was every sign out there to say that money flowed like water in this general election and a significant proportion of the voting junta had had a field time letting one party out-bid the other.

I am cynical also because in the revamped scheme of things within your party, the past blemished have sauntered back right-in and have been duly resurrected and reinstated honourably, all in the larger context of coming to power and providing an alternative to the chronically fatigued dynasty that grappled with corruption at all levels.

Finally, I am cynical because there is this improvised practical theory gaining ground among the Indian citizens that corruption isn’t a big issue as long as development happens & within the narrower realm of visible development.

I absolutely loved it Narendra bhai, when during the victory speech at Vadodara, you reiterated the importance of inclusiveness in development. Unlike many liberals who raised an eyebrow on what you didn’t state explicitly, I indeed understand you meant to include all segments of population in the development process without malice towards any one in particular. I know for sure anyone who has come to power on such a unique mandate, much less you, would waste such an opportunity by indulging in antics that result in polarization & marginalization of a specific segment. Only, I’m worried that all this inferred disengagement between development & corruption in the Indian psyche shouldn’t end up making inclusion merely a term to denote equitable sharing of spoils among a corrupt polity and a corruptible populace, irrespective of region, community or caste.

Notwithstanding the oft-employed reproach that Indian growth rate over the past few years has been way above the rate of most advanced countries’, I know you understand well that we aren’t exactly comparing apples to apples here & in reality India lags behind these nations in infrastructure and civic amenities by a decade at the least. I trust that you fully realize that development at this scale isn’t possible merely by launching or going after symbolic, disjointed developmental initiatives that neither impact the quality of life nor help improve the perception of an ever-doubting international community on India’s capability to operate as a transparent & corruption-free business nation.

Cynicism apart, I am thrilled by the fact that the clear mandate will help you avoid the oh-so-typical arm-twisting, blackmailing politics of the coalition/ alliance governments and this in-turn will allow you to focus on executing your vision that much more smoothly and without hindrance. Given this and given your own leadership potential this is the closest, I suspect, India would ever get to an Indian spring.

I’m positive Mr. Prime Minister-Designate that you’ll seize this moment to redefine the paradigm & give me a reason or a score to feel more proud of being an Indian wherever I go.

I wish you, your cabinet and all Indian citizens the very best in the days to come!

Acchey din…, bas ab aane hee chaahiye!!

Respectfully yours,
A fellow Indian

4 comments:

Vemuganti Deekshith said...

All good(hopeful) things that came from the mouth of a cynic apart, I don't get it why intelligentsia of India is conveniently ignoring the aspect of secularism.

I highly doubt the oh-so-Mr. Prime Minister Designate's newly refurbished secular views towards the populace of the country, which he laconically claims to be his aging & the subsequent wisdom acquired because of it.

On an Utopian note, while the newly elected Prime Minister will be indeed busy by applying his much celebrated development-inclined governance model on a national level, do you think the insecure religious fundamentalists would keep to themselves? Or do you also go ahead to state that the Prime Minister would tread a safe diplomatic path to ensure peace in the society? Nah, I don't think so mate.

And if communal riots are only going to get worse by catching fire fueled by the pedagogy of RSS backed by the Prime Minister, where would we see this going? And how on earth would we be willing to consider India to be on a development treadmill while on the other hand, blasts happen, people die and ex gratis will be announced and the dust will be wiped off the hands. Just an eye-washing move as it always has been. Proof? Karachi for example.

Are we just ready to fool ourselves into the aforementioned "infrastructure development" and "India Shining" alike phrases full of sheen, we would be, my friend, just betraying ourselves.

All said and done, this comes from another cynic who just chooses to stay cynical until things are done. In the meanwhile, let's reserve an eye for universal things like Secularism to name one. Nothing against the Visionary who received the mandate to lead the nation from the front. But I wish the religious fundamentalists won't ruin it for him from the rear end while he is busy leading from the front.

Murali Apparaju said...

I am no lover of modi but no hater even. I stand by my hope that fundamentalism is a tough strategy for anyone at the top in India.

I of course refuse to to join the rigid in thought dogmatic save-minority intelligenaia who overplay the 'threat to secularism' theory and undermine the collective wisdom of a whole country (well at least 35% of it) and hence left the 'berate modi' letters to the likes of Raja Gopal Gandhi.

I am a cynic, but no doom-sayer.

Vemuganti Deekshith said...

Well, if you refuse to join the thought process of "threat to secularism", i would like to talk about the countries where it (secularism) hasn't been safeguarded and thus, the countries are biting the dust.


Belonging to the working class, my chest has swelled with pride with that finally the curtains of dumb-rule that last for a decade have come down and a dynamic leader like Modi was the one who pulled down those curtains. At the same time, I am a tad worried that he might inadvertently bring a threat to India's secular presence on the global map.


Development's surely on the cards but I want India to be a safe, developing country.

Sirish Aditya said...

Though I am no expert on the topic, I don't think we need to be worried about bigots or religious zealots. From what I have seen of Mr. Modi from his speeches and interviews, I think he is a very ambitious man and would like to go down in history as nothing less than India's finest Prime Minister. Polarizing religions and initiating conflict are petty things for him and no matter what his detractors say about the 2002 riots, I think he has done well do get over them and sell his propaganda on the proved concepts of Vikas and Parivartan. Like Murali also mentions, the collective wisdom of crores of people who voted him into power cannot be all that wrong.

I am more worried about other issues like Environmental Degradation ( How will the Government keep up with the economic growth and rapid urbanization while also ensuring protection of natural resources ), FDI in many sectors ( Modi's no-nonsense treatment of tribals and farmers is well known in Gujarat where Left Wing activists accuse him of Tribal displacement and forced buying of land ) and artistic/ journalistic freedom ( For instance, can we mock NaMo like we mocked MMS and get away with it ).

And Deekshith, for what you said, I think your fears are significant but I think in a country as plural, as diverse and spiritual as India, it is almost impossible to ignite mass hysteria over anything ( I know we don't have a very encouraging recent history with so many riots happening all over the place but I think it has more to do with economic inequality and unemployment than any religious fervour ). One of my favourite writers, William Dalrymple, wrote this essay the other day and I think you might identify with it. Also, check out my comment in protest of his argument.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117793/narendra-modi-indias-new-prime-minister-neo-fascist-or-reformer