Pollsters and opinion makers be damned! India is going through a strange phase where anything you say or do makes you a Sanghi or a Congi (derisive for RSS affiliate and Congress affiliate). Social media and main stream media (electronic and print) space for independent opinions is shrinking, and how! People have stopped voicing their opinions for the fear of being targeting or attacked personally. To be fair, the voices of the “sanghis” are more prominent as they have stolen a march over the “congis” in media management, I hope then when “Congis” play a catch up they don’t forget the words of their VP “keep the debate dignified and stick to facts”. One cannot have both sides barking at each other and most debates taking a turn south.
To make a good case, first convince yourself that you are a true son of motherland, and then convince yourself that the whole world is out to get you and you have to fight the whole world to achieve greatness. Also convince yourself that nothing about you is worth changing because – let’s face it- you were the last perfect creation of the maker. Now you have a potent and lethal combination of delusional and crazy – somewhat effective – but largely authoritarian politician. Let’s name him Modi. This man once believed that states should be allowed to make own laws as state legislatures are evolved enough and don’t need a ‘big brother center’ to make decisions on its behalf. Yet for some strange reasons, he does not believe that individual local bodies are smart enough to look after their interests and need the state government taking all the decisions. Contradiction? Hell- no!!! If you listen to him, you would see the logic and probably he would convince you that all these are necessary contradictions in a country like India. You see, the man can sell you anything. For long he convinced most of us that the Sun rises and sets due to his good governance model. It is a necessary quality in a politician to be able to sell ideas, but going to extremes makes the citizen feel foolish. The man has to know limitations. Some humility can go a long way in the making of a good leader.
On opposite end, we have a likeable, soft, visibly pampered and mostly untested politician. Let’s call him Rahul – ‘naam to suna hoga!’. Now, Rahul believes that he alone cannot make everything happen, it’s a rare admission of limitation by any politician. He also openly says that a country as large as India cannot be governed from Delhi; it needs to be decentralized to its villages and town local bodies – which make him a believer in federalism. He says, India is so uniquely divergent that the only way it can grow is by not trying to look for a “one size fits all” solution and rather give each region the power to decide what is best for it. Except for currency, armed forces and national flag nothing is supposed to be common within all constituents of India. He is neither all powerful nor claiming credit for all that goes good. He believes that career politicians are meant to win elections and technocrats are meant to run the Government efficiently. He is as un-Modi as anyone could possibly be.
If you look at the followers – or clique of both these personalities, they are largely similar. They feel their leader is the best (that’s a given). They believe the opponent is evil (duh!!) and they spend a large time talking derisively about the opponent than taking about their own achievements. Like I said, largely similar; however, the similarities end here. Modi followers are loud mouth, brash and invective. You see they have bought in the fact that the universe is conspiring against their leader and it becomes their job to fight the universe. So heightened is their sense of belonging that they more often attack their own party men who are trying to talk some sense into them. Rahul followers are exactly the opposite; they are polished elite with sound command over language and facts and are condescending to the opponents. You see, to them their leader is born with divine right to rule and they find it absurd and laughable that anyone could hope to take away that right. They are not loud or call others names but would make your head spin when they use minimal words to make maximum damage to opponent’s reputation. The fight among these cliques is worth watching, Modi followers forever froth near the mouth and making angry intonations and Rahul followers smiling and hitting the opponents hard with erudite ease. Another common element between these seemingly different people is the absence to tolerating independent voice. While anyone critiquing Modi becomes a “Congi dog or pig” almost immediately; anyone poking holes in Rahul’s theories immediately becomes a “sanghi terrorist”. It’s amazing how independent voices are being silenced by making personal attacks and abuse hurled just because that person managed to get his/her opinion about the opposing theories of governing India. Latest casualty was noted author and Nobel laureate – Dr. Amartya Sen – his personal life was abrasively discussed and a noted editor recommended that his Bharat Ratna (highest civilian award in India) be taken away. All because he said, in an interview that Modi is not his choice for being the Prime Minister of India. So much, for having freedom of speech enshrined in our constitution.
Post script: We have heard Rahul talk sense to his followers on many occasions to keep the engagement civil but we are yet to hear Modi tame his followers. In fact he eggs them on many times by using his speeches to make personal attacks himself.
So long…..
To make a good case, first convince yourself that you are a true son of motherland, and then convince yourself that the whole world is out to get you and you have to fight the whole world to achieve greatness. Also convince yourself that nothing about you is worth changing because – let’s face it- you were the last perfect creation of the maker. Now you have a potent and lethal combination of delusional and crazy – somewhat effective – but largely authoritarian politician. Let’s name him Modi. This man once believed that states should be allowed to make own laws as state legislatures are evolved enough and don’t need a ‘big brother center’ to make decisions on its behalf. Yet for some strange reasons, he does not believe that individual local bodies are smart enough to look after their interests and need the state government taking all the decisions. Contradiction? Hell- no!!! If you listen to him, you would see the logic and probably he would convince you that all these are necessary contradictions in a country like India. You see, the man can sell you anything. For long he convinced most of us that the Sun rises and sets due to his good governance model. It is a necessary quality in a politician to be able to sell ideas, but going to extremes makes the citizen feel foolish. The man has to know limitations. Some humility can go a long way in the making of a good leader.
On opposite end, we have a likeable, soft, visibly pampered and mostly untested politician. Let’s call him Rahul – ‘naam to suna hoga!’. Now, Rahul believes that he alone cannot make everything happen, it’s a rare admission of limitation by any politician. He also openly says that a country as large as India cannot be governed from Delhi; it needs to be decentralized to its villages and town local bodies – which make him a believer in federalism. He says, India is so uniquely divergent that the only way it can grow is by not trying to look for a “one size fits all” solution and rather give each region the power to decide what is best for it. Except for currency, armed forces and national flag nothing is supposed to be common within all constituents of India. He is neither all powerful nor claiming credit for all that goes good. He believes that career politicians are meant to win elections and technocrats are meant to run the Government efficiently. He is as un-Modi as anyone could possibly be.
If you look at the followers – or clique of both these personalities, they are largely similar. They feel their leader is the best (that’s a given). They believe the opponent is evil (duh!!) and they spend a large time talking derisively about the opponent than taking about their own achievements. Like I said, largely similar; however, the similarities end here. Modi followers are loud mouth, brash and invective. You see they have bought in the fact that the universe is conspiring against their leader and it becomes their job to fight the universe. So heightened is their sense of belonging that they more often attack their own party men who are trying to talk some sense into them. Rahul followers are exactly the opposite; they are polished elite with sound command over language and facts and are condescending to the opponents. You see, to them their leader is born with divine right to rule and they find it absurd and laughable that anyone could hope to take away that right. They are not loud or call others names but would make your head spin when they use minimal words to make maximum damage to opponent’s reputation. The fight among these cliques is worth watching, Modi followers forever froth near the mouth and making angry intonations and Rahul followers smiling and hitting the opponents hard with erudite ease. Another common element between these seemingly different people is the absence to tolerating independent voice. While anyone critiquing Modi becomes a “Congi dog or pig” almost immediately; anyone poking holes in Rahul’s theories immediately becomes a “sanghi terrorist”. It’s amazing how independent voices are being silenced by making personal attacks and abuse hurled just because that person managed to get his/her opinion about the opposing theories of governing India. Latest casualty was noted author and Nobel laureate – Dr. Amartya Sen – his personal life was abrasively discussed and a noted editor recommended that his Bharat Ratna (highest civilian award in India) be taken away. All because he said, in an interview that Modi is not his choice for being the Prime Minister of India. So much, for having freedom of speech enshrined in our constitution.
Post script: We have heard Rahul talk sense to his followers on many occasions to keep the engagement civil but we are yet to hear Modi tame his followers. In fact he eggs them on many times by using his speeches to make personal attacks himself.
So long…..
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