The ink rebellion

"HIS (Vinod Mehta) voice is missed in the present climate, when dissent is being stifled, when the minorities feel increasingly insecure, when the secular fabric of our society is threatened, when bigotry and obscurantism seem to flourish unchecked," Congress president Sonia Gandhi had spoken in one of her trademark passionate and combative short speech on the occasion of presentation of GK Reddy award to the former Outlook Editor. 

Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi have not written even one of their speech yet. Her lamentation on "intolerance", "bigotry", "obscurantism" was delivered on May 9 this year. The speech writer was understandably Jairam Ramesh. 

No rationalist writers were killed by May 9 either in Karnataka and Maharashtra. None was yet lynched to death on rumour of having eaten beef. Yet, Sonia Gandhi bemoaned lack of a writer in Mehta who was "passionate upholder of our democratic and secular ideals, who harboured sympathy for the disempowered and held no fear of the rich and powerful". 

Mehta was a journalist and not a politician as stated in the description. Sonia Gandhi was sending her message loud and clear to the target. In less than five months, her message was decoded and acted upon. Forty Sahitya Akademy awardees have so far surrendered their awards; some with prize money also. Fugitive author Salman Rushdie also lent his support to the rebels in writers, and educated Indians about his rich vocabulary by terming his critics as "Modi toadies". 

Nayantara Sehgal, whose identity is from her lineage with Nehru, was among the first to surrender the Sahitya Akademy award. Later, she claimed smart cities would be of no use if "stupid" people lived in them. Ghulam Nabi Khayal from Jammu and Kashmir was more clear on his reasons and he stated that "ever since the BJP came to power...". 

Writers from Karnataka to Kashmir, from Gujrat to Assam have joined the rat race to return their Sahitya Akademy awards. The number will only swell. They all rant and bemoan the silence of Narendra Modi. And they have seemingly proved that they are rattled with the rise of Modi. 

The writers making news have circumstantial records against them on their pains for communal harmony. On close scrutiny, they may even be found to have been the beneficiaries of the Nehruvian "left-turn" in literature and history writing. None of them ever took pains to write on disappearance of Subhash Chandra Bose. It took the doggedness of the journalist turned researcher Anuj Dhar to demolish the myth perpetuated by the Congress in the country. Even when the Sikhs were butchered in 1984 and democracy was murdered during Emergency, these anguished writers chose to keep their inks dried. No Muslim writer has yet penned the pathos of the Kashmiri pundits. 

That the worst communal frenzy and in fact of much larger proportion than the post-Godhra riots took place in Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas in western Uttar pradesh under the watch of the "secular" chief minister of the state Akhilesh Yadav missed the radar of these writers with great ease is a tale not yet told. They did not pay heed to the blatant communal politicking of Mulayam Singh Yadav and AzamKhan in Uttar Pradesh till the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well. They did not even know that the people of western UP turned rabidly communal in a span of a few years. Their communal frenzy devoured the Muslim man in Dadri most recently. 

Writers are the conscience keepers of the society. But they opted to barter the might of their pen to become carriers of the agenda of political parties for gains. They lobby for awards. They sing songs of glory of those who are in power. That India has not seen a Munshi Premchand or Ramdhari Singh Dinkar for ages tell the larger tales that these media attention hungry writers have contributed the least in evolving a multi-cultural and tolerant society in India. 

The rebellion of "pen" against Modi is nothing but a snobbish, hypocritical, and paranoid response of a tribe which fear arrival of an assertive "right" on social and political mainstream.

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Postscript:

In an interview to Nirendra Dev, a senior journalist, late Khuswant Singh (extract in pix) argued shutting down of Sahitya Akademy. He was piqued to see 100s being given awards each year. Recipients did not need to have literary merits, but should have known ways to grease the palms of influential. Khuswant Singh once had his heart in his mouth when he saw 10 Sindhi writers lining up to receive the Sahitya Akademy award. How could so many people get award in one year for a language, which is so tough, he reminisced. As mentioned in the extract (in the pix), Khuswant Singh strongly believed that there was no rationale for Sahitya Akademy to exist and it only promoted crony writers who knew whose palms to grease.

Khuswant Singh's views apart, the question which must agitate a rationale mind is that how come a government is in the business of giving awards notwithstanding the fact that such bodies are autonomous (only for the namesake).

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The manner in which scores of writers and those engaged with theater have returned their awards suggest a pattern without any doubt.

And on cue a "discussion" was held at Indian National Press Club. The capacity audience listened to panel with full attention, with a few foreigner media professional dropping in to feel the pulse of the people. They had a few books at display, which included the likes of "Ath Modi Katha", "Hamara Sabse Bada Dushman -- with cover having two photos, one of Adolf Hitler and another of the RSS activists in a march", "Moditva--Hinduvadi sarkar ka Sanghi Abhiyan", etc. All the books on the display had one thing in common, that they are authored by those whose hatred for the RSS and Narendra Modi, besides the BJP run in their blood.

The Congress leader and former MP Sandeep Dikshit too had dropped in for this discussion, but he chose to slip away when it dawned upon him, that the political facade behind which the writers are seeking to hide may fall off.      

Parliament logjam in times of whipcracy

Disclaimer: This piece is intended merely for discussion, and not at all casts aspersions on temple of largest democracy of the world. 

INDIAN Parliament has seen many political weathers to wilt to current gust of doggedness. 

Demography of India is transforming each day. India is getting younger. The young India is both a boon and bane in measures not easy to quantify. The boon obviously is in demographic dividend for economy. None talk about the other side of the story for want of an audience.

The most telling disability of young India is that its sense of history is much narrow. The time span of historical awareness is squeezing with each passing day. And to expect this growing class to pay attention to context and thereby historical background would be to expect too much. 

That the Congress and its tiny lot of camp followers have enforced a lock-down on Rajya Sabha, because the BJP when in Opposition had done the same stand having become irrelevant by the passage of time. And, hence, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has growing lot of admirers among the youth. 

Incidentally, political class invariably is blessed with short memory and any inconvenient pass events get erased with ease. Congress president Sonia Gandhi believes PM Narendra Modi is replicating Gujrat model in Parliament. She claimed Modi used to get Congress MLAs suspended from Gujrat Assembly without fail during each session. 

But Gandhi would surely not mention that the UPA government just two years ago had got passed State Reorganisation Bill to create the state of Telangana in not so glorious manner. Scores of MPs hailing from united Andhra Pradesh were suspended for days, for having camped in the well of the House and having held placards aloft against division of the state. The matter had come to such an extent that a Congress MP had pressed canister to spray pepper right in the well of the Lok Sabha and had to be overpowered after enough fisticuffs. That he endangered the health of many MPs, journalists and common men and women in the public gallery predictably did not invite attention of the presiding officers of the Parliament. 

Gandhi could equally consult her colleague Sheila Dikshit and enlighten herself how she had perfected the art of "naming and suspending" Opposition MLAs in Delhi Assembly during her over 15 years of rule. 

DOGGEDNESS of both Congress and BJP is worrisome. The Congress is surely looking to find the path to revive the party from the newly found lung power in logjam of Parliament. The BJP is on an extended hangover of having been served strongly intoxicating electoral victory a year ago much beyond their expectation. The BJP arguably believes the time has come to roll over the Congress. If the Congress is served a telling fatal blow, the BJP will always be the first natural choice of people for power in New Delhi.    

If not for politically motivated doggedness of the Congress, the Opposition could have explored the option for a censure motion in both the Houses of the Parliament against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The Opposition is in majority in Rajya Sabha and could have the desired results if its unity is real. 

BEYOND the explicitly seen reasons for lock-down in Rajya Sabha (Lok Sabha is functioning), there are larger issues. Firstly, the issue of democracy in the real sense. The weapon of whip given to political parties by late Rajiv Gandhi through the anti-defection law has made democracy hypocritical. The MPs are largely herds swayed by the direction of the whip.

Secondly, the issue whether the members of Parliament are lawmakers in the real sense is discussed in hushed voices in the corridors of the temple of democracy. How many laws have been enacted through the initiatives of the MPs and their discussions in both the Houses of Parliament? Aren't the MPs mere rubber stamps to the legislative bills drafted by the babus?   

Thirdly, do both the Houses of Parliament really make the government accountable. An illustration may answer this question. In the ongoing Monsoon session, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan indicated in Lok Sabha during Question Hour, that the government would not prefer to transfer cash into accounts of beneficiaries of the food subsidy. "The government spends Rs 1.31 lakh crore under food subsidy each year. Though we've launched DBT (Direct benefit transfer) in Pudduchery, Chandigarh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli, there're issues like (a) will people really buy foodgrains and if yes then of what quality; (b) what will happen to so many PDS shops and dealers; (c) what will happen to godowns built so far; (d) what if even 10 per cent of beneficiaries miss out from DBT for any reasons," said Paswan. 

No MPs present contested Paswan's concerns. All issues raised by Paswan are equally applicable for DBT for LPG subsidy. Tax payers' money can surely not be used to justify the need of PDS shops, dealers and godowns. And, lastly, the quality of grains given by PDS shops makes Paswan's another worry laughable. 

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And, most importantly, the quality of debate in both the Houses of Parliament tell a much larger story. A comparison between the 15th and 16th Lok Sabha in the context of quality of debates could make for an exciting research. That Nishikant Dubey from the BJP and Veerappa Moily from the Congress are lead speakers on economy in the current Lok Sabha tell the story much evidently. 

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Haunting past

THE maxim that you reap what you sow must be ringing in the ears of floor managers of ruling NDA. 

That the BJP in Opposition led by Sushma Swaraj had choked Parliamentary space of UPA-II would not yet have faded from the memories of Congress leaders. And the fact that the BJP had been so nasty to call the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a thief must surely have run a knife through the heart of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. 

There is no denying the fact that Indian Parliament witnessed many a theatrical acts during the UPA time. The then Opposition had to lynch the UPA-II in the face of damning revelations made by the CAG. The UPA-II was struck by CAG vindicated torrents of scams.

Context is not permanent. And even memories fade away with the passage of time. But wounds of hearts do not heal even after decades.

Of all the attributes, Sonia Gandhi is uniquely gifted with combativeness. And she had been a steadfast protector of the honour of Manmohan Singh. That her son Rahul Gandhi ridiculed him the most is an aberration in an otherwise unique bonhomie of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.  

A week has passed by of the Monsoon session of Parliament. No business has been transacted. The Modi government has pinned much hope to push his reform agenda in this session. But the Congress is sizzling in forcing a lock-down on Parliament. 

THE Lalitgate and Vyapam scam are mere pretexts. They would have passed off as "routine" matters in times of cordiality between the Opposition and government. What Sushma Swaraj has done for Lali Modi has been done by every Congress politicians in their days of glory. And the Vyapam scam is a legacy of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, which lived through the BJP rule in the state as well. Those who grew in Bihar in 1990s know from hearts that impersonation in entrance and recruitment examinations had been well entrenched. Same continues in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere also. 

Impersonation and bribing to book seats in colleges and jobs have been Indian story.

Beyond the issues, Modi has not only to pay for the "sins" of BJP as opposition, but also for his brazen approach with the Opposition. 

Modi has charmed most of the non-Congress Opposition parties. He won over acerbic Mamata Banerjee. She made Modi a hero in Bangladesh. His bete noire Nitish Kumar hailed him. Mulayam Singh Yadav seeks cordial relations with him. And it's to the credit of Modi that he scripted excellent working relations with all of them.

But the Congress never figured in the scheme of things of Modi. That he coined "Congress mukt Bharat" surely seems to have outlived the election campaign. He has sought to demoralize the Congress. That the Congress is the largest Opposition party both in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has hardly figured in Parliamentary scheme of things of Modi. 

And, the Congress has sized the "God send" opportunity to pin Modi down. 

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Breaking stereotypes

A year has passed by since Narendra Modi commanded historic majority to come to power in New Delhi. In the year gone, he took ‘baby steps’ to translate his dreams and promises to people to transform India – socially and economically.  

His economic template is no more different than what Manmohan Singh and his man – P Chidambaram – had pursued. In two full Budgets that his government has presented so far, Modi has not yet unveiled a single step, which could bring in fundamental change to the fate of the country. At best he has been an undisputed king of marketing and sales to re-package schemes and policies pursued by his immediate predecessor to give them the energy and direction which they had lacked.

The book is titled – The enabler Narendra Modi. The reason for such a title is that Modi has given sufficient hints in his one year in office that he is no admirer of India being a welfare state. He has sought to nudge India onto an enabling path. For decades, India stood firm as a welfare state and billions of dollars were poured in hundred of welfare schemes. 

But India’s welfare template suffered from innumerable holes, which defeated the very idea of such schemes, as a class pocketed the wealth meant for the poor of the country. Modi believes as seen in his actions that people need to stand on their feet and they should be provided with enabling platform to transform their lives socially and economically.

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In the chapter, Herd Breaker, this book reminds the ruling party led by Modi of reasons why the people broke free of several political stereotypes to give a mandate not seen for two and a half decades. Millions of people living on the margins defied the caste identities to back the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Such people are dreamy and have a habit not to give long rope to the ruling party to fulfill the promises. Modi has unveiled a few of the steps to address to the aspiration of such people, but they seem too futuristic to give immediate tangible benefits to his admirers on the ground.

This book also has a chapter, New Delhi Caucus, wherein Modi’s most difficult challenge is listed and detailed. India is a vast country but irony of the country has been the clout of the ‘New Delhi Caucus’ consisting of bureaucrats, political class, middle men, civil society and judicial activists, which has subverted dreams of teeming millions. Modi has steadfastly gone after the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) since assuming office and has also sought to correct the ways the judiciary functions in the country. But he has not weeded out the ‘New Delhi Caucus’ completely, which risks his government becoming no different than his predecessors. 

Political opponents of Modi privately admit that he is perched as emperor of Indian democracy. They argue that by all accounts, Modi has surpassed the stature of Indira Gandhi of 1971 when she was India's most powerful leader and had unveiled a single party rule in the country. Modi's position is both ominous and providential. His position could be ominous, because he may throttle dissent and cause serious damage to Indian democracy. At the same time it could also be providential, because he can guide India onto a new path and liberate shackled potential of the country.

Politically speaking Modi is India's first non-Congress Prime Minister. It may sound odd, because there were seven Prime Ministers, who headed non-Congress governments. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee of BJP was Prime Minister for about six years. Yet, Modi is the first non-Congress Prime Minister in the true sense.

It must be noted that Congress in India is not just a political party, but a political culture. And that culture was seeded deep into Indian democracy by Indira Gandhi. Her stature was such in her prime time that she ensured Constitution Amendment (42nd) to give India the character of a welfare state. All her successors bore her imprints in their statecraft afterwards.

Even while PV Narsimha Rao ably assisted by his Finance Minister Manmohan Singh sought to force open the window to the world, which was further carried forward by Vajpayee, they could not lay their hands on a formidable electoral template. Both were consequently rejected by the people. They suffered from economic contradictions. They wanted to write new chapters in Indian economy and polity yet could not shun ideological imprints of Indira Gandhi fully.  

Rao was a Congress man, but had vision to think beyond the Nehru-Gandhi bank of party ideas. Vajpayee was an RSS man, but had co-opted socialists, who were non-Congressmen for just namesake. Vajpayee was a minister in the Morarji Desai Cabinet. The old man was a hardcore Congress man and rival of Indira Gandhi in her early political days. Vajpayee propped up VP Singh as Prime Minister also with the support of the Left parties. VP Singh had spent his life in Congress and had quit the party to head Janata Dal, which was essentially a loose confederation of provincial caste chieftains. Vajpayee in his thoughts was centrist, with little leaning to the right. 

It's pertinent to examine why Modi is the first non-Congress Prime Minister in the true sense. And for that matter it will equally be important to understand what Congress means as a political culture. Congress essentially is a political culture wherein the power of decision making is centralized. Popularly it is called a 'High Command' culture. This bears strong imprints in the statecraft. Even though India is a Union of states, with much thrust on federalism, Indian statecraft essentially is of centralized planning and decision making. The Centre decides what the states should do. The Centre decides how much money states should spend and under what heads. The Centre decides what laws states should have. 

The easiest illustration of this is in Indian Parliament enacting a law on acquisition of land in 2013, which was actually a political legislation thrust upon the government due to Rahul Gandhi's obsession to do politics of land. Land is a state subject, and all state governments have their own respective policies or laws on acquisition of land. Then what was the need for the Centre to enact a law on land and whose amendments Modi is desperately seeking? Modi believes it has forced a lock-down on development. 

If not for Rahul Gandhi ambushing Bhatta-Parsaul to throw his weight behind relatively rich farmers of western Uttar Pradesh, India may have continued with the British time law on acquisition of land. The basic idea is that the Centre essentially lacks trust in state governments to be fair in dealing with its people. And that must sound ludicrous, because the state governments have more connect with the people than the Centre. 

Modi is the first non-Congress Prime Minister, because he has not been touched by the ideology and culture of the grand old party. He was chief minister of Gujarat for about 12 years with strong majority in the state Assembly and he never needed to bend even little to allow Congress to cast its imprints on him.

This culture essentially is distribution of wealth, centralization of decision making, and sycophancy. Through the welfare core of the statecraft, Congress envisaged distribution of wealth among the poor directly. This subsequently birthed politics of poverty. This book has a chapter on ‘Politics of poverty’ wherein it has been socially, economically and politically mapped for its extent of distortions. This had the collateral damage to Indian ethos in the form of rampant corruption, which spread its tentacles in all walks of lives. 

The mode to distribute wealth to the poor fell prey to the cunning crop of teeming millions who had connections everywhere to pocket at least half the money transferred by the Centre. They infected the political class, judiciary, police, and civil society with their vice. And they gave birth to a corrupt society.

Vajpayee should not be counted among the non-Congress Prime Ministers purely for the reasons because he was clueless to clamp down on corruption and the Congress' statecraft on centralization of decision making exercise. Other six Prime Ministers -- Desai, Charan Singh, VP Singh, Chandrashekhar, HDS Deve Gowda, and IK Gujral -- were either from the Congress having crossed over to other parties in search for greener pastures or were propped up to the post as part of the trick game of the grand old party, which included Choudhary Charan Singh and Chandrashekhar. 

In the chapter, Modi’s 3B, this book graphically captures Prime Minister’s ‘Bold, Brazen, and Bulldozer’ aspect of administration. Modi in a few months after his inauguration shut down the Planning Commission, which by default had subverted the idea of India being a federal democracy. All chief ministers as a matter of routine would line up each year to get their annual plans approved by the Planning Commission. Modi has in place inaugurated NITI Aayog wherein the chief ministers head sub-groups on various subjects.

But most importantly Modi assured from the ramparts of the Red Fort, that he would 'neither take bribe nor allow others to do the same (naa khaaoonga, naa khane doonga)'. No Prime Minister before him acknowledged the cancer of corruption and owned up responsibility to crush it down. A year has passed by since the inauguration of Modi and the economy has resumed its journey on the upward trajectory, but the real-estate prices in Delhi and satellite towns around have slumped by at least 20 per cent. The real-estate in Delhi zone thrived because the black money was in ample supply. The tap appears to have been turned off and there is tangible effect on the grounds. 

Rao and Vajpayee surely put India on high economic growth path. But their times also saw India coming under the firm grip of Maoists. The Red Corridor dotted India right from the border with Nepal to deep forests of Chhatisgarh. The Government of India officially admits 80 districts in the country being in strong grip of Maoists. The Left Wing Extremism spread its influence among poor tribal and Dalit. They gained followers and sympathizers, because poor stayed on margins of the society and the economic growth, which surpassed nine per cent mark in Vajpayee's time, had no effect on their lives. They could not access those benefits on which the Central government spent billions of dollars each year.

In Modi, they sensed a rare opportunity to make an electoral choice to break free from shackles of self-limiting social and economic conditions. Modi is now an emperor of Indian democracy, because he broke the caste and community herds, who by habit and conditioning participated in elections in stereotyped manners. Modi broke many stereotypes and he has to consolidate and further cement his political path.

There is a clear merit in Modi being compared with Indira Gandhi. They share similar political clouts, but differ significantly in their socio-economic outlooks. In the chapter, ‘Politics of poverty’, this book has sought to put the statecraft of Indira Gandhi and her successors in perspective.

... (Read more in the book The enabler Narendra Modi)

Silence of secrets

MANY SECRETS LIE BURIED IN THE WOMB OF SILENCE. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, Rajsthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and India's most known son-in-law Robert Vadra are parts of one such mysterious web of silence. 

For details read TURNING OF THE WHEEL chapter in the Book: The Enabler Narendra Modi, which can be bought at http://amzn.to/1CR528s

Despite losing elections and having been instrumental in BJP's humiliating loss at the hands of the maverick activist turned politician, who is also a brutal exponent of the art of politics of muck, Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, Jaitely stays the most powerful minister in the Modi Cabinet. That Jaitely is the most pedestrian minister ever to head the Ministry of Finance is not a fact unknown to Modi. Yet, Jaitely's comfort is not an ounce less.

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Vasundhara Raje Scindia is a mass leader who delivered the most humiliating loss to Congress in Rajsthan. She has paced ahead of her own government at the Centre in unveiling reforms. But she is least heard at the national level. Not by default but it appears that by design she keeps distance from Modi and his government at the Centre. Modi is more than eager to para-drop at any place to associate himself with any landmark developmental works. Yet, Scindia chose to inaugurate the Jaipur Metro herself and did not share the honours with any Central BJP leaders. 

That she is miffed with Modi for non-inclusion of her son Dushyant Singh in the Modi Cabinet is an old tale. She had fought the Assembly elections in the state about six months before Modi got his landmark mandate on an issue, which is now buried in the womb of silence. And that was the alleged unscrupulous land deals involving Robert Vadra. Unlike Manohar Lal Khattar, who was hand-picked by Modi as chief minister of Haryana, 

Scindia is a popular state leader and no taint has yet touched her. She is not yet in the leagues of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had to complain to Sonia Gandhi against spirited Congress campaign over Vyapam scam in the state. Chattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh's name keeps being tossed in media reports over allegations of favouritism. Scindia has stayed away from such accusations and has a stature of her own in the state and the party.  

Robert Vadra's name was on the lips of Modi at each of the public rally he addressed in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But "Damad ji" is not troubled a bit despite BJP forming government at the Centre a year ago and in Rajsthan one and a half years ago. BJP came to power in Haryana about six months ago. 

Senior Congress leaders who are not the camp followers of Rahul Gandhi claim to have some insight over the mystery. The book -- The enabler Narendra Modi -- has examined the mysterious silence at length. 

(Note: This post was written before the controversy surrounding Lalit Modi unfolded and has become all the more relevant now.)

Print edition at http://www.amazon.co.uk/enabler-Narendra-Modi-Breaking-stereotypes/dp/1514145766

    

Hinterland onslaught

POLITICAL STABILITY HAS PITFALLS TOO. It allows shift of attention to issues unattended for years or decades. Such issues could have potential to disturb social amity. Some of them are well known to those who matter, but they refuse to open their eyes for fear of consequences. 

Larger worries for cascading effects of political instability preoccupied people for two and a half decades. And they ignored social upheavals taking place in their backyards. In those years of collective social disbelief, nature-loving tribals in Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh were lured by benefits of education and healthcare along with other material gains to become Christians. The governments, both at the Centre and states, knew well of the goings-on, but chose to become silent approver or collaborator at some places.  

That the Christian Missionaries savoured poverty of tribals in India's hinterland is a fact commonly known. And the manner in which tribals of Jharkhand and other states turned Christians is brazen to speak the least of the Missionaries. Also, to say that Missionaries broke all the rules of the book will be just an under-statement, for they in the process showed that they had least respect for India's Constitution. 

In Congress they found a benign political patron. And, the Missionaries went about their proselytizing jobs in the hinterland with impunity, while Sonia Gandhi remote-controlled the Manmohan Singh government for a decade. The Congress rule earlier in a few of the states directly (Andhra Pradesh) and in proxy (Jharkhand) gave them the kind of hunting ground for proselytizing they just dreamt for.   

Yet, tipping point came after the emboldened Missionaries began targetting Dalits for conversions. And their brazenness brought them at staring glance of those who sought out to defeat their designs through their own trade in the tribal land.

Incidentally, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, an affiliate group of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), had been trying to slow down conversions of tribals with their educational activities in Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. Former Jharkhand chief minister Babu Lal Marandi is a product of this RSS offshoot, besides many others. However, it could not match the wherewithal of the Missionaries who could afford to bribe the poor in lieu of change of religion with the might of foreign fund flow. And the foreign fund flow ballooned in the last one decade, with Sonia Gandhi making the Manmohan Singh government bend to the extreme.

Ironically, Manmohan Singh had questioned the NGOs getting foreign funds after they tried to stall the Koodankoolam Nuclear Power Plant and many such bodes came under the scanner of the FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act). The Centre ensured fund flow squeeze. But no such clampdown happened on those brazenly carrying out conversions by the UPA government for a decade.

HOWEVER, the BJP with Narendra Modi changed the status quo. And the Christian zealots had since been angry with Modi. They are yet to fathom how could a Hindu "hawk" become Prime Minister of the country. 

K V Thomas

Prof. K. V. Thomas is one such Christian Congress leader from Kerala. He became Union minister in Monmohan Singh Cabinet by taking care of Sonia Gandhi's taste buds. Congress leaders would tell gleefully, that Thomas would bring freshwater fishes to 10, Janpath straight from Kerala for years, and the reward later ensued in him becoming a minister. 

Now, he's an angry man.
  
"He's a dictator. Can you believe, this government sent non-Catholics to represent India when two Indians were canonized by the Pope. Earlier, only Catholics were sent. I called up Sushma Swaraj to tell her that never ever non-Catholics had been sent to Pope, but she was unaware of who had made the decision and was helpless. Only one man calls shot in this government and he's is Modi," ranted Thomas.

Incidentally, Thomas is not a solitary angry bird. Sonia Gandhi had been more angry than him and any other Congress leaders. Her eagerness to rally her MPs and those of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha to create ruckus has been noticed on numerous occasions.   

And she finally succeeded during the Winter session of the Parliament to paralyse the Rajya Sabha, with the CBI stung Trinamool Congress more than willing to eat out of Sonia Gandhi's hands. The Mamata Banerjee brigade along with the Congress paralyzed the Rajya Sabha on an alleged incident of re-conversion,which allegedly took place in Agra in Uttar Pradesh. Taking part in a discussion on the same issue, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav refuted any tension in his state and wondered why was it being discussed in the Lower House. 

COMING Coming back to the issue of conversions and simmering tensions, the Congress must take credit for exponential rise of Christian population in the country. The Congress prepared the grounds for the Missionaries for their proselytizing activities by keeping education and health care infrastructure moth-eaten.   

Children in this country are at the mercy of the Missionary schools for their education. The poor in the hinterland can not access reliable health care except for those offered by the Missionaries. And there is no free lunch in the world is not lost on these evangelical zealots. They've extracted the price by swelling their numbers. And the governments, both at the Centre and in the states, have done just lip services to these twin areas, which make people, especially the poor, vulnerable. And, it's to the credit of the Congress, that people in this country largely are at the mercy of the Missionary schools and nursing homes for the basic needs.

Going forward, there may be more confrontation among the offshoots of the RSS and the Christian zealots. The design to proselytize can not be defeated by replicating the modus operandi for lack of financial muscle. So, the war will need to be won at the psychological level, that by the use of the muscle.

And, it's true, that the lack of monetary wherewithal could well be compensated by that of the muscle. That seems to be the strategy now to turn away the tidal wave of religious conversions.

Postscript:

ARTICLE 25 of the Indian Constitution grants the freedom to practice and preach one's faith. No right comes without reasonable restrictions, which in the case of preaching (and promoting religion) is that there should not be any inducements. The Central government never bothered to codify these restrictions. But the state of Odisha did it first followed by Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand would soon do it. 

"My freedom ends when my elbow touches someone else's body,"

Bhartruhari Mahatab

said erudite BJD MP in Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahatab, while taking part in a discussion on the issue of conversion. 

He detailed extensive conversions of tribals in South Odisha carried out by the Missionaries and explained how the anti-conversion law enacted by the state has now become a role model for other states.  

The elbow has not just touched, but bruised others. 

And that calls upon the Centre to enact a strong law to define and codify room for the elbow to swing.

Besides, there is a strong need with the right intention to block the foreign fund flow for religious conversions and let there be a CAG audit of all the religious bodies receiving donations from abroad in the last one decade.  

Turning of the wheel of time

A decade back India's most admired politician Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not believe that the people had rejected him. That six years of "good works" could not impress people seemed beyond his comprehension.

In his moments of disbelief, his friend and colleague Sharad Yadav visited him one evening in 2004 just after the Lok Sabha elections. "Aap bhi haar gaye (you too lost)," Vajpayee sighed at the sight of the socialist. 

"Aapko to maaloom hai ham kis liye haare...(you know why we have lost)," gushed Yadav.

Vajpayee, with a sense of rejection, sat down to chat with his former Cabinet colleague. They concurred, that the NDA government would have retained power in 2004 had Gujrat chief minister Narendra Modi been punished for the post-Godhra riots in 2002.

"This country did not re-elect Vajpayee because he could not act against Modi. People forgot all the good works of Vajpayee and punished him for the (mis)deeds of Modi. Yeh desh Modi ko kabhi PM nahi bana sakta (this country can never make Modi a PM)," Yadav told this blogger last year, after his party, JD (U), had snapped 17 years long relations with the BJP.

Yadav has lost another elections from the same Madhepura Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.

In 2004 he had lost to RJD's Lalu Prasad. Now, he has lost to Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav of the RJD. And, Madhepura where Yadavs consider themselves to be too intellectual to elect a muscleman has exactly done so.

But Vajpayee is no more in his senses to receive Yadav and ask him why he lost another elections. India's most admired politicians for many decades no more recognizes people and at the most he smiles at those who go to meet him.

However, if Vajpayee had been in his senses, he would have again been bewildered to see that India has elected Modi for Prime Ministerial job. That too with a number so stunning, that the whole Opposition may stay in shock for quite longer time.

And with his insight he would have known that his belief in 2004 of having lost re-elections due to post-Godhra riots and his inability to act against the "rogue" chief minister was so off the mark.

That the 2004 NDA defeat had much to do with arrogant "India shining" campaign and sheer arrogance of Pramod Mahajan were lost to majority of media, who were blinded by stereotyped campaign against Modi and now hopefully seeks to rediscover their sight, after the people have given their verdict. 

The wheel of time has turned.

Now, India's most demonized politician for a decade is all set to be sworn in as Prime Minister. He inspires so much of hatred in his rivals, that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi do not consider proper to take his name on their lips. And true to the character of the Congress, other leaders of the party ape the mother-son duo to the hilt.

But India has moved much beyond the comprehension of Sonia Gandhi and her son. And by the time they would realize that India is no more a country of people seeking free rice and wheat, Modi would have delivered fatal blow to the very roots of the Congress.

An unemployed educated in Bhagalpur, Bihar.

Last two and a half decades of Indian democracy saw willy politicians  putting fetters of "secularism" to the people.

In the garb of protecting India's secularism, these willy politicians institutionalized dynasty in Indian politics. And to perpetuate their "secular" politics and safeguard dynasties, they took an ultra-Left turn for worse. 

The game-plan may have lasted a little longer if not for P V Narsimha Rao opening up India's windows to the world.

That Manmohan Singh was such a gifted Finance Minister under Rao and such a wasted Prime Minister under Sonia Gandhi should surely be a matter of another commentary, but he did help India see enormity of opportunities, which lied on the path of development.

In those frosty years of 1990s, India and its people had seen and read progress made by South-east Asian nations. And they rightly thought and aspired that India too could do much better than the smaller South-east Asian nations. 

Furthermore, Vajpayee gave wings to dreams of teeming millions of people. And then the A P J Abdul Kalam phenomenon happened. This dreamy man made Indians not only dream but even chase them.

And he made a lot of people believe that India would be a developed nation by 2020.

But Vajpayee was ousted, and, with the support of the Left, the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power in 2004. The Left painted the UPA in deep red colour.

The dream of India becoming a developed nation by 2020 was thrown into a dust-bin and the country returned on the path traversed in 1980s.

If the Left was not enough, Sonia Gandhi packed her National Advisory Council (NAC) with ultra-Leftists and jhollawaalas who ran NGOs here and there.

And they believed that ensuring almost free rice and wheat to 75 per cent population of the country was the job for which there should be a government in New Delhi. 

A village in Itawa (UP)

A whole decade was lost. A generation soaked themselves in anguish at the lost opportunities.

The colleges graduated skilled professionals, who sought jobs to sell soaps.

Government stopped recruiting and corporate began laying off.

And India soon had an army of unemployed and under-employed and improperly employed mass of youth cursing each and every one on government and politics.

India had been such a paradox from 2004-14, that the posterity would ask, how could so many fools ruled the country at the same time. And the younger generation knew better than the most, that they could not afford to waste another decade chasing the discarded Russian ways of governance.

In Modi, India has seen a hope to redeem itself. And, he as a true politician had the measure of the pulse of the nation before any one else had. He knew that there is a lot of anger in India, which is aspirational. 

And, the "culprit" who cut short the innings of Vajpayee presented himself as the man who could empathize with anger of the nation and yet jacked up aspirations manifold. But he carried the track-record, which made the people believe each word that he uttered.

"A business house based out of Kolkata had applied online to Gujrat government for setting up a plant in the state," said a senior Samajwadi Party leader, who tried to drive home the point why Modi was connecting with the people.

A couple of days later, mobile phone of the businessman rang and to his hello, the man on the other side said, that he was Narendra Modi speaking. Still in shock, the businessman heard Modi asking him if he could come to Ahmedabad next day for a 2.30 PM appointment.

He readied a suitcase of files to make presentation and met the appointment. As he spread out his files on the table, with Modi sitting on the other side, Gujrat CM told him, that the papers could be put back in the suitcase. 

"This is a three-page MoU, which we have prepared, wherein we have mentioned what all support the state government would provide for your proposed plant. If there is anything missing, you can let us know," Modi told the businessman, who found that there was nothing missing. And the MoU was signed there and then.

"Now, tell me which chief minister in India works like that and if he is able to connect with the people, why should any one complaint," the SP leader told this blogger.

Arguably, 2014 verdict is a body blow to practitioners of politics of secularism in Gangetic plains of UP and Bihar. The only other state where this brand of politics could survive even after the Modi Tsunami is West Bengal.

That the mercurial wonder lady of Indian politics has survived Modi onslaught is true, but is surely not going to be her permanent feat. And she will have to face a much bigger push of developmental politics in 2016 state elections, which is written clearly on the wall. 

Some dreams never die.

The wheel of time has turned and has turned against all those who take people for a ride in the name of saving India's "secularism". 

And not only Vajpayee was wrong in diagnosing defeat of NDA in 2004 even his comrade L K Advani has been utterly out of sync with time.

You can't flog one man all years for one riot irrespective of the fact whether he was complicit or not. There has been 179 communal riots under the watch of Akhilesh Yadav in UP since 2012 and still this chief minister is "greatest custodian of secularism".  

Hypocrisy has an expiry date. And it lasts a little longer only in places, where people are hell-bent to commit suicide.

Narendra Modi's Manmohan dream

The distinctive feature of UPA's two avatars from 2004 till now has been about pouring of adulation in plenty for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh abroad, while Congress president Sonia Gandhi steadied the coalition ship in the domestic waters. 

But the script started weakening from 2010, as Delhi geared up to host the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The dark underbelly of the UPA begun baring self. The corruption muck began splattering fast onto the faces of the UPA's cherished leaders. 

From 2010 onward the slide in stock of Manmohan Singh in foreign capitals and Congress' within the country have been on the lines of a rock hurtling down from the peak of a mountain.

India was central to the constitution of the Bric, now Brics, an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But the recently held Durban conclave of Bricks saw Manmohan Singh cold-shouldered so much so that the head of the host nation did not bother even to have a separate meeting with the turbaned leader for whom top world leaders used to "ear up". Now, the buzz is that Indonesia is seen a better candidate than India for the Brics grouping.

The Congress had been exploiting the top standing of Manmohan Singh in foreign capitals to drum up political support. The image of an upright person, who is fountain of knowledge, had people joyously voting the Congress win 2009 elections despite odds of price rise. But the growth story since 2012 began disappointing all. 

The man who steadied the Indian economy amid the global meltdown appeared to have lost the appetite and energy to further push the India story on the growth trajectory.

The gloom spread within India and abroad too. The world had though that Manmohan Singh would give them an anchor to the global economy with a parallel of the China story. Within India, the hopes of the rising middle class had enough wings to keep flying unmindful of the hiccups. 

The BJP had largely been clueless to capitalize on the loss of face by the UPA. The party stalwart L. K. Advani, though healthy and hearty, has been past his prime for all political purposes. He blundered the election campaign of 2009 by misreading the pulse of the people and followed up with some ill-advised display of wades of notes in the Parliament only to score self goals. Gradually the BJP became a ship lost on the high sea, with no captains on board to anchor it.

Ironically, the UPA all along had been also like the BJP ship adrift on the high sea, with captains on drugged sleep, refusing to listen to the hammering of the sea waters thrust with angry waves. 

The inauguration of 2013, however, began with the roaring of a man condemned for over a decade with abuses of "mass murderer, Nazi, despot, Yamraj riding the buffalo, etc.". The man is Gujrat chief minister Narendra Modi, with his third consecutive state poll victory, and is impatient to soar high on the Indian horizon. He is emboldened enough to spread out of the Gujrat confines. He has vanquished the Congress in the state to the extent that the top leadership of the grand old party avoids to campaign against him. 

Naturally, Modi has stirred up hot debates in the Indian political discourse. In the Opposition NDA camp, his rise is like a cat having been let loose among the pigeons. The JD (U) leaders -- Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar -- wish Advani rediscover his charm fast enough. 

If not, they fear, Modi could emerge a domineering force to stitch around an alliance of his choice where allies may not call the shorts, as had been the cases during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA and Manmohan Singh's UPA rules.

Incidentally, Manmohan Singh ignited the hope globally and locally of fast growth and collective prosperity. But having abandoned the ship midway, Modi senses an opportunity to not only board it but even captain the wayward carrier. In Gujrat, Modi  appears to have given a semblance of the China story. He thinks that the Gujrat story could be of India too. 

The negativity is in plenty currently in India. "India story can not be of a five per cent growth," Manmohan Singh lamented recently. But the anguish largely is that the Manmohan Singh opera is talking of the malaise only. They have no solution in sight on why the the Indian summer faded after the initial short-lived bursts. 

Undoubtedly, India story is tottering and is gasping for breath. The ailment is policy paralysis on the back of torrents of  corruption.

But Modi claims to have the medicine to enliven the Indian summer. He has demonstrated the ills and proffered cure too. Therefore, the corporate India is falling over each other to ride on the Modi juggernaut. The message is spreading abroad too and, hence, the beeline from the US to the UK to Germany to be seen as birds who sighted the first rays of the morning. 

While the UPA story has been about two individuals playing on two turfs, Modi promises to simplify it to one entity. Two creates dichotomy, as had been the case so far with the UPA, as Manmohan Singh had been conveniently passing the buck on to the coalition compulsions for all the mucks in his regime. 

Therefore, Indian interest would be served least with such arrangements any more even though those sucked into the corruption would wish that such weak system at the top continues. 

Hence, Modi strikes the chord with so many people effortlessly, as he is seen no-nonsense, decisive and a man with purpose. In short, the people see In Modi what Manmohan Singh could not be though hoped for by millions.   

When the ship is adrift on the high sea the immediate challenge is to seek a captain who knows the waters. He has to calm down the nerves of the panic stricken passengers. Quick decisions are to be taken and the umbilical chord of corruption with the polity has to be snapped once and for all with ferocity that no blood flows through it ever again. There is none other than Modi who could take such onerous task. And he promises to answer the demands with elan and conviction.   

After nine years in the office the "reluctant" leader in light blue turban gave only fodder for imagination to the billion strong Indians. Modi has his audience already filled with enough imagination. He has pilot the safe and smooth landing of the Indian dream.   

The runway at the Ashok Rajpath awaits Narendra Modi's landing. But the weather has already become turbulent. Therefore, the landing can not be on an auto-pilot mode but would require immense manual maneuvering.