Yes! I decide to vote for Narendra Modi in the 2014 General Elections. And in this post i will be very candid to the why of the question and discuss all the 'touchy' issues which perhaps most intellegent and intellectual Modi supporters do not want to get into for xyz reasons.
My middle class sensibilities respect Modi's rise. Blame it on the typical middle class upbringing and having seen struggle (well not to the level of facing poverty and scarping through meals etc) in whatever little way i have, somewhere down the line when i see this man kick the current dynastic power in the gut, i feel satiated. May be i am an ambitious sadist nurturing sentiments of equality in opportunities. But i feel extremely gleeful when i see this man, who said in Mehsana some odd years ago in Gujarati that my father was a tea vendor and not had the luxury to make him toxic with high ended dreams, prove to the nation today that he can stand tall and with a cocky confidence daring all those who considered power their legitimate right because they were born with it. For me, his rise defines the practical Weberian conversion of power into authority.
I respect Modi for the humility he brought into Indian politics by never making the initial move of touting and playing on his 'humble' beginnings until prodded into. Take the recent controversy flared up by Aiyar - a confidante of a 'socialist' party in India(remember that silk wearing Indira chic added the word socialism into the constitutional lexicon!). He mocked Modi's professional past. Interestingly, none of the high sounding JNU educated leftists and Marxists had anything to comment about the snide remark. Then this man, Modi roared. He ripped apart the sarcasm by his wit and extremely caustic speech. And why should he not? There is freedom of experssion in India. There is something called a constitutional rulebook which criminalises discrimination against class. And none, none of the leading advocates of the great Indian tradition of democracy(hail PUDR etc etc!) came forward to defend Modi and more importantly indict Mani. How convenient!
What is that which 'intellectuals' detest about Modi? That he is not secular? That he did not 'act' during Godhra incident(accident) of mass violence? I ask, what is it that defines secularism in India? Very conveniently did the elite lawyers of yesteryears drew on a layered word 'secularism' from the western discourse and served it on the sensibilities of Indian platter. And since then the definition has been mocked and played out among the now TRP hungry electronic screens while riots after riots awash innocent lives almost every year in one part of the country or the other.
Wearing a skull cap on Eid and making sure no trace of being a hindu seeps out in the public domain is secular and sexy. Celebrating Christmas in Europe and posting pics on FB is oh-so-cool but shying away from donning a tilak in public because the latter is somehow being a sanghi is how secularism is defined as today. Modi affirms and never denies unlike a poet - an anti-thesis to Sidney. He did much better than what Congress did during Assam riots. He did much better than what SP did in the Muzzafarnagar riots. Modi did much better than what the center did for months after the 1984 sikh riots. And no, not everyone can cry in public and wail and make defence of their innocence everytime an incident of that order is mentioned. Some people are stoic. Some people wait to hear due process of law talk for them rather than make media tamasha out of a sensitive issue. And let us face it. He did speak. He spoke twice. Once, when the alleged 'carnage' happened(carnage, theorists!? Did you consult your big fat theories and did your research well?) and once when the SIT gave its judgement. The truth may not be out yet. But what 'truth' ever has? May be the government could have done better. But that is all what he himself says. He accepts it. But who will listen to it? He stands demonised alone as does not the current government at the center or other state governments where actual carnages and mass murders happen due to terrorism and insurgency and war against poverty and illegal employment etc etc. almost every single minute. Of course, there is room for betterment. But the responsibility alone does not lie on Modi. And if the nation feels it does, as the critics blame him for almost everything wrong there is, i will give him that role to prove himself. I will vote for him.
I will vote Modi for his honesty. I will vote him for wearing his values on his sleeves. If i want my right of expression that i hate '-isms' and categories to define me, i would want to equally respect a man who proudly proclaims that he is a 'Hindu nationalist'. And no, that does not mean he can not be secular. It is just like this. Dr. Manmohan Singh wearing a turban (hai allalh! He not only says but acts like a sikh!!) does not cast any doubt on his being secular or non-secular. My professor wearing dhuti to college does not make him Bengali and regionalist. NO!!
Modi harps about his success. He speaks about what he has made at great lengths. And why not? If 'feminists' debate on women's right over their bodies and that women have the right to flaunt what they have - when, how and in what measure - why is it that the same left liberals who back this 'freedom' abandon Modi when he flaunts what he has? Those who think it is titillating can take it or leave it, right? There may be hype. But there always is hype when one is consumed and consumes a culture which is made of McDonalds munching, visiting Thailand for holidays and oh-i-am-so-beautiful screeching pics splattered all across the FB junkies. Even fiction, darlings, is a product of reality! Face the new world of politics where markets, targets and audience are as important, if not more, than philosophies, values and mission statements.
Modi has come a long way. From a man who did not know hindi to this man who gave interviews to Reuters and Times Now in english is a story that i, as a woman from cowbelt, will always salute. From that man who committed the supposed 'sin' of keeping quiet on Godhra to this man who openly explained his pain after the SIT's pronuncement, he has come a long way - internally too. I respect this growth. From a man who talked of women as only durga to this man who called them a 'home maker'(and not a housewife!) who should be nation builders - i see a huge leap.
Yes, he is not a fire brand feminist. Yes he is not my ideal notion of secular. But when did one ever get or achieve perfection and ideal? I see hope. I see someone who has risen from zero to this to do something good for the country. He will develop India. Because that is exactly what he has done to himself. Afterall, 'Personal is political.'
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