Wednesday, April 16, 2014

NARENDRA MODI - THE ONLY NATIONAL LEADER IN INDIA - HENCE THE ONLY PM CANDIDATE -



NARENDRA MODI


THE ONLY NATIONAL LEADER IN INDIA


The lack of a True National leader in any Party in India has been a Sad Fact – until Narendra Modi truly tried to be a national leader. In my Blogs, I had suggested many times in the Past that Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, (from BJP) and Rahul Gandhi with younger congress leaders (from Congress) must tour all over India, talk to people in every district – towns and villages – make friends; feel friendly towards them, understand their problems, think of solutions to those problems – and think truly on a national Scale.

But, only Narendra Modi is doing it; Especially after he was nominated first as the Head of BJP election campaign and then as PM candidate. None Else has done it and none else seems willing to do it. That disqualifies all of them, in my opinion,  for the Post of PM. Only Narendra Modi is the available NATIONAL LEADER in India and only he, in my opinion, qualifies to be the PM.  In his governance of Gujarat, he was completely nationalistic in his outlook and I strongly believe, he will unite all sections of society – if he becomes the PM and other BJP leaders follow his example.

Of late, Congress , having lost all hopes to win elections, seems to be trying other tricks. A few call themselves Intellectuals, Public men or cine Industry men or some other Industry men – and issue weird, confusing statements, like, vote for secularism! To my mind, these are all congress men in disguise and it is congress, which is playing the game – as it comes out when these people are cornered in TV channels. But, these worthies should tell us the justification for voting for either Rahul or Kejriwal, who are the other contenders. Will India be safe in their Hands. What are their qualities to be the PM?

Any Party can play this game. BJP can also prop up a few people from the same category – double the number that congress puts up – and ask for VOTE FOR DEVELOPMENT; VOTE OUT CORRUPTION.

BJP may be forced to do it – if these tricks continue. Public must ignore these kind of appeals. People are suffering from poverty, lack of employment, from Inflation, from Bad Roads, from lack of water, electricity and so on. Secularism, Federalism etc are important but Modi’s governance more than ensures all of them. 

Some of my earlier Blog Posts on Modi make interesting reading today.There are of course many others too...I am giving below a few excerpts from 2013, which reflect the situations then.

(1)         See the EXCERPTS from this one written in Sep,2013:

Modi is a No-nonsense, good governance advocate. No one else seems to be that – in other Parties like Congress. That one qualification is good enough for making him the PM of India for the next five years. 

I have no great respect for those who talk of the 2002 riots in Gujarat.  It is very obvious that Modi did not try to protect even his own Ministers from being punished. He did not interfere with the legal process. Many other governments, including the Congress, are openly protecting their own men and women from legal process. This fact deserves kudos of the Highest order for Narendra Modi. Those who criticize him for 2002 must remember the Anti-sikh riots of 1984 – in which no reasonable prosecutions or convictions have taken place so far. The contrast between the two legal processes gives Modi the best Image and the best foot forward as  the Better Leader.

Is Modi secular or communal? He is religious. But, he is not communal.  Many people who call him communal are communal themselves. They always look at every Indian from the religious and caste angle only. Secularism consists in desisting from looking at any governance issue from these angles. Justice for all. Progress for all....

But, what are the Pit falls for BJP and Modi? VHP mainly seems to be one factor, both BJP and Modi must be vary of. Their agenda is never above board. VHP also must stick to non-controversial religious agenda.

The Mandir Issue – is another pit fall. It is in fact a senseless Political issue. When the matter is before courts, and only courts can clear Mandir Construction, it is essential for all to leave the issue outside Political arena. Mere political comments on the Mandir Issue only add to suspicion and derision both. They don’t bring votes. They don’t bring development. Modi never talks of such issues. But, others in BJP must also stop talking of it. 

.... Modi will surely give India Good Governance. He is definitely not communal. He is definitely not a wavering administrator – whether in economic or Naxalite, or terrorist areas of governmental action. He will deal with all of them firmly. He will deal with friendly states as friend and enemy states as bold, firm, no nonsense negotiator. Where firmness is called for, Modi is the Best choice for India...And, India needs these qualities now.

(2)         Here is another from 31.10.13 :

Congress must never ever attribute the Godhra tragedy or Ahmadabad riots to Modi personally, when, Modi’s regime very actively and very clearly pursued the investigations and got the actual culprits punished, which the Congress has not done so far in respect of Anti- Sikh riots. How many of these riot victims were compensated? How many perpetrators were punished? Saying regret, is not enough alternative for these acts required by Law and Justice to the riot victims.
.... The tallest statue of Sardar Patel (182 Mts) reflects what Modi will strive to achieve if made the PM. India needs such great Monuments for the great leaders of our freedom struggle - Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Subhas Bose. Why can't we have world class statues for these world class leaders?

(3)         Look at another from Sep,30,13  :

If there is one really secular National level leader in the national Parties – it is Modi. His is the best in ‘inclusive’ governance and Politics. On the other hand, congress always commits the same Mistake – of wooing Minorities, that too only Muslims, and thus segregates them from the national Mainstream. Look at Shinde’s letter. Only Muslim Youth are to be accorded special treatment in Investigations – not Christian youth, not Buddhist youth, not Sikh youth. None else. Definitely not the Hindu Youth.

(4)         Here is another from July 12,13 :

Bhagavad Gita’s very first sloka indicates two major failings in Human psyche “aham-mama”, which are the Sanskrit words for “ME AND MINE”. These are the two failings of most people. We close our eyes to the failings of our own self and of those whom we perceive as our people...

Whether Modi sits, stands, eats or talks, or even breathes, they will find something objectionable in everything that he does. ...

Whatever they or their own Party men do – they will totally close their eyes to it. This is equally bad.  Be that as it may, the following are the key excerpts from the Modi Interview. I find nothing objectionable in it.

Interview with BJP leader Narendra Modi - July 12, 2013 @ 11:45 am - By Reuters Staff - By Ross Colvin and Sruthi Gottipati  :  Reuters spoke to Modi at his official Gandhinagar residence in a rare interview, the first since he was appointed head of the BJP’s election campaign in June. Here are edited excerpts from the interview. The questions are paraphrased and some of Modi’s replies have been translated from Hindi.

]Is it frustrating that many people still define you by 2002?

People have a right to be critical. We are a democratic country. Everyone has their own view. I would feel guilty if I did something wrong. Frustration comes when you think “I got caught. I was stealing and I got caught.” That’s not my case.

Do you regret what happened?

I’ll tell you. India’s Supreme Court is considered a good court today in the world. The Supreme Court created a special investigative team (SIT) and top-most, very bright officers who oversee the SIT. That report came. In that report, I was given a thoroughly clean chit, a thoroughly clean chit. Another thing, any person if we are driving a car, we are a driver, and someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course it is. If I’m a chief minister or not, I’m a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad.

But do you think you did the right thing in 2002?

Absolutely. However much brainpower the Supreme Being has given us, however much experience I’ve got, and whatever I had available in that situation and this is what the SIT had investigated.

Do you believe India should have a secular leader?

We do believe that … But what is the definition of secularism? For me, my secularism is, India first. I say, the philosophy of my party is ‘Justice to all. Appeasement to none.’ This is our secularism.

What about the suggestion that you don’t take criticism?

I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow, I want to invite criticism. But I’m against allegations. There is a vast difference between criticism and allegations. For criticism, you have to research, you’ll have to compare things, you’ll have to come with data, factual information, then you can criticize. Now no one is ready to do the hard work. So the simple way is to make allegations. In a democracy, allegations will never improve situations. So, I’m against allegations but I always welcome criticism.

How will you persuade minorities including Muslims to vote for you?

First thing, to Hindustan’s citizens, to voters, Hindus and Muslims, I’m not in favour of dividing. I’m not in favour of dividing Hindus and Sikhs. I’m not in favour of dividing Hindus and Christians. All the citizens, all the voters, are my countrymen. So my basic philosophy is, I don’t address this issue like this. And that is a danger to democracy also. Religion should not be an instrument in your democratic process.

My Comments :- ... The point is – Gujarat Government is reported to have acted within 24 hours of the incidents and controlled everything. On the other hand, his critics did not act for weeks – to control much bigger incidents in their states! If Modi does something wrong, by all means, we must criticize. Else, he will also commit big mistakes. Ditto for every Politician.  But, criticizing good deeds and good words – is bad politics.

(5)         Here is another from April,2,13 :

To be..or, not to be (PM)..is not Modi’s dilemma. Whether he should be..or, he should not be.. is the dilemma of all others.

I have not heard him speak of any of his “Beyond-Gujarat” ambitions. That is, if at all, he has any. Even if you ask him in his sleep, he will talk of chey karod Gujaratis, as of today. His vocabulary certainly is not 1.2 billion Indians.  His priority and fixation has been and is 6 crore Gujaratis.

...Who else can be BJP’s nominee for the Post of PM? There are two other obvious contenders for the Post. 1. Sushma Swaraj 2. Arun Jaitley. That makes the three potential contenders a trinity. There does not seem to be much groupism behind the three – although many chorus voices rise in favour of Modi.

Who amongst them has an ALL INDIA IMAGE? None. As of now. Modi is a crowd Puller in Gujarat. He has a charisma of his own. He speaks chaste Gujarati; good Hindi; tolerable English. He may have to improve his English Delivery significantly to mesmerize the elite of India. The elite of India has certain attraction towards Modi, positive or negative.

To my mind, Modi’s DEVELOPMENT AGENDA is what attracts India at large – and quite justifiably.

To the credit of Modi, one must admit that he never spoke in favour of or against this or that community and this or that religion. At least, I have not heard him speak of religion and caste in his political speeches. To that extent, his is the truly INCLUSIVE, DEVELOPMENTAL PLANK.

...If BJP comes to power, it is sheerly on the development plank of Modi and other BJP CMs. If BJP loses the game, the sole credit for that goes to the HINDUTVA AGENDA of RSS, VHP and others. ...

But, the top three leaders of BJP still keep a clean face, devoid of Hindutva colour. Modi, despite 2002 incidents, has been able to keep a clean record from 2002 to 2013. He never spoke of castes and religions in any political speech, as far as I have heard. For any Politician in India, this is very tough. Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj also can claim to be so – but, their Political speeches are far less outside parliament and outside press conferences.

The three together can pull it off - if they steer clear of Hindutva image. All the three are competent and astute administrators. All the three reasonably have a non-hindutva, secular image – despite all the efforts of Congress against Modi.

But, the negative point about all the three of them is – none of them today is a national leader.

They must tour the whole of India, district by district, preferably together, and address public meetings in every district – and address press in each district – and meet at least a few people in a few villages and towns.

For a long, long time, India has not seen a national leader. And, the result of that today is – most states are governed by local chieftains, who have almost nothing to do with Delhi. And Delhi has not been adequately fair to them too.

Who, of the three – becomes the PM is not the real question. Will the three tour India and meet people across the length and breadth of each state matters a lot for India and for BJP, in the long run. BJP and India both need truly national leaders. ...


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