Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to fix accountability. Even his diehard-admirers will be unhappy with him today - more for trusting a team that could not deliver, for whatever reasons!
Come what may, he should have acted because people have high expectations of him.
Now onto a different plane. Contradictions often give good leadership. Swami Vivekananda was not a Brahmin; and he became India's best known religious head. Vishwamitra gave the Gayatri Mantra - something identified with Vedic Brahmanism. He was a Kshatriya. Modi is an OBC and is today the favourite son of Hindutva school priests at Nagpur.
Importantly, background do not matter. Performance does.
People of India and especially those who dislike 'Sickular gang', prefer Namo not for anything else - but for his decisiveness! He should live up to that.
At any cost, deaths of faceless Indians ought to be avoided, and people of India - Modi's admirers had given him mandate for protecting them. In the past, he has been a decisive leader. Balakot was one example. His image has been that of a macho Hindu leader and a 'saviour' standing up to arch-rival Pakistan, Muslims and even against corruption.
Therefore, it is time for him to act firmly! If states do not cooperate, as Prime Minister of India he must act now and 'discipline' the errant lot - whether they are 'urban Naxals' in Bengal, hardcore opportunists in western India and muffler men rejoicing all 'hangamas' of an anarchist.
Of course, this is a tough mission. But when the going gets tough, it is Modi who gets going and has to get going. And so we know pretty well - "Modi Hae toh Mumkin hae".
Dear Prime Minister, do not try to please all. These things do not work. Your guru L K Advani tried to 'transform' himself into a modern-sickular-statesman --- all combined together guided him to call Jinnah a 'secular'. And the Loh purush crumbled.
Respected Prime Minister, the scale of your success in last few years has made it obvious that there is a big gang who want you to fail. Deaths of millions do not matter to them. For them the favourite hashtag is #ModiFailed !
These are the same gang of liberals and intellectuals who have started finding virtues in a political protagonist called Aditya Thackeray the moment his dad dumped the BJP.
With these people, interest of India is not prime concern, Modi's failure is.
So move on!
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| Seemapuri Crematorium |
There is another mix of arrogance and ignorance. Through the entire winter season, from November to March, hundreds of farmers sat outside Delhi on road protesting against three farm laws - which have been kept at abeyance following Supreme Court's intervention - as if they were immune to Covid-19.
These protest dramas should be handled again with firm hands.
Forgiving the audacity of Republic Day did not help his case !
Post the crisis, especially since the western press directed all their tirade against him and sought to virtually write him off; thankfully Modi is off to a mixed start.
The US President Joe Biden - almost played a Donald Trump much to chagrin of Indian sickular and Left-liberal gang - and allowed export of vital medical raw materials to India.
Kamala Harris also did her part with a lovely tweet. Britain Prime Minister Bosris Johnson also chipped in and assurance came from Australia, Bhutan and Japan.
UAE showed a unique gesture and was lit in tri-colour resembling India's flag.
Modi's challenges are manifold and also complex. Different stakeholders have focus on different things.
The pro-Hindutva voters want their agenda to be fulfilled - such as Ram Temple and even abrogation of Article 370.
Opposition parties want his ouster, that goes without stating. Some opportunists in his party also want power and glamour. But very few are focused on performance.
Most of them are working hard because of his 'fear' and not out of conviction.
Hence, the ultimate onus is on the Prime Minister himself. He has an ambition to leave a mark in history.
So it makes all the more imperative that he takes corrective steps immediately and bring in performance.
It is time for a good trade between so called democracy on one side and discipline and performance on the other.
So far - in last seven years - Prime Minister has delivered on some aspects and admirably so.
He has hijacked the agenda or space of communists and brought in the slogan 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas'. His demonetsation policy was to clean up the system and was seen anti-rich and anti-upper middle class. Faceless - commoner - Indians latched on to it despite hardships and days and nights of long queues.
Politically, he has almost made Rahul Gandhi and his style of politics irrelevant and to an extent laughable.
But now he has to deliver on governance - and this time the challenge is more than opening bank accounts of poor Indians or making toilets.
Hence, it is time - Modi must reshuffle his cabinet and bring in some 'performing talents'. Some of his Rajya Sabha colleagues can be sent back to BJP headquarters to hold media briefings - both on the record and off the record.
Post May 2 vote count - irrespective of the outcome in West Bengal or for that matter even in Assam - the Prime Minister must expand his cabinet.
In fact, he should rope in some colleagues from Biju Janata Dal in his team and give them portfolios where they can show performance.
Perhaps, it would not be a bad suggestion to consider making Gen V K Singh a cabinet Minister as army officials have some professional upbringing and training where they can deliver braving multiple odds.
One way, Modi is blessed. The opposition parties in India as a unit and some leaders as individuals are not in sound health politically.
Neither they are united.
Time and again they have proved themselves as toothless.
Hence, if he gets back to rhythm as a quick learner, Modi can salvage his image and also bail out millions of his admirers - more often called Bhakts - from the depression.
My history teacher in Kohima used to say that Jawaharlal Nehru's major weakness as a leader was that he lacked Sardar Patel's image - that of a mythic hero. In Patel, Indians still wish a 'first Prime Minister' who could have made all the difference.
The same frame -mythic and heroic matrix fitted Netaji Subhash Bose also.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was at his best 'a mini-Nehru of BJP'. Advani floundered with his Jinnah-secular remarks.
So, we come back to Narendra Modi and his 'Moditva' phenomenon.
He should look for both short-term measures and long-term gains. Importantly again, a short-term fix - the crisis management - is any day better than no fix.
Modi needs to give a signal to the country, his detractors and to the world that unlike the UPA days, here is a leader who is doing what he should do; and that he did an exquisite job.
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