Pharoh Narendra Modi Has Been Felled By The Magic of A Broom
By Dr. Bikkar Singh Lalli
For a man who never tasted electoral defeat of any substance in his political career, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been handed a humiliating lesson by Delhi electorate. Indeed, it was a “Broom’s Sweep”. This defeat, at the hands of an upstart “anti-corruption” party that is barely two years old. has completely shattered the veneered political invincibility of Mr. Modi and Amit Shah. “Fresh from the diplomatic high of a successful summit meeting with President Obama, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been brought down to earth by domestic politics. He and his Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., were crushed in the election for —-“, (New York Times) The Delhi electorate has rewarded humility shown by Mr. Kejriwal, “the muffler man”:, who was ridiculed in the media, dubbed a “bhagora”, “anarchist”, “monkey”, “thief, and a “liar”. He was sworn-in as eighth Chief Minister of Delhi, on Feb. 14.. He promised to make Delhi “graft free in five years”, the city whose inhabitants, cutting across age, class, caste, gender, and even party affiliation ,voted. overwhelmingly for AAP. Obviously, the Delhi electorate has pinned its hope on AAP because the people believed that the party can deliver. Mr. Kejriwal had apologized for resigning, back on February 7, 2014. He had resigned after just 49 days in office, after apposition parties, which included BJP, blocked a bill which would have created an independent body with a power to investigate politicians and civil servants suspected of corruption .People saw Kejriiwal’s apology, a rarity in Indian politics, as a sign of maturity, and rewarded him for it. The bread and butter issues-corruption-water supply-energy-law and order ,dominated previous Delhi election. The voter dissatisfaction about these issues remained deep in spite of Modi’s promises to make everything better.
“:Pride hath a fall”, and governance cannot be a slogan alone. The PM, who was floating too high, and was trying to present an image of a global statesman, was brought back to earth.
Ever since Mr. Modi became prime minister he could seemingly do no wrong, and enjoyed much adoring press both in India and abroad. But in this election, Mr. Modi and BJP looked old, less credible, aggressive than constructive, reeking of cynicism rather than idealistic, and full of pride rather than humility. Day after day, electorate was bombarded with slogans, acronyms, schemes, talk, and numbers, some of those were misleading, and the Delhi voters did not buy them. .Thus, they did not “chaley Modi ke saath”. He tried scare tactics, the voters did not care.
Mr. Modi has a huge majority in Lok Sabha, and he has no inhibitions and coalitional compelling like Congress had. He has already made his mark in pursuing Indian foreign policy goals. Moreover, he has a penchant for making quick decisions. Thus, he should act quickly on the promises made in 2014 elections, and take pragmatic initiatives to:-reduce poverty, improve infrastructure in schools especially elementary schools to encourage attendance, open more colleges and universities to increase GER, and win back the trust and confidence of the Indian electorate. He needs to assure the people of the independence of CBI and CVC office, and judiciary. The economy is sluggish, and fruit and vegetable prices have pushed the inflation up. For the success of “Make in India” campaign, the government may have to provide tax breaks to the job-creating manufacturing sector. India has more than fifty percent of the world’s poor, so those they are longing for “achche din”. “The constitution is more than a statutory law. It is superior to its own creations including parliament or even the Supreme Court:,(Chief Justice Marshall). RSS wants the words “Socialist and Secular” removed from the Preamble. Mr. Modi is well-advised to leave the preamble and Article 370, in the Indian Constitution, untouched. The silence of Modi on preamble controversy indicates that he is reluctant to remove his RSS stripes. It is imperative for peace and tranquility in the country that he takes steps to negate the perception that he is at the beck and call of RSS.
It must seriously introspect on Delhi debacle Some Indian analysts see the defeat as a rejection of the anti-minority biases and violence spurred on by extremist allies of Modi’s Hindu national party. He did not respond to the statement by President Obama that ” Religious intolerance in India would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi”. “What will it take for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out about the mounting violence against India’s religious minorities? Attacks at Christian places of worship have prompted no response from the man elected to represent and to protect all of India’s citizens– “,(Editorial: New York Times).. He should shut up regressive Hindutva Fanatics. They talk, He ignores. Happenings such as ghar vapsi ceremonies and conversions, foul language (haramzade), talk of “one language, one god, one religion”, attacks on churches and schools, have caused trepidation in the minds of the minorities and that the Prime Minister’s studied silence is baffling.
A political revolution which started in Delhi by a retired civil servant, using just a broom, and without any support from any billionaire, may prove a blessing for India. It has demonstrated that money and power can be defeated convincingly by frustrated electorate. It is likely to transform India’s corrupted polity, will discredit dynastic politics, will encourage silent majority to participate in the revolution to blunt plutocracy -a major poison in Indian democracy. Thus, the AAP’s victory is full of strong possibilities. It has already brought vigour and vibrancy to Indian democracy and widened the choice of voters..AAP had made its mark in Punjab. Since the myth of Modi-Shah invincibility has been shattered to pieces by the Delhi verdict, AAP’s victory will be helpful to anti-BJP, non-congress forces. to recover their morale. Much will depend on how this new player, a IIT Kharagpur graduate, performs in the political arena.
Mr. Kejriwal and his fellow activists deserve our sincere congratulations.
