How Narendra Modi Seemed to Muff His Big Chance yet he Created History

In 2014 the Congress had been in power for nearly 10 years. The prime minister was Manmohan Singh. He was a man whose only qualification was his total servility to the Nehru- Gandhi family. Mr. Manmohan Singh was nominated by Sonia Gandhi and by a set of circumstances become the prime minister. Hia regime was marred by scandals of corruption, as scam after scam dotted the Indian sky.

In such a scenario the people voted for the BJP and Mr. Narendra Modi in the hope that he would bring about a change in their lives. Modi in any case at that time shrewedly coined some very attractive phrases like "Acche Din Aayenge"( good days will come) and "Sabka Saath Zabka Vikas"(progress and development for all).

Catchy phrases and life

These are catchy phrases caught the imagination of the public and Modi was voted into power with an absolute majority. The BJP won 282 seats and along with its allies, it had close to a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The stage was set for Narendra Modi to launch his development programs but now in hindsight, one can see that he had a limited horizon conditioned as he was by his past life and marriage trauma. This is an important link to the man's character and probably shaped his thinking as the Prime Minister of India.

The public had much hope of Modi especially after he had done a good job as the chief minister of Gujarat. .

Political Thought

Modi had spent years as a pracharak (worker) of the RSS and he believed in the RSS philosophy that ancient Hinduism was everything good and modernization should be tempered with the old Hinduism. He failed to get out of the grip of classical Hinduism and did not see that ancient Hinduism based on the laws of Manu, was basically a divisive religion. It created caste and clans and followed obscurantist policies like purdah, denial of women, etc. This is not to say there was no good as Hinduism had a very rich heritage of philosophical thought.

Modi had a great chance in history, after having won the mandate of the people to bring about social change and development in the country. Unfortunately, he started his regime on the wrong foot. One wonders whether it was deliberate or not. Just after few days of taking over as a prime minister of India, he declared December 25 as "good governance day ". Now we all know that December 25 is a sacred holiday for the Christians and by making it a working day under the guise of good governance Modi was actually hitting out at the Christian faith.

The Indian masses assumed that Modi would now concentrate on development. To his credit, it must be mentioned that his period has been completely scam free and no major corruption scandals which have bugged the Manmohan Singh government have emerged. This by itself is a credible feat and show that Narendra Modi is an absolutely incorruptible man. This contrasts with Manmohan Singh who though personally clean was unable to rein in his cabinet ministers who even looted the state exchequer.

Acceptance of Caste divisions

Modi, however, defaulted on very important points, Firstly he prevailed on the RSS to change their policy and accept the division of Hindu society by caste. Sadly caste is a major ingredient of the Indian Constitution and the RSS for decades had campaigned against any reservation on the basis of caste in jobs or education. The change in RSS thinking has greatly damaged the Indian nation. The result is that the concept of caste has been perpetrated and Modi has not been able to do anything about it.

This is a very significant change as far as India is concerned and sometimes I wonder whether this division of society on the basis of caste is not really a fit case for the United Nations to intervene. I am convinced that this division of society on the basis of caste is a sister of the policy of apartheid followed by the South African government some decades back.

Fanning obscurantism

Modi is guilty of fanning the flames of obscurantism. I am talking of the cow which is the sacred symbol in Hinduism. There is nothing wrong with this and the cow can certainly be put on a pedestal but to build up mass hysteria about the Killing of cows is what really bugs a sane man. In the last 65 years, there were no lynchings of Indians on the basis of the cow but with active encouragement by the local leaders and silence of the prime minister himself, Vigilante groups have started a systematic lynching of some members of the minority community on suspicion of organizing cow smuggling and beef eating. It is like the Genie coming out of the bottle and I am afraid even if the BJP goes away who will put the Genie back into the bottle?BJP leadership, particularly in states like Uttar Pradesh, has made governance synonymous with protection of the cow. It is laughable that the U P Police was told to take an oath that "I will protect the cow" when the proper oath should have been I will protect human life. This is laughable but it is a serious matter and shows the thinking of a BJP government.

Cow politics has become an important ingredient of Indian society, particularly in the cow belt- the Hindi speaking states and one really wonders where this is going to lead to.

BJP under Modi is also guilty of trying to oversimplify the economic policy of the nation. One of his bizarre schemes was demonetization. The RBI Governor Raghu Rajan had warned against it and yet Modi went for it. This led to falling in GDP of 1% and thousands and millions of small traders and farmers suffered very badly.

Narendra Modi is perhaps not read the Principles of War as enunciated by Clausewitz. One of the charges against him is that he has demoted the forces and greatly reduced their privileges. He is guilty of sanctioning the lowest expenditure of the GDP on defense since 1947. This shows a complete lack of appreciation of the political scenario around India where China is now the leader and along with Pakistan and forms the dangerous axis that threatens India.

Modi did not rein in the BJP and RSS foot soldiers which support obscurantist practices. An example is the recent case of the Sabarimala temple. This Temple has barred women between the ages of 10 and 50 or those women who menstruate. The Supreme Court set this aside and gave a verdict the temple was open to all including women.

Instead of trying to look forward the BJP began to send the pracharaks( workers) instigated large crowds to come forward and started agitation against the Supreme Court decision. They wanted that the obscure practice of women not being allowed inside the temple be continued. The prime minister has kept a studious silence on this point and is open to the charge that he himself is in favor of the agitation against the SC judgment.

Modi has allowed Indian society to be polarized and this by itself is not a very bad thing. The RSS dreams of a Hindu Rashtra but the bus was missed in 1947 when Nehru and Patel failed to declare India a Hindu Rashtra. Modi may yet do the impossible.

Last Word-Done well after all

Modi has however done lots of good and his bold stand against the triple Talaq bill in Muslim personal law is a revolutionary step. The law is passed and Triple Talaq to the chagrin of Muslim hardliners is now history. Modi has many other credit points to his tenure. The biggest is the abolition of Article 370 and 35a of the Constitution

The proof of the pudding is in its taste and by that yardstick, Modi has done well as he has been voted into power with a bigger majority.