In 1984, I was just 40-days-old when my name was finalised in a Gurudwara, and my family of five had just walked out and crossed the road when the whole Gurudwara was burned behind us. The Indira Gandhi assassination had created havoc and had it been five minutes late, I wouldn’t have been alive to write this post.
So, it is very obvious that Congress was never a party I looked up to, and the whole thing scandalized me even more when I read that the then-leaders of the Congress had apparently not even tried to stop the riots, but had rather said that political murders can not be neglected, and someone has to pay the cost. However, I had respect for Mr Manmohan Singh not because of his political party but his contribution to the Indian economy. However he failed miserably as a prime minister more because he wasn’t allowed – probably- to pull off decisions without the consent of the masters.
Then blew the Modi wind. His credibility wasn’t much assured, but the whole country saw him as a relief from the thought-to-be anti-Indian ways of governance by the Congress. The emotional fools that we, the people of India are, Mr Modi, swept everyone off with his commitments and impressive speeches.
The whole country started looking up to him as the son of the soil. Then, came the time when he finally took over as the PM. And, the country started seeing divisions based on religion. His and his party’s extreme views about their own religion and attachment to the damage done to the country by others started showing up in their decisions and policies. He earned a lot of praise, for the Abrogation of Article 370, and supposedly resolving the Kashmir issue, including mine, and also earned ovations for supposedly finally putting a full stop to Babri Masjid case which had been floating in the political space ever since the BJP emerged as a ‘superpower’ alongside the Congress. They both needed each other’s weak nerves and kept the issues alive. Then came the CAA, and the rest is history.
Mr Modi, who had always shown himself to be the son of the soil, failed to understand that any form of religious extremism can never make a country or develop it. He forgot that he was chosen to be the Prime Minister, not by votes of Hindus, but by the population of the country on a whole.
He could never be my hero, and would never be, because, since the beginning, his speeches had fuel which I always sensed would burn this country one day. He still might be the appropriate option for Prime Minister’s position and I would not be surprised if he is chosen again. But, I would always look up to him as a man who divided my country, approved the issuing of hate slogans and above all made Education sit on a back seat instead of making it a priority. His policies reflect the hatred brewed in him and many like him for several years by RSS.
The amount of money spent under his leadership on the making of statues could have been used for education, so much so that every child in this country could have availed free education, and everybody could get health facilities at minimum prices.
India is already in 2020, and the youth wants jobs. The youth is impatient and is not interested in listening to speeches in rallies. They want jobs money education and travel and none of them are priorities in the policies put forward by Mr Modi and his government. The environment has suffered, the greenery has been destroyed, and the plight of the poor and farmers has been buried behind concrete walls, so that they are not visible.
I do not support Congress because if they come back we would be doomed like before but then, Mr Modi is also not my hero and would never be because his governance is ego-biased and just like the opposition that he condemned so much. His focus is not on the country but the fulfilment of hate and pride-driven agendas.
His name can not be taken without mentioning Mr Amit Shah who, instead of focussing on maintaining peace, law, and order in the country, which happens to be his key responsibility area and his job, is busy dealing with petty hatred and ego-driven inhumanity≤ which ultimately has broken, and will, break the country, and above all will not help him and his party in the long run. There is a saying that talk doesn’t cook rice.
In the past 5 years, I have seen so many people who were Modi Bhakts in my circle turn anti-Modi for their hopes of seeing this country become like other foreign countries(as boasted in speeches) shattered when they saw 2020 looking like 1947.
I was abused online by Bhakts when I said that living in history will only increase the distance between the future but I still stand firm on my opinion that history is bygone, and the brightness of the future will be dependent on how shrewdly we avail the present.
Mr Modi could be anyone’s hero but not mine because for me he is an old man who misused the faith people had put in him and has abused the powers vested in him to fulfil his aspirations of a Hindu Rashtra which would mean creating another Germany. And if this happens, it would be marked as the darkest hour of Indian politics.
I would always respect him as the honourable Prime Minister, because that is my duty and civic sense, but he would not be my hero.