Modi Mania!

It’s a bird…It’s a plane…No it’s Superman…No wait…its NaMo!

To many he is the superman without the red underwear. India, a country shamed by scams and corruption, needs an image makeover. It’s not Baba Ramdev’s yoga beard, nor is it Anna Hazare’s Gandhian topi, but NaMo’s magic wand seems like the only hope. He might not have the red underwear, so what? He has the Red Fort that he has built all by himself! He might not be able to fly, so what? He has a much more efficient chopper to help the ones trapped in adverse situations. That is exactly the situation India is in. Yes, the NaMo Mania is here to stay. Love him, hate him, but you cannot ignore him. With his magic wand can he change India’s fortune? The fight is on.

What is Namo fighting for? Mahabharata 2014 of course….BJP’s elusive seat at the center. Some believe that he is authoritarian, well so is China. Look what China has done? The world now fears them. We fear them too, well why not? Even Chinese fear China. May be we also fear NaMo, not as much for his authoritarian approach, but more for memories of 2002. The riots of Gujarat officially took over 1000 lives, and NaMo was blamed for inactivity, and by some for secret participation. Though nothing have been proved against NaMo, his magic wand that has worked for Gujarat, was not strong enough to erase the stamp of the riot from his face. So…where is the eraser? 1969 Ahmedabad, erased…1980 Moradabad, erased…1983 Assam, erased…1984 Delhi, erased…1989 Bhagalpur, erased. Someone is definitely using the eraser. All NaMo needs to do to fulfill his dream is to find it.

Who is Namo’s fighting against? Easy…The one with the eraser. The one who also have 2G, 3G, CWG and most importantly…madam ji! Yes…its NaMo vs the biG G! Who is gonna win? We have already looked at the strength and weakness of NaMo, time to look at the biG G. Weakness: too corrupt to win; Strength: it does not matter if they can win…the opponents definitely know how to loose. Haarke jeetnewale ko baziGaar kahete hai. So what’s your bet? Doesn’t matter, come 2014, we will all know.

Let’s step back a bit. From the red 2002, let us go back to the black (brown) and white 1885. With help from a white named Allan Octavian Hume, Indian National Congress (INC) was founded so that educated blacks (rather brown Indians) get a fair share into the government. Their first meeting scheduled in Pune was shifted due to plague outbreak. Ominous signs for times to come. INC became the leader in Indian freedom struggle. They achieved their objective of giving India freedom in 1947. Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel thought that the party has served its purpose and it was time for it to die its natural death. But alas, INC has tasted immortality. It became the strongest political party in India, post-Independence.

Fast forward to 1951. Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) was founded by Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee to support Hindu National Cause. BJS was regarded by many as controlled by RSS. BJS won majority and formed government in 1977, after the emergency. Morarji Desai, the Gandhian freedom struggler, became the first non-Congress prime minister of the country. Soon internal conflicts lead to dissolution of the government. In 1980 BJS reformed as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP strongly opposed the violence against Sikhs under INC. BJP came back to power in 1996, but for just 13 days.  They were re-elected in 1998…but history repeated itself. They surely know how to loose. Finally in 1999 did they come back with stable majority to last full 5 years. After that they have successfully lost the next two general elections. However, they still are the only strong competitor for INC.

In 4 years Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister thrice! Behind every successful man there is a woman, however behind Atal there was Advani. Advani gave his allies like JDU enough power to keep them happy. Happy allies made for a happy coalition. However, his policy lacked long term vision for BJP as the allies grew strong enough to replace BJP. His A/C Rath Yatra, Ayodha massacre, trip to Pakistan and speeches favoring Jinnah has left people confused. And then there was the recent split with NaMo. Advani, along with Vajpayee, had built BJP from scratch, he is the senior most member of the party…and now a young kal-ka-chokra has challenged his authority. Advani resigned only to withdraw it later. The party sure has all ingredients for failure.

Back to the present. NaMo however is different from Advani, he is a one man army. There are many who are ready to vote for NaMo alone, along with the many ready to vote against him, irrespective of what party he stands for. Apart from Gujarat, his popularity is widespread in urban India. The vote result, however, is decided by rural India. Has the charismatic personality of NaMo spread in that part of India? INC has already played their trump card for the rural vote: the vote food security bill. It might lead our economy to doom, it might lead to increase in international debt, it might lead to inflation…but who cares, it’s all about leading. Everything is fair in love and war… and this is war. Recent polls by AC Nielsen for ABP News, C-Voter for Headlines Today, and a GFK for CNN-IBN [Read more] suggests that BJP has no alternative but NaMo. He can increase BJPs vote by 5%, still being 52 short of majority. Even though INC has lost votes, BJP has not fared any better. As for India’s fate, it desperately needs two strong parties. Congress is undoubtedly one; BJP is the only eligible other. BJP has to work hard to do justice to that position.

Let’s ignore all that and move to the future. Assume that NaMo wins and becomes the PM of India. Then what? Can a single man bring change in this complex country and make it vibrant? No, he will need support. Does BJP have the right manpower, and faithful allies, to support?  Time will tell. Will policies that have worked in Gujarat work for India? No, he has to rethink his policies…And…What about international diplomacy? UK and commonwealth countries has lifted the diplomatic boycott, US however still continues to deny NaMo US visa. The change in UK is only because UK gets a lot of business from Gujarat. The same will happen with US if he comes to power…after all money matters.

NaMo’s main challenge to throne however will still be connecting with rural India…and finding the eraser.