Letters: Blinkered view

With reference to Mihir Sharma’s “Three years of transformation” (May 27), Narendra Modi has been confronted with two constituencies as PM. One group consists of those who voted for him because of his record of efficient governance in Gujarat, his vision of India, dynamic leadership, perceived honesty and 24x7 passion for work. The group also includes those whom Modi addresses directly through his frequent massive public meetings and his monthly “mann ki baat” radio talk now numbering four crore listeners. The author calls them “unthinking” and “stupid” — I am one of them. The other group comprises those who hate Modi due to the 2002 Gujarat riots and his closeness with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and all that it stands for. Let us call them intelligentsia.

The stupid are impressed by the achievements of Modi government — revival of a dying economy into the fastest growing one, transactional but steady reforms, measures to promote ease of doing business, check on corruption, financial inclusion, steps to help farmers and agriculture, affordable housing, etc. They too are dismayed by some retarding activities of a few organisations in the name of Hindutva but note that such incidents are confined to a small pocket of Hindi-speaking states and have not betrayed any central support to them. They believe that Modi will have to prevent them if he wants to win the next election with comfortable majority.

The intelligentsia sees no redeeming feature. It sees the nightmare of gaushalas in Indian embassies but no sunshine in the drive for toilets at home. When they are perplexed by the question “why Modi?” they do not tell “who else?” or which political leader or party has a national vision, progressive agenda and imaginative action plan together with the credibility to deliver it. They should worry more about this than the alleged demolition of the secular fabric of lndia under Modi.

Y G Chouksey  Pune

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