Rising from the ashes makes you larger than what you are. We all survive in this world, but remain mere mortals unlike Krishna who is loved as a God since he had survived the tyrannical onslaught of Kansa; Jesus is what he is also because he is believed to have come alive after crucifixion; Rama is worshiped because he could glorify the toughest phase of his life during the period of his exile. Psychologically, we get attracted towards the one who rises against all odds. We get awe struck with the unexpected performance of an underdog.
Any normal mortal could not have survived the onslaught that Modi was subjected to. Not only was he bashed up and hanged several times by the entire media inside and outside this country, but was also thrashed by the well-meaning intelligentsia, academicians, thinkers and politicians all across the political shades and boundaries including even BJP. That he could barely manage to retain his post of CM after the Gujarat riots against the comfort of many of his own party-men is no secret. But what goes entirely to his credit is that he put his head down to work out on a ‘no-nonsense’ strategy that has now sprang him up with a larger than life image.
We were used to identifying him solely as an icon of communal politics. He was effectively considered as a synonym to communal hatred, and believe me this kind of image in India has the ability to bury any politician’s career into a deep grave, and with certainty squeezes his area of influence to marginal levels. We are secular not because our constitution says so; we do not ascribe to secular ideology because we do not have another option to choose from, but it is a largely accepted reality that apart from a few religions that find their origin elsewhere, all Indian religions are patently, inherently and overwhelmingly secular. It also goes without saying that even those religions who find their origins outside of India also understand the greatness and necessity of being secular, and use their Indian instinct to dig out and highlight this aspect of their religion to enhance and establish their secular credentials.
The crisis before the then politically untouchable Modi was to establish himself as acceptable first and then to become adorable. To his credit, he did this in reverse. He achieved this by showcasing his unprecedented administrative and governance skills to establish himself as a man of development and a no nonsense go-getter. He outsmarted his adversaries who kept themselves engaged entirely into making him a communal icon and instead of reacting to them he left no stone unturned to rise to this stature. It was not easy to do this. But to our surprise, he has done that. When the other BJP biggies were just waiting for an inevitable anti-incumbency factor to grow against the ruling congress to cash in, it was Modi who kept working on improving the key figures of visible comparison indicators to surprise each one of us with tables. When the mass is disappointed and disgusted with the performance of the government at the centre, he has provided them the hope that they were hopelessly looking for. That is precisely why, unlike AAP who sold only dreams to the voters, Modi’s promises look achievable to them. For the voters at large now Modi symbolizes achievable hope.
Modi has not only successfully established his Gujarat model as — ‘development without appeasement’ but has also shown that he can deliver against all odds.