Narendra Modi – His role in my hypertension (with a bow to Spike Milligan)

This post has been mentally written and rewritten for weeks now, but after yesterday’s puppy analogy, it was deemed the appropriate time to get this done and out.

First, a clarification on my politics.

I dislike the Congress. I hate the BJP and I really really hate Modi. So this post is more say why I don’t want BJP in power, I definitely don’t want Modi as Prime Minister and why I can live with Congress at the helm again.

Until recently, my twitter forays were on letting the world know my smart aleck thoughts. On Facebook, nobody I did not personally know, was not allowed on my page. Some day in the past three months, I don’t know why or when I changed that. Now I read all of my time line, I go through all the “trending topics” and once in a while engage in sparring matches with random strangers. It has been fun as well as eye-opening. . I have had the pleasure of being blocked by the likes of Sucheta Dalal and Kanchan Gupta, who like their timelines to be unsullied by critics. So I am guessing, I am asking the right questions.

Years ago, before Narendra Modi became “The Narendra Modi”, Ashis Nandy had spotted him for a text book case of a fanatic. I don’t know about that. ( though I must add that According to children’s literature only bullies kick pups and everybody else is acknowledged to care for pups. So I don’t know why someone would use a analogy that begs the question, why say I am no bully) What I do know is his fan boys are truly fanatical. They have blind faith in him. Can see no wrong. Will brook no discussions. And often say, once he is in power, people opposing him will be eliminated. And he does nothing to stop them.

When an idiot in BJP said he had saved 15000 Gujaratis, the fans spent a whole day defending how it is possible and only possible by him, until overnight it became a media conspiracy to malign him. Let me add, the fan boys who supported the 15000 saga, included graduates of IIT/IIM and other seemingly educated people. If Modi does come to power and he is beholden to these idiots and they have a role in running the country, God indeed save India. Thankfully, Karnataka did show them that strong arm tactics may not work for long, but do we have the time to experiment?

Anytime you online ask about any misdeed under BJP regimes, the response will always be “ oh, but you seem to have forgotten this which happened under Congress regime”. The BJP spokespersons on television do the same. My response to that always is “Yes, Congress has a bad track record, but do you really have to match it? Shouldn’t you be better?” Nope, in their minds, if there have been X riots under congress regimes, and Y under BJP regimes, BJP still has leeway of X-Y riots to go!! Tried telling them there are no quotas on deaths, riots, wars, scams, et al by party but to no effect. If the alternative to the Congress regime is one that thinks it is “allowed” more riots and scams, I prefer Congress. At least they don’t seem to believe they are allowed more riots and scams. They come by it honestly.

Someone mentioned online that the Sangh Parivar aims to drive all Muslims from India to Pakistan and then regain Indian glory by reuniting Akhand Bharat. I could not find that old tweet today, else I would give credit to that person, because, that sentence really summarizes the policy conflict that they have. The thousands that enter India through Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka due to our relatively higher economic standards, is not held as a point of pride. I like seeing India as the Big Sister handling troublesome siblings. I hate it when they take to equating India to Pakistan. Pakistan is the tiny black sheep of the family for me.

For all that they hate about Islam and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, they want to replicate many of the weirder ideas into a Hindu fashion. Suddenly all Hindus worldwide are India’s problems and the Indian Government is found to be in dereliction of duty whenever a Hindu faces problems whether in Africa or US or Bangladesh or elsewhere, but The OIC cannot be allowed to discuss Indian Muslims. If they understood foreign policy, they would know, you cannot do one without the other. A strong nation with ambitions in the international stage would protect all who are persecuted in the neighbourhood including the Ahmaddiyyas, the Rohingyas, Hindus, and Sikhs. During the recent Hindu exodus from Pakistan, a Pakistani Muslim journalist or may be one of the comments in the article I was reading said, “given the state of Pakistan, moderate Muslims there would also like entry into India, if India would allow us.” I am proud of India when I hear such statements. Sure we have enough unemployment problems of our own. But when US can truly stop Mexicans from entering the US is the day I will ever be sure that it is possible to keep poorer neighbours out. USSR did spend lots of money and manpower trying to do stop people moving in and out. Ended in their whole system collapsing. Am not sure, Congress is really taking enough steps to be the patron of the neighbourhood and all Hindus worldwide, but at least they are not moving in the other direction.

In March 2002, at a dinner at a friend’s house, obviously Gujarat was discussed with many of them vociferously supporting the killing of muslims in retaliation for the train burning. I asked then and I still ask and have never got a reply to is the question – why are Modi and Advani and Vajpayee not held responsible for the train burning. Modi claims it was a conspiracy, the court found that a meeting was held planning the conspiracy, somebody managed to procure loads of petrol needed for the deed, more than 50 people gathered with the petrol, stopped the train and killed people by burning it and no body in the administration has been held culpable?

In my opinion, finding a lone bomber in a teeming city is almost impossible. But finding 50 people gathered to cause destruction as difficult? I think by taking our eyes off the real dereliction of duty and intelligence failure that caused the train burning, they seek to hide behind a riot. I saw during 1984 riots, how some of my educated neighbours took pleasure in watching Sikh homes in the neighbourhood being burnt down even if they were not actually lighting them. It changed me for ever. It also taught me that stopping a riot is not easy because many closet rioters come to their glory in the anonymity of rioting people . The focus should be on not letting it start. But shouldn’t we learn from these riots? Shouldn’t there be a serious assessment of how to tackle them? Maybe Modi and the BJP did do one, but don’t think they should share it so that others can learn. Maybe there will always be new ways that riots start. But will we ever know why a train could be burnt in the state that apparently has India’s best administrator?

People will begin asking me again what about 1984? I will tell you why I think it was different. The leader of a party was shot dead. There was no succession plan in place. The son who was possibly still in the shock of losing his mother was put at the helm. And there was no one who stood tall as a leader in those five days. All failures no doubt. But you know the one major positive? Sikhs are not looked down upon or have tons of distasteful stuff written against them by people day in and day out for the next 30 years. You just have to go into any social media corner to find how the BJP supporters write about muslims. Open an account in a slightly muslim sounding name and write something mildly anti BJP and watch them take over. Not what I would want my country to take as normal.

However, Modi and Advani don’t have the same excuses. The excuses I hear are
a) Modi had barely been CM for 3 months ( so if he does become the PM maybe we should know how many days of grace, he need to become effective and what alternative plan we have for that period)
b) The neighbouring Congress governments did not send supporting police forces to tackle the problem. Accordingly to Madhu Kishwar’s Modinama 7, a fax was sent to the Center for Army Support on day 2 and a snail mail letter to MP, Rajasthan and Maharashtra on day 3 to which they apparently replied on day 10 with a negative. ( a tip from me to Modi – next time you are in trouble, pick up the phone and say please. Usually helps)
c) Nobody else could have done better. He did everything he could, everybody else is lying. Except that the courts have time and again found that not to be true. It moved the cases outside the state. It found guilty number of people who were let free by lower courtS due to poor reprentant ion by state prosecutors. I personally don’t care if Modi is named as a party to the riots. The facts revealed by the court actions show at best he had no idea what was happening during the riots and during the initial court cases ( showing his poor admin skills) or at worst he was complicit. Either way the shining glory people see, is completely lost on me.

The whole Gujarat Model to me is bogus. I think Modi’s contribution to Gujarat’s economy is not screwing up a decent one. Has it become substantially stronger, I doubt. There are no figures that reflect a drastic change in Gujarat in the past 10 years, relative to other states or in absolute numbers over the decades preceding his rule. It was a top 5 economy and remains a top 5 economy in India. Adequate is not really superlative.

The agriculture growth was led primarily by adoption of BT Cotton. While he takes credit for it, the fact is that BT Cotton seeds were smuggled into the state by a gentleman by the name DB Desai of a Navbharat Seeds who I think is still in jail for having done so. After 4-5 seasons of selling it, an infestation occurred in which only fields sown with his seeds stood healthy revealing their truth. Farmers demanded the right to use these seeds. The State and Central Governments capitulated. For all our ongoing debates on GM edible crops, pretty much all of Western India already ingests cottonseed oil from the BT Cotton seeds.

The mess created through the wrong ( fake?) reports on gas found in the state is well published. The move of Tata’s from West Bengal to Gujarat is a bit of great marketing (but not dissimilar to how Haryana and Tamilnadu became auto hubs decades ago). Dairy in Gujarat had been established years ago and the only recent contribution was the dissing of Kurien. Most of the ports were already in place when he took over.

I am told power reforms have been a success, which is the one positive move from all I have read. Some great ideas like separating phases for different users as well as minimizing distribution losses is an excellent show of political will which is missing in most other states. There are issues with solar power pricing, which we will have to wait to see how it evolves. Retroactively changing prices is not exactly great policy but one should wait for the final calls to take a view.

But the Sardar Sarovar which was started 25 years ago is still making slow progress. Gujarat is still not 100% canal irrigated last I heard. Telecom penetration is not the highest in the country. There is still no dominance of any sector in which it was not dominant prior to 2002. Nothing in the new economy sectors- not telecom, software, banking, education, aviation. Nothing special in human development either. Was in the middle of the pack and remains in the middle of the pack notwithstanding statements that we are growing better than many others – in any of the parameters – child mortality, malnutrition, literacy, unemployment, et al. Maybe he should have picked at least one parameter and focused on it and showcased it. Kerala and Himachal picked literacy and did great in the past two decades. Tamilnadu introduced Mid day meals and free education until college over three decades ago and now has some of the highest enrolments in the country. Andhra started the rice subsidy schemes which over 10 states have adopted and now being rolled out nationally. I have not read of a single innovative idea that has come out of Gujarat in the past 10 years except the power reforms. But surprisingly even other BJP ruled states have not showcased how they are adopting the ideas on power reforms. Many of them are not happy about his being anointed PM in Waiting either.

Then there is this whole thing about how he is a legitimate elected representative of people. But then so was Jyoti Basu and Laloo Yadav. I did not think much of how they helped their states either. Then there is that thing about how foreign govts have made overtures to him. Well they did with Saddam Hussien, Noriega and other sundry guys in Africa and South America whom the rest of us don’t think much of. They did give Modi 10 years to display good behaviour. I guess, I have higher standards.

That brings me to the last point on corruption. The CAG has reported poor administration in Gujarat especially with regard to the Gas exploration claims and realities as well as in land deals and MNREGA. Media has reported but never played up the numbers. However, the CAG has also brought forth fantastic numbers on losses caused in many of the center’s projects which are more like a first term MBA student let loose with an excel sheet. There is no distinction between losses due to wilfully taken poor decisions, decisions taken in good faith and decisions that now look bad due to change in environment. Tarring all ministers and bureaucrats with same brush of dishonesty, will obviously demoralise them leading several of them refusing to take any decisions at all. Some of the trading companies in the public sector have actually been hauled up for selling before the market rose in some agricommodities like imported pulses ( not for selling below cost and making losses, mind you but for not making enough profits by selling early).

So if someone tells me that Vinod Rai was India’s saviour, forgive me for not joining the party. He probably used his position to settle some personal scores ( I thought maybe against Manmohan Singh but recently someone told me the target was Chidambaram with whom he had run ins earlier) and found the lazy media take off with his reports which were strategically leaked. A responsible media would have checked the numbers. A responsible media would have set up a spending watch on the CWG games throughout the preparation. A responsible media would look at facts and reach its own conclusions. So while Modi and his fans berate “paid media” whenever the 2002 riots are raised, they prefer to forget that it’s the same “paid media” that gives them the bat to beat the center with on corruption and misgovernance. I don’t believe corruption will go away in a hurry in this country. I don’t believe the quantums have increased over the past 10 years (only the CAG excel sheets have changed formulas). I don’t believe BJP governments are completely clean either. That a CM or a PM personally does not take bribes, gives me only a little comfort. That he can look away when others do, is pretty bad too. So if Modi has a sitting Minister convicted for corruption, it just tells me either he is knew and still kept him on or he has no idea what the background of his people are. Given how Yedyurappa is being feted, my guess is that elimination of corruption is not uppermost on their mind. Only whether they look less corrupt than the Congress.

The choice boils down to be betwen a corrupt government that is not fomenting inter-religious tensions and one that most likely will. One that seems to have a direction on foreign policy against one that seems to being pulled in all directions. One has been in power for long and has blundered its way around and other that has been in power for lesser period but does not even acknowledge its blunders. One that has seen the economy ebb and wane with the global economy, and one that thinks the global rise was its doing ( I shudder each time I read Yashwant Sinha’s commentary on Indian economy. He was all set to hock gold reserves in his first innings, was named rollback Sinha in his second and clearly sees the Indian growth with global growth in late 90s as his genius. People like me were obviously in majority leading them out of office and keeping them out.)

Lastly a small bit of advice for Narendra Modi –

When you see some pups playing on the road, get out of the car, and move them to safety (irrespective of whether you are driving or riding). Don’t hurt them and then feel sorry. That is what separates a good leader from a poor one.

And it will also help reduce my hypertension, which goes up each time you blithely spout out wrong data knowing your hordes will never check on the veracity of such data. ( as I finish this post, heard that while China’s allocation for education is 1.2%of GDP against India’s 3.2%, Modi today at Pune promised to take it up to 20% like China).