I am at a loss of words. But I still want to document my thoughts about what is probably India’s largest, dirtiest and most passionate electoral battle till date. Despite different analysis by some leading psephologists, journalists, analysts and many common people like you and me, Modi won (again). A landslide victory. Stunning millions of people like me. Most Modi bhakts and many analysts are not surprised. They believe it was evident. Evident because Modi’s ideology resonates with that of Indians (or Hindus?). Evident because the fakir can have no hidden objective, commercial interest. Because Modi’s family is the nation and not his estranged wife and old mother who only resurfaces during significant political moments.
But it was not
evident for me. Even after all the exit polls indicated the same thing, I still
had hope. Hope that the ‘liberal’ and ‘secular’ won’t be misconstrued as dirty,
unethical words. Hope that India’s core values of democracy, unity in
diversity, secularism will resurface. It is obvious that I undermined the
obvious undercurrent of vikas, need
to bring Hindutva under the spotlight
and make economy, communalism, secularism take side roles. My vision was
coloured too. I admit saying on multiple occasions - ‘anyone but Modi’. In my list, corrupt,
megalomanianc, cynical leaders fared better than the pied piper who now has the
power to take India anywhere it wants. And history has proven often that
absolute power corrupts.
But despite my
natural inclinations, I am urging myself to be optimistic. And I do believe,
that whatever stance anyone held during the built up to the election, it is
time to restore peace and get life back to normal. This election was the
dirtiest one ever. It brought out the worst in people. Whichever side they were
on (there were only 2 – pro Modi and anti Modi), most people I knew were
bitter, loud, abusive, tenacious, condescending, know-it-alls, angry, smug,
mean, uncouth, rude, depressed and/or sad. Seniors at work misused their
seniority to impose their political inclinations on their subordinates, friends
became enemies, hundreds of people exited Whatsapp groups after heated
arguments (that just might have been a blessing in disguise though), like
property wasn’t a big enough issue – families fought over politics as well,
trolls ran amuck on social media dissing people into depression. Things got
very ugly. I was mean to many people. Many people were mean to me. But it
didn’t balance out the scale. It just made matters worse.
Like it, love
it, bear it or hate it, Modi has swept the elections. Pro-Modi people are
celebrating with mild comments like ‘told you so’ or stronger sentiments like
‘Modi haters, which country will you now go to?, Modi will ensure that the
haters are weeded out, anti Modi people are disillusioned, confused, weak and
unintelligent and worse. Those who disagree or vehemently disagree with Modi’s
ideology will respond by not responding or starting their own mean comments
like ‘The overall IQ of India is less than that a herd of sheep’, India is
headed to a dark place, this is the end of India as we know it – secular and
communal. But what use will it be? These sentiments – especially sentiments of
those who ensured Modi came back with a landslide victory shocking all his
political competitors – will be misused by the ruling government to lead them
towards their alleged agenda of a single minded, non-democratic India.
Sentiments of those against Modi will be exploited to create problems for the current
government. But what good will it be to us?
Whether we are
celebrating or dissing this victory, it is time to bring things back to
‘normal’. Stop calling each other names. Stop thinking ones with different
ideology are less competent. Stop boasting. Stop roasting. It is okay to
appreciate the government, just as it is okay for the people to question the
government. We are the common people
who can do extraordinary things simply by having the other’s back – in spite of
their political inclination, caste, colour, creed, religion, region, sexual
orientation or even taste of music. Let us look beyond the surface to what are
the things we need to fix to truly grow better as a society. Whether we do it
by hating Modi or worshipping him - does not matter (now). What matters is that
we play a role in society’s betterment and have the same ideologies when it
comes to what the society needs – peace, brotherhood, love among other things
like economic security, safety, development for all.
We have taken
our time to celebrate or grieve this election’s result. Let us spend the next 5
years in ensuring that we are better people. I’m going to start by practicing
what I am preaching.
Jai Hind!
