What does the Mandate 2014 mean?

This blog is being written on the caveat that the election results would be in tune with the Exit polls findings.

On a macro level, firstly  What does the mandate mean to politics of Aam Admi Party? On a positive note, AAP could break the entry barriers for politics telling the middle class that hating politics is no solution to the problems. 

Arrogance and absence of agenda for AAP have their major lapses.

Moral lesson: 

Don’t dream a moon, u r Arvind Kejriwal – not a JP or even Anna Hazare!

 What does the mandate mean to politics of BJP (new phenomenon on Modi-centric Rajnath-Modi jugalbandi)

BJP is already into 'Modi-fied' structure as Rajnath and other BJP leaders had to air-dash to conclave with 'PM-designate' Narendra Modi.

For Congress – the big message will be a rejection for dynasty…
But one can say, for Congress, which suffered defeats in December 2013 assembly polls ….. to hope for a revival under Rahul Gandhi was going to be like pinning jelly to a wall. 

Should not and will not Congress regret statements from leaders like Digvijay Singh, who did not hesitate to insult Muslims (not to speak of Indians in general) by addressing Osama bin Laden as 'Osamaji'. Someone also addressed fugitive don as 'Mister Dawood'. 

The mandate 2014 could have interesting impacts on the life and career of individuals like Arvind Kejriwal, Mulayam-Akhilesh, Mayawati (is she a new Paswan in making), Anna Hazare, M M Joshi etc etc

Now, on the national perspective the mandate 2014 offers a few hard lessons. India has been essentially good at resolving the problems. In the past, it has braved through a few crises. The debacle with China in the sixties, the emergency and suspension of fundamental rights in 1970s, politics of opportunism, terrorism and corruption in 1980s, the economic doldrums of 1991 and later the political instability. Each time the country has rebounded emphatically because we Indians may not be good at anticipating the problems but by nature are good at fixing them. Thus, in terms of the mandate this year, India has shown its appetite for reinvention and to rekindle itself for a march towards greater glory.

Gujarat: Road to Godhra

The last decade has been a decade of misgovernance. The corruption went berserk and the trend was in the name of stopping BJP – that is SICKULARISM (distorted version of true and genuine secularism), any body could get away with anything.

But the elections provided an opportunity to size up the polity. That we Indians are beginning to ‘correct’ our mistakes and lapses is certainly a good step forward.

For a change, the heaven would have perhaps fallen had India not voted the manner it did. (Exit polls findings)....
The mandate was not so much decisive for a party like BJP, but it was more for a persona called Narendra Modi. The critics had dubbed it as an endorsement of Hitler style of his functioning. While one could debate that allegation, it goes without saying that after a spell of policy paralysis of 10 years, the countrymen and women were looking for a strong government.

This is why my bet is on Narendra Modi and not the old guards like L K Advani, who too has or at least had an image of a hardliner Hindutva but when in government showed the performance was far from satisfactory!!

What has gone wrong with the Congress?

In March 2013 Sonia Gandhi created history by leading the Indian National Congress at a stretch for 15 years. In 2014, now its 16 years and she is still going strong....but not really!

Now her party and perhaps even her family is limping into one major political crisis after the other. The mandate 2014 has now been turned into a battle against the domination of her family. 

Madam and her dummy!

But for political commentators what matters more is what's really wrong with Congress. Sadly for Sonia, weeks before the Mandate 2014 actually got into process, the Congress minister and a trusted lieutenant of Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh asked journos when the turnout was poor for a press conference: “have you all given up on our government?”
Lately, Ramesh tried to do some plain speaking and said Congress will pay heavy price for bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. The BJP leaders endorse Ramesh but only partly saying Congress debacle will be nationwide. 
Sonia-Rahul's worst critic Narendra Modi is devastatingly aggressive when he asserts in rallies after rallies: 'Ma-Beta ka sarkar toh gaya (The mother-son duo-led UPA government is gone". Many Congress leaders are on defensive and the likes of Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, another family loyalist, has already mooted the idea of backing a third front regime.

Even the western media has ended the honeymoon with Congress president, her son Rahul and her ‘chosen’ Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh when unhesitatingly Time magazine even called Manmohan Singh ‘an underachiever’.

“The Congress president has undoubtedly a challenging task in reorganising her party machinery whatever be the outcome of 2014 elections. Her bigger challenge lies in deciding what role her son, Rahul Gandhi would exactly like to play,” said Sunil Shastri, son of illustrious Lal Bahadur Shastri, who quit Congress in December 2013 to join BJP.

So, what has gone wrong with the grand old party?

In the last 16 years, actually Sonia, Italian-born Christian widow, stormed through turbulent politics marred by aggressive nationalism of Hindutva forces, BJP and the most potent rival Narendra Modi. Even her worst critic would agree that she has held the Congress party together and more importantly led the party to an unexpected victory in 2009 and earlier in 2004 --- when amid hypes of ‘India Shining’ campaign of BJP, the pundits had almost written off both herself and her party. 

“The Congress base in shrinking…,” an upbeat but ‘over confident’ L K Advani had said on the eve of elections in 2004. But when the results poured in on May 13, 2004; it was Sonia Shining instead.

She also created a history when she declined to take up the mantle of prime ministership and handed over the reins to economist Dr Manmohan Singh.

It was truly an unique experiment for Sonia, Congress party and the country. But there were inherent contradictions in that so called 'sacrifice' of 'Saint-Sonia'. And in retrospective analysis, one can say, that CONTRADICTION has brought in Congress DOWNFALL. 

Congress never had duel power centres in recent past. And the country was given a pro-liberalisation Prime Minister supported by Leftists. THE WORST OF IT WAS MANMOHAN SINGH'S SILENCE AND PASSIVE APPROACH. 

While privately, she and her coterie including son Rahul rejoiced the 'power' they had in the last decade with less accountability-apron attached to it; this heralded the real decline. Thus, many Sonia admirers too find it difficult today to give Congress any credit of providing a credible governance.

The serious credibility crisis for Congress today is the UPA government in the centre has not set any example of performance and delivery though under Sonia's personal stewardship a number of welfare measures were taken and path-breaking legislations like the Right to Information Act enacted.

More seriously, more often the family saga remained her enigma. Son-in—law Robert Vadra made news for wrong reasons and nobody really knows what her inheritor of the legacy, Rahul Gandhi, is capable of or what he wishes to do.

Even die-hard Congress supporters in UP today lament that Rahul Gandhi's hesitation in not taking the mantle as party's PM-candidate was only a blunder.

In governance the party had worst taste of corruption menace. There have been half-a-dozen serious scandal of economic offence the ruling establishment has faced. The official auditor CAG had alluded to kickbacks and dubious deals in the allocation of 2G  telecom licences, leading to a  US$32 billion loss. Corruption on a massive scale was also alleged in the organizing of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, Adarsh Housing scam in Mumbai left widows of war victims anguished and there was Coalgate unde the very nose of 'honest' Dr Manmohan Singh. There were few others like privatization of Delhi airport.

These scandals resulted in a round of resignations and the imprisonment of top politicians and ministers. The fungus of corruption has eaten into all spheres of life in India!!

There was, however, no corrective measure. Neither Sonia nor Manmohan Singh gave clear indication of curbing the corruption malady. 
Then nothing was done to attack the 'twins’ menaces of sycophancy and durbar culture. Sonia continued to run the party surrounded by ‘yes men and women’ and no accountability was  fixed on Rahul Gandhi for failing to deliver Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The Campaign Stratagem of Team Modi

A Muslim shoe seller in Agra and a ‘saffron clad’ sadhu in Etah, a hub of Lodhs and Yadavs, actually summed up the differences in content, style and quality of campaign strategies of BJP, Congress and other parties.

“The Congress can revive itself in UP provided it has a ‘Amit Shah’ and someone who is also less seen on television,” remarked shoe-seller Javed Ali. His argument was in the face of a resurgent BJP onslaught it is the Congress alone which could fight and stem the rise of the saffron party as two other forces Samajwadi and BSP were too weak and too small. 

However, his regret was Congress never tried to give a fight. Congress leaders, he says, wanted to fight Narendra Modi with Arvind Kejriwal even as several leaders only thought mere appearance on television could help the Congress.

Agra Shoe-seller Javed Ali

The decision not to project Rahul Gandhi as PM-candidate was a blunder to the extent that you were starting a football match with two goals already scored against you, said Ali. 

I tried to argue with him that the efforts on the part of the Congress leadership and especially Rahul’s mom was to ‘protect him’. I repeated the same argument when I spoke on these lines with a motor mechanic in Aligarh. 

The day I visited Aligarh, elections were over and so the motor mechanic Aslam Ayoob Khan sounded more candid. His diagnosis while BJP foot soldiers interacted intensely since January 2014, no other party cadres were seen in action till March. “I was trying to follow Modi’s rallies from December itself. The feedback even I had given BJP team was apparently being referred by Modi in his speeches. Like he would ask, whether in last 10 years, any youngster got a job. I am a Muslim and would hate to vote for Modi, but it is also true, we did not get jobs,” he had said.

Subsequently, the hermit at Etah with a BJP campaign material around his neck, Sadhu Jaydev Prakash (see photograph)  also spoke at length of BJP’s campaign style in Etah, Etawah and Hathras regions. “I am a sadhu but they used me to be their booth worker. We also traveled into remote villages in ‘Modi-vans’ and spent time with villagers”. Thus, he claims, it was in one of those villages (Hussainpur) that he first heard, “aaj se hamara slogan hoga…..acchey din aney waley haen (Good days are coming)….That simply electrified workers as well as voters”.

Master Strokes:

# The slogan ‘acchey din aney waley haen (Good days are coming)’ generated hopes across the citizenry.

# Modi’s targeted strategy to appeal to youths whether they got jobs in last 10 years also paid dividends.

# Party coined different slogans and unlike the general feeling these appealed to all sections.

# Varanasi was a tactical endorsement of Hindutva sentiment

# Booth level planning by Amit Shah’s team helped

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz

The hermit admits, Modi and BJP played ‘dream merchants’ at a time when people’s mood was downslide and everyone even in villages were feeling demoralized.

Thus, he says, BJP campaign managers also cleverly coined different slogans aimed at different sections. In retrospect, one can only give credit for such detailed and meticulous planning to work hard and hours and days of interaction at the ground zero.

Now, what is vitally important is Narendra Modi himself and hundreds of his admirers knew that 2014 general election was not only a mere opportunity, it was the ONLY opportunity to strike. There would not be a second chance with him. If he failed to deliver 2014 mandate to party, BJP would not only deny him permanently another opportunity to be party’s Prime Ministerial candidate yet again, but perhaps his continuation as Chief Minister of Gujarat would be unsustainable. Modi was thus never going to let this opportunity go wasted.

Hence an elaborate and multi-pronged campaign strategy was worked out in details.

Firstly, the electoral success of Gujarat was always at the backdrop. In Gujarat, Modi has been an image of Hindutva, a development man with no non-sense approach in guiding the bureaucracy and someone associated with the parochial but essential Gujarati pride.

So the primary task was to have that ‘image’ planned well at the national scale. Of course, the Congress-led government of the day in the centre and various state governments gave ample opportunity to Team Modi to make the maximum of the given situation.

Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley and BJP president Rajnath Singh spent hours trying to evolve a concrete and near fool-proof plan for each state, each regions in the case of large states like UP and Andhra Pradesh and also district and at later stage booth-level management plans. In October 2013 itself, Modi had underlined the need of booth-level planning to turn the anti-Congress mood into BJP’s favour.

Most of its rivals if not all have clamoured against use of ‘huge corporate funding’ to build up Modi’s image, but none really matched the hard work and meticulous planning worked out by Team Modi.  

So how the plans were executed? A near free hand was given to Amit Shah and even party president Rajnath Singh, according to BJP workers, readily played second fiddle for matters related to Uttar Pradesh. Party insiders say contrary to an impression created Rajnath Singh was trying to push his fellow caste-leaders like Jagdambika Pal and Gen (Retd) V K Singh, the leadership had moved only after due consultations between Rajnath, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi.

For UP, particularly, after initial round of trial and error strategies; ultimately the party banked on region/district wise planning. In the process, in western UP, the party made good use of polarized atmosphere after Muzaffarnagar riots. About a lakh RSS foot soldiers were fanned across the state and asked to focus on booth level works. And perhaps our protagonist Sadhu Jaydev Prakash figures in that list. 

Poverty and Migration Menace

The cost of hosting thousands of Biharis and north Indians has brought north-east India to the brink of a socio-economic crisis. For a change, chauvinist Marathi leader’s counselling to ‘future PM’ Narendra Modi that development of cow-belt would help stem ‘migration menace’ has merits...Here its how and edited version of this piece made to the prestigious North East Weekly page of The Statesman.

Raj Thackeray, we are with you!!

Hospitality is perhaps more often not a permanent virtue to human nature. The vexed anti-outsiders’ movement in various states in the north east in general and the supposed conflicts of interest with regard the Inner Liner Permit (ILP) debate in specific is related to this human tendency. Migration is in effect a multi-edged weapon for north-eastern states. 

My understanding of migration in the national context is that had our national founding fathers not provided the scope of free migration within the country, India would have collapsed as a united nation. The insurgency menace would have stuck at the heart of India – states like Madhya Pradesh as well as population wise vulnerable the cow belt or northern India.

But coming to north-east of India, we have a few serious issues at hands. In the name of pragmatism, practical handling of issues or facing reality, the ‘reality’ is that these ‘tribal states’ in the northeast have accepted permanent problems in the form of millions of work force from mainland India. Deliberately let us keep the issue of illegal foreigner influx from Bangladesh away from the debate.

The cost of entertaining thousands of Biharis and north Indians, Bengalis, Nepalis and even a large number of Marwaris from Rajasthan has brought the region to the brink of worst socio-economic crisis. Now, let us take the question often asked, whether the ILP rules as provided in the legislation framed in 1873 – the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act - if implemented properly could have helped the tribal cause. The answer is generally no.

Recently I interacted with a group of tribal students from the north-eastern states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram – where ILP rules are enforced.

Unhesitatingly, I must say, some of them readily agreed that the alleged collapse of ILP mechanism to check ‘inflow’ of outsiders – Mayangs in Manipur, Dhwakher in Khashi (Meghalaya), Vai-Naupang in Mizoram and Plain manu in Nagaland - too has much of it contributed towards the gunrunning culture in the northeast. Without doubt, it’s the fear and subsequent hatred towards ‘outsiders’ that have often led to insurgency or anti-India campaigns.

One of the students was particularly more vocal when she said; ILP was a “bad in law” with tremendous scope for slackness in implementation that has further aggravated the ugly situation.

So, what’s the way out of the mess or the cob of complexities?

One solution, I thought to these vexed questions lay with a rather parochial and regional chauvinist man in Mumbai – Raj Thackeray.

Raj – heading his fledgling Maharashtra Nirman Sena – in a series of television interviews during last week had actually suggested a solution to India’s intra-country unchecked migration problem.

It’s a different matter that the suggestion for a near solution comes in a crude and unsophisticated manner. Raj has suggested that according to him, Narendra Modi, whom he wants to become Prime Minister of India, should dedicate his first ‘five years’ to the development of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. This would minimise, Raj says, the “burden” of Mumbai and Maharashtra. As someone born and brought up in north-eastern India (the state of Nagaland precisely), my response to Raj’s rather chauvinist rhetoric was: how crude, but how true!

One could be wrong, but it goes without saying that the economic factors and especially the absence of job avenues – even manual – that’s driving people from Bihar and UP to ‘migrate’ outside their states. The bigger form of immigration is called exodus. The exodus normally affects the poorer sections either way – those who are migrating and importantly, also those, who are ‘affected’ by the migration. 

The sufferings of poor should get focus on both the stages. And here comes the relevance of Raj Thackeray’s suggestion or words of ‘wisdom’ for a probable Modi regime in future.

Now, frankly, I would not have been carried away by Raj Thackeray’s crude gesticulation vis-à-vis the states of Jharkhand, UP and Bihar. 

Ordinarily, I would have dismissed his anti-migrant rantings without a thought, but Raj's interviews coincided with my trip to Uttar Pradesh for election coverage. The sights of poverty one saw in the Yadav heartland, the supposed power base of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, a permanent aspirant to Prime Ministership, are worth sharing.

Despite playing messiah of the poor and downtrodden and of course his favourite vote-bank ‘Muslims’ now for 3 decades, 'Netaji' as Mulayam is known remains an epitome of failure to deliver development.

The perpetual power crisis and pathetic communications infrastructure have scared away any local industry, and thus hundreds of Yadavs and Muslims in the Mulayam strongholds of Mainpuri, Firozadabad and Kannauj migrate every year to hubs like Guwahati, Dimapur, not to mention Mumbai.

Why and How Modi clicked in the cow-belt ?

Narendra Modi's biggest selling point in this year's elections has been the ability to fire people's imagination and hope. A sharp contrast from what the country was known during Congress rule of being hapless against non-performance and corruption!  

I traveled across key districts in Uttar Pradesh – precisely the Yadav-heartland of Firozadabad-Etah-Mainpuri stretch for election coverage. For obvious reasons, I could feel the ‘Modi wave’, so did another colleague and friend who also traveled extensively in this region, other parts of Uttar Pradesh and also in Bihar.
Thus, we had one question in mind, why and how did Narendra Modi click in the cow-belt states.

A few key aspects that came during on-field interactions in hinterland would be worth discussing here. Actually, Narendra Modi represents different aspirations to different set of people and perhaps that’s the yardstick of a mass appeal of a leader. Call it a ‘wave’ or something else.
To middle class and educated lot, Modi’s appeal was more fundamental to economy. The Gujarat chief minister casts himself as the economic reformer India needs. 

Over the last 6 months sustained campaign, BJP and Modi played ‘developmental plank’ and ‘governance’ ostensibly for twin reasons – first to expose the ‘decade long mis-governance’ of Congress-led UPA. Secondly, and it is presumed more importantly, the BJP had to conceal or even dump Modi’s Hindutva anti-Muslim image of 2002.

Thus, it goes without saying from the very beginning of electioneering season to elect the 16th Lok Sabha, how to achieve inclusive growth stared highly as a key election issue. Indian economic growth dropped from over 9.5 per cent in fiscal 2006-07 to under 5 per cent in 2012-13. 

There have been different facets of economic doldrums and BJP campaign too. The saffron party line has been that Congress has devoted crores to its hyped welfare schemes and often sending the economic management to disarray. The Congress decisions were largely guided by vote bank politics. They cite various studies including Mckinsey Global which claim that over 680 million Indians do not have sufficient access to clean water, schools and health services. 

BJP believes and frankly, we found endorsement that an overwhelming section of people think such goodies do not help people. Many voters across cow-belt states said they would rather prefer a new approach. It is in this context, one experienced even Muslim voters in known ‘secular’ bastions like Mainpuri (Mulayam Singh Yadav’s fiefdom) stressed on the key factor of performance by both the Samajwadi Party government in UP and the Congress-led UPA in New Delhi.

A 65-year old Maulana Badruddin was trembling in anger at Konchi village under Mainpuri parliamentary constituency. He said Muslims should not vote for Mulayam or Congress or get carried away by the mob mania.

Instead, he said people could prefer voting for Mayawati’s BSP. His views were endorsed by one Binod Ghiar in Mainpuri town. “The free doles and concessions have never helped us. People these days want livelihood support not favours,” he told me.
The result of freebies had left its impact clearly on more ways than one.
On April 24, 2014, the day country went for 6th phase of polls, the Food Ministry-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) had floated a tender inviting bids to meet the working capital expenditures.

In 2013-14, the government had provided Rs 75,500.02 crore as subsidy to FCI, while subsidy incurred during the year was at Rs 1,03,791.85 crore. The total subsidy arrears, including arrears carried over from the previous years amounted to about Rs 50,000 crore. 

Thanks to hurriedly brought in Food Security Act, the subsidy burden had gone up throwing financial management into disarray. On the other hand, former president of business chamber FICCI, Rajya Vardhan Kanoria said people and industry thought that under Modi’s focused approach, Gujarat could successfully attract investment. 

Then comes the constant 12-year-old lambasting of Narendra Modi for the 2002 mayhem. This perhaps angered a large section of Hindu elites and middle class who sympathized with the Gujarat chief minister. 

Surjit Bhalla summed that paradox well in ‘Indian Express’.  

“Two wrongs do not make a right, but isn’t it a terrible wrong for the intellectual to not even mention, let alone acknowledge, that a major wrong took place in their (the Congress’s) secular India in 1984? They know full well that the Gujarat rioters took many cues and directions from the Delhi pogrom murderers —  they got their strategy of pinpointing victims (from the addresses on electoral rolls) and their belief that they would not be punished for their crimes because nobody had been punished for the 1984 riots. Indeed, the accused political leaders involved in the 1984 riots had been given cabinet posts in subsequent Congress administrations. If these intellectuals had acted post the 1984 riots with even a quarter of the dedication they are mustering now, maybe, just maybe, Godhra 2002 would not have happened.” 

True, Modi has been accused of mishandling the 2002 Gujarat riots, in which over 1,000 people died, most of them Muslims. His detractors say he and his administration sided with the Hindu rioters. 
However there are different views too. “He has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a Supreme Court-monitored investigation, although others have been found guilty of killing Muslims, including a former state education minister. In interviews with the local news media this election season, Mr. Modi has reiterated that he did everything he could to stop the religious violence,” said The New York Times.

The Mango Pickle -- A short story

       

(By Nirendra Dev)

                                     

Having the television set switched off Pinaki Shekhar was blinking awkwardly at the roof. He gazed at the wall for a while rather accidentally. 

A framed photo of his and his wife on the Kochi seashore holding hands looked quite touching. “It speaks a thousand words, frame it,” his mother-in-law had advised Pinaki when she saw it on the mail box. 

He got distracted for a while. There are times, he thought in the life of man solitude and loneliness of nature excites more. He walked towards the balcony. It was raining outside.

He liked the rains. But he was gazing above towards the sky in the dark dense clouds. This was by habit ----- unless he is fixing his gaze upon some object Pinaki particularly wishes to examine he generally stares upwards. It was quite a stormy evening with the whimsical wind making the night more mysterious.

Pinaki always thought he was a realist. No much pretension about life. He knew his biography would not read any fairy tale; it had its share of tension and some human misery. 

Some weakness and some success.

But the situation he was in perhaps was beyond his comprehension, he thought.

And it all started with a bottle of mango pickle. He sounded so much cynical to himself.

Every family quarrels. All couples quarrel. All mothers-in-law have tiff with their bahus. So was in his family. But what has this turned out to be?

His mobile buzzed inside…. Actually it had a receiving tone of a famous song. Pinaki liked the lyrics.

The Bengali lines…. jibon khatar proti pataae
jotoi likho hishab nikash 
kichui robenaa 

Whatever you could write in your life memoirs; nothing is permanent print in that diary….

His Bengali wife Malavika had translated it for him and also taught him the meaning of the powerful lyrics and he loved it.

He picked up the cell. No, it was not from his wife. He threw himself into the sofa looking for a comfort zone in that room.

There was a gloom and some kind of suffocating heaviness in the room. Sadness seemed to be lurking in every corner.

He looked at his wrist watch trying to figure out the time and subsequently lowered his wrist. Pinaki walked towards the life size dressing table, it had a big mirror. He glanced for a while. 

He found his eyes expressionless or dried up a bit displaying only the determination to get through the time he is in.

$

Why did Malavika leave his home in such anguish, and with such an announcement?

“I am going Pinaki…your mother does not want me to be with you; in this house….under one roof. Let her be happy. Once I am gone, she can marry yon once again and get a daughter-in-law of her choice”.

Pinaki tried his best to reason. “This is not the way, one should react..Be matured Malu…”.

“I was immatured so long, but no longer. I know now what’s right and what’s wrong. I know what is right at least for your mother”, Malavika shot back.

The argument went on for about 10 minutes but the inconclusive meeting had one conclusion drawn by Malavika that she should call it quit from the house and the marriage.

“It is tough to make such a decision, but once I have made it, this shall  remain,” were the last words from Malavika as she walked away holding that faded brinjal coloured new tourist bag.

Pinaki did not quite know how to react. His anguish and even trying to reason did not convince Malavika. Their 7-year love tale was coming to an end.

But they did not deserve such a fate. 

It was a good love story and despite the linguistic differences between two families, everything was accepted quite easily brushing aside his mom’s objection.

Things also had begun on sound footing notwithstanding usual pinpricks in any family. But the last episode has snowballed into a hot potato – like a political scandal, thought Pinaki.

He felt dozing off. The last days or rather nights of October month. Diwali was not far off. The winter was limping back to this city of extreme cold and heat.

As he returned to his room now trying to retire on his bed, strange thoughts got into his mind. That he should indulge in some gambling during this Diwali. All his life he had tried to lead a disciplined life; avoided heavy drinking and ‘never played’ gambling. 

But another strange thinking stuck him now. Even his wife used to be surprised on Pinaki avoiding gambling with cards or drinking during pre-Diwali parties.

“Why don’t you gamble at times… at least you can lose me in such a gamble and tell your mom back home that you got rid of me?” she used to tease him.

Pinaki would generally react by hearty laugh.

Once, however he remembers asking Malavika, “but can you tell me why you don’t gamble. Some women do these days but generally women are less into it?”

Malavika had rather given an interesting reply with her infectious laughter:

“ha ha ha, you don’t know; in our case women's total inclination for gambling is satisfied by marriage and once someone gets a mother-in-law like your mom; she knows what the hell is too”.

$

Pinaki had no answer. He knew his mom could go nagging all along. Despite his father and his grand mother’s approval; she had hardly approved of Malavika as the daughter-in-law.

All these despite Malavika’s sincere attempts in last 7 years to adjust to the family. Malu had even picked up Pinaki’s family traits, food habits and even cooking style.

Slowly he felt asleep.

$

Next morning he was surprised to know by his wrist watch that it was already 8 o’ clock. The rays of October sun were illuminating the wall. Usually Pinaki did not sleep so late.

The room looked untidy just in the passage of few hours since Malavika left although the floor was still shining clean. Pinaki knew already there was a difference in his life.

His mind again turned to the recent past; - the thumping of his own heart, Malavika’s angry oneliners and ultimately the heated argument and then Malavika walking out angrily. Pinaki walked outside the room in the balcony to pick up the newspaper. He was also trying to dust off the memories.

What made his mother make that nasty statement on receiving the 'mango pickle' prepared by Malavika, he tried to figure out a reason.

Poor Malavika never claimed that she had mastery in preparing the pickle. Even if she knew, she knew part of the Bengali style preparation. But his mother had insisted that she prepare it in their distinct style!

Malavika had given it a shot and upon preparing sent a small portion of it bottled up in a good glass container. Pinaki had himself carried it to his mom’s place in Chennai.

And it was this bottle of pickle that had sparked off a mini-war after his mother made those unkind remarks. This followed angry protests from Malavika and subsequently provoking her to stage that telling walkout.

Initially the real reasons for Malavika’s protest were still unclear to Pinaki.

But once Malavika showed Pinaki his mother’s letter to her, things started unfolding properly. This crisis has been actually constructed by his mom’s missive.

By now he knew – it is his mother who had constructed the plot of this ‘separation’ of her son and daughter-in-law --- betraying all the calculation and some miscalculation.

$

Unmindful though, Pinaki recalled the good times he shared with his wife.

Only a fortnight back or so as the temperature had come down to a soothing effect, Pinaki had grasped tight Malu’s thin shoulders - her breast did some signals and her head bent forward, Pinaki had tried to bury his face in her dense long hair.

They shared a genuine intimacy together. Then why this was to happen?

Almost absentmindedly he was looking outside again, at times towards the door perhaps expecting Malu’s return. But that was not to be. He had done with his hot cup of tea. Time was running fast. The sun cast a rosy hue over the sky.

He smiled for a while as he remembered his wife telling him once how the sunbeams can chase away the clouds. “These clouds resemble a helpless daughter-in-law and the sunbeam your mom,” she would say. Pinaki as usual used to only laugh these off little realizing that slowly but certainly things were perhaps reaching their limits for Malavika.

As he walked towards the feet of the bed and stared outside through balcony yet again, Pinaki realized that his house was not quite different from other houses in the locality. 

In most houses windows were thrown open for fresh air but the door curtains hung drawn properly. None could guess what was going on inside each house.

Unknowingly he thought perhaps others also in the society did not know about the crisis in his house. That his wife has left him.

But slowly the lanes resounded with the hullabaloo of morning walkers, parents taking school children towards the point to see off the off-springs for the school bus.

Pinaki’s thoughts would have gone wilder but just then the maid servant came in coughing. Pinaki then realized that the doors were kept open throughout the night. Why did he left it unlocked; knowing very well that Malavika, his wife Malu is not the kind of person to come back so easily.

The maid was young with a charming face and had a good physique. After all Pinaki is a man and used to eye her even earlier – even when Malavika was around. But today she looked better. 

The festive season and soothing whether added to the atmosphere.

Suddenly the gloom seemed to have vanished from his room. Suddenly there was a joyful look around.

The maid walked towards the wash basin in the kitchen and started making the usual noise with utensils and her colourful bangles. Pinaki started loving the noise. It was like some music. Is it a reality? Can man be real dog after bones? 

Could the purity of magic help maintain one's integrity?

The maid started humming a popular Bengali song more by habit. She had an okay kind of voice but not the one to do justice to the old classic. 

Still she was singing as her hands moved quickly washing off the utensils.

“…. amari porane aasi, tumi je bajabe banshi

sei to aamar sadhona chaina to kichhu aar

(When you come in my life, there would be love song always;

This is my only desire, I don’t want anything else)”.

Flames danced over the gas stove. The maid servant had put in the saucepan to boil milk. 

Pinaki’s eyes traveled quickly around the room, then the kitchen and slowly towards the maid’s bangles, her hand, her shoulder.

Ends

Rendezvous with Success: Narendra Modi

To describe in one simple sentence, what makes Narendra Modi click or why should Narendra Modi be considered a successful political leader, one must say it’s his ability to pluck victory from defeat and do it almost single-handedly.

Creditably for him, all these years since 2002 Modi though had good team mates in the likes of Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah, he has been practically a loner in his strive to remain politically relevant to his party, his state Gujarat and also the nation – the ‘raison d’etre’ – a reason to justify  one’s existence!

Modi over the last decade has able to brave through the challenges from all corners – political rivals in Congress and other secularists, international community and numerous forces within his own party.

Today, everyone including the European Union and United Kingdom seem
to be falling in line.

His admirers say Modi has always challenged the concept of ‘status quoist’, a feature hailed in Indian polity and instead he had banked on certain ‘out-of-box’ thinking and actions. 

Narendra Modi represents uniqueness in the Indian political scene in more ways than one. He has a very humble political background and from the hind side, he has or had nothing in his favour. The caste, the political party and even the family background; nothing in normal circumstances would have worked for him.

The party he represents and today leads in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections as the prime ministerial-candidate is outright dismissed as ‘communal’ Hindu chauvinist outfit owing allegiance to the RSS in Nagpur.

Although the party has tasted power in the centre for 6 years under the illustrious Atal Behari Vajpayee, the party does not have pan-India presence yet. 

Even in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s one of the chief challenges is to ensure party’s comparatively good performance in states like Andhra Pradesh and Odhisa where the saffron party remains organizationally weak.

Caste wise – he is an OBC – a Teli unlike political dominant castes like Dalits of Mayawati or the Yadavs. Moreover, very few in BJP have risen against the hierarchy of an upper caste dominated leadership. 

Even the RSS, the fountainhead of the Sangh Parivar, which backs BJP with ideological moorings, cadres and resources is known for their historical ‘weaknesses’ towards Brahmins, especially from Maharashtra. The repeated attempts to push Sanjay Joshi, a known Modi bete-noire in the affairs of BJP, could be easily understood from this perspective. 

In the run up to the December 2012 Gujarat assembly polls, many BJP leaders and spokespersons maintained that if one obvious factor that weighed in favour of the man of the moment - Narendra Modi – was his assertive approach. By refusing to be defeated he had in a sense emerged a winner long before the battle was over.

The December 26, 2013 court ruling in Ahmedabad is only one part of that feature in the man.

As Narendra Modi himself has said a number of times, that confidence comes from a politician’s ability to read the ‘pulse’ of the people.

One can refer to Modi’s comments given to this writer in 2002 when he was castigated for his now infamous ‘Hum panch, Hamarey pachis’ remark against absence of family planning by Muslims. 

“Whatever you all in the media have to say, say! I don’t mind. I know the pulse of the people and they do approve my comments against large families and absence of structured family planning system,” he had told me in 2002.

Over the decades this confidence has not only come handy for him but has also represented the basic characteristic of a man, who is otherwise at the receiving end of large scale criticism from possibly all quarters. 

It is his assertive approach that makes things different. Modi has shown that without kneeling down before the western powers and Americans, he can compel the US and United Kingdom to come closer to him.

A few inferences:

A key takeaway from Modi’s success tale will be that this virtue or trait can be either born with or can be nurtured too. 

A focused liking for one’s ambition gives a purpose to actions and as a result of this passion would come in. 

But it can be kept in mind that according to modern management theory, Passion is not the same as a single-minded determination although in pursuance of one’s goal all elementary essentials body, mind and spirit would play their respective roles in pursuing a passion. 

According to Nancy Huber’s book ‘Leading from Within’ passion for a higher purpose is characterized by openness to possibilities and passion along with possibilities give one the courage to go for the kill. Narendra Modi cannot agree more. 

 Modi resembles an ideal case of fighting back with his back on the wall. Success is definitely not what one attains easily spoon fed. The success is always sweeter when one braves through all odds and it can come only after one has crossed the hurdles. 

The reputation of a successful person and the credibility about it lies in the story of his or her struggle. Success, therefore they say, is how high once bounced back from the rock bottom.

$$Pursue the goal and preferably taking an off-beat road:

Narendra Modi’s track record also exemplifies that avoiding a beaten track puts one on advantage and helps to gain competitive edge over the rivals. The single-minded approach led him to the use of IT tool – the social networking sites – first time by any Indian politician. He was not mellowed down by the near isolation he faced, he chose a bigger and much wider audience of IT users and the rest is history.

ends