At the onset, let me confess, I am not a natural “ bhakt “, my father had been a Jan Sangh follower since its inception and a voter ever since I remember and my mom till a couple of decades ago always voted for the Congress and we all lived happily together, non-acrimoniously.
Further this little post is not political or intended to advise anyone about anything, and certainly not a man who has spent 50 + years in public service, 20 years as chief ministership and 10 years and counting as our prime minister & especially when I struggle to take care of our own businesses and family, I hardly am in a position to advise someone on how they manage the affairs of country of 140 crore people and such a large political party.
This election opened my eyes, not because of the results, on the contrary I believe this is a great result for the country, checks and balances are necessary for a vibrant democracy, an healthy opposition keeps the incumbent honest and on their toes. Competition is always good !! Further the mechanism of almost flawlessly pulling off an event of this magnitude gives us the hope that when we as a country set our mind on anything, we can almost entirely pull it off.
However I think there is some course correction required by Modiji & team, and here is my 2 cents worth, unsolicited worries with NO Solutions being offered, other then getting it off my chest, this does nothing, but for what’s it worth, Modiji if you are listening, consider this coming from a good place, you need to YOLO.
Youth — This is the biggest hurdle that they need to cross, this whole generation is a wee tad entitled one. They have not seen the ills of corruption & the fall outs after it. They have not seen the riots and bomb blasts and the despair that follows it. For them, this is the new normal, so the hooks are different, their obsessions start and often end with their future, their aspirations and dreams. To give them history lessons, which anyways they never paid attention to in schools is futile, so really what Nehru did, I don’t think they care. Maybe they need different role models, maybe the rhetoric needs to be different.
Obfuscation — The one thing that BJP was doing well initially, it has stopped doing, instead it has become incredibly good at confusing its messaging. Its mastered the art of obfuscation. Good messaging & effective media are critical. The youth are not seeing these speeches and definitely not on tv & most definitely not on any news channel. With a change in demographics, the mediums and messaging needs to get better. Not being rattled by a random youtuber, but these one offs add to a lot of wrong dissemination of information & that hurts., eventually. The youth are loyal to a tee, check how much even a make up influencer makes or has followers, but their attention needs to be earned.
Liberals and Educated — This is a strange one, you would think that the ones who can read or see will not need to be addressed, but surprise surprise. Even within our whatsapp groups and social circles, we often cringe at these battles. Yeah we could be bhakts, but we are not blind, but some of these eyes remain shut, despite being able to see. So whatever the messaging needs to be done, the moderation, the choice of words, the inclusion, the exclusion, the right influencers etc etc, this needs to be done. When people pride on doing NOTA, without realising its contribution or the lack of it, you know there is some more work to be done here
Opportunity to be seized
Finally Carpe Diem — There is a massive opportunity and this is a crucial juncture in our history, forget about the opposition and their shenanigans or the lack of it. The opportunity of an aspirational demographic to do better has never been as big as it has been now. There is a lot to be done & there is no real room to be marginalizing or discriminating, even mildly, even for posterity sake. As a wise person once told me “ Modiji should be above this “ The positives and potential of a new Bharat ahead are far too much to be lost on raking up the dusty panels of an older & disjointed and hopefully soon forgotten India
Groucho Marx once said “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” & I think that nailed it especially in today;s times.
We can have our opinions, criticise and choose to appreciate and take stands and argue, but in the end, like we all are seeing now, politics often makes strange bedfellows & we are most likely to be left scratching our heads over what just happened and why, be it results, polls or alliances.
.Further I must confess again, I always thought I was open minded and tolerant to most if you may call it, but the last few years, I have been known to vociferously been defending Modiji amongst friends, relatives and even family & honestly I don’t really know why ?
Maybe I read too much or read too much into everything.
Maybe the change is visible to me and not too others.
Maybe I come from a place of less inspiration and he inspired me.
Maybe I am lazy and the hard work motivates me, maybe I am a horrible executor of work and this execution astounds me.
Maybe I lack a larger vision or a plan in life and the vision of Bharat & the plan for Amrit Kaal amazes me.
Maybe its easy to beat me down with a harsh word or two and this resilience wonders me.
Maybe its tough for me to go on day after day when people cant find anything good to appreciate despite what I am doing & this doggedness gives me hope.
Maybe I like it when someone actually does something about roti, kapda, makaan, bijli sadak and paani.
Maybe like so many others, I was used to being treated like s&%^ overseas and this new found respect for India & Indians gives me pride.
Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old man with too many scars of coalitions , commissions and confusion & just maybe , just maybe let this be what it is, my opinion.
Finally to end my little rant, we specially we have to YOLO, as we have not time to waste — An excerpt by Rabindranath Tagore
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.
Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.
We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.