The Growth Mantra.

I don’t like the Pakistanis comparing themselves with India on every front because we are way too different. May be a little connection is still there, but nothing significant. The divergence started way back in 1947. Since then we have traversed in two diagonally opposite directions.

India’s democracy is very functional. I am voting in the EVM (electronic voting machine) for over 20 years now. The process of power transfer is very smooth. We had power transitions between BJP and Congress in 1999-2000 (when I was in Malaysia so missed voting), 2004 (that BJP lost), 2009 (that congress won for a second consecutive time with Manmohan Singh for PM – the congress had a long stretch of 10 uninterrupted years when India was going strong that was WASTED by Singh and Sonia with their inefficiency), 2014 and again 2019 both of which BJP won. Whoever loses blames the winner with tampering with the EVMs! BJP was new to Indian politics barring briefest stints before 1999 that got brutally truncated. The party was also still consolidating. We NEVER expected BJP to deliver when it came to our colossal economy because we had had PV Narasimha Rao for congress PM who was kind of lowkey but a pro when it came to governance and fine-tuning the economy. Even the BJP has to give the credit to Rao which is why Rao was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna – very well deserved. See the irony. Someone crooked as Rajiv Gandhi won the award (which literally translates to jewel of India) while BJP had to give the award to the former PM acknowledging his role in nation building that congress could have done. Who is not corrupt in politics tell me. See the chest-thumping Arwind Kejriwal. One day they all get the toxins into their blood. Its like you have to be consuming lethal poison and immunize yourself from venomous snake bites. This is what happens to even those who enter politics with finest ideals. Its okay. I am being practical. So long as they deliver, I have no issues. If you have to take a kickback, do a little but get maximum done for the nation. If BJP is ticking today, its on this basis only.

Anyway, it came as a surprise that AB Vajpayee who we thought was such a philosophical bachelor, turned out to be pro-growth. I loved that first full term of BJP. APJ Abdul Kalam was our president. He was a Veena playing, Bhagwad Gita reading missile man (scientist) from Rameshwaram, the southern most tip of India. This nation of mine could be that contrasting. An enigma. BJP lost 2004 only due to anti-incumbency factor that played against them when they were indecisive about the PM candidate. Vajapayee was getting older and falling sick. BJP’s grave error was not announcing the PM candidate before polls – which could have been LK Advani. That would have clinched them the elections. But they lost by very thin margin even if Congress too never announced their PM candidate. That was a valuable lesson that BJP learnt that put them back by 10 very crucial years. This is why by 2014, they decided on Modi as even Advani was getting too old. Advani ji reminds of Bhishma pithamaha of Mahabharatha: never holding an official post but being there as the ancient grandfather who everyone looked upto. Modi never forgot to honour him whenever an opportunity rose. Advani ji too graciously gave up the slot to Modiji even if initially was against him. All these things happened the way they did because Pramod Mahajan, the probable PM candidate from BJP from Mumbai met with untimely death (not a Modi/BJP conspiracy; Mahajan was shot at point blank range by his own blood brother over a family dispute regarding family estate). Young and driven, had he lived, Modi would not have arrived at national stage today. That is destiny see. By 2003, it was established kind of that, LK Advani and after him Pramod Mahajan would be leading BJP and be the prime ministerial candidates. This is what we call Karma in India. Unless the chair, the throne is stamped with one’s name, nobody can take the seat. The rule is the same everywhere: whether India or Pakistan. Not only that, someone like Modi ji we sincerely believe, could have had previous janams as Hindu king/prince. I always believe, the destiny of Modi ji was not scripted for India. Modi’s fate was written that way for Ram Temple in Ayodhya: and the one and only man powerful enough in India to do it could have been our prime minister. You know sometimes, these are the things we see as we think more in spiritual terms. We see some underlying designs – whether others believe or not. I am saying this because, even in the case of Mumbai terror attacks in 2011, why do you think of the dozen of armed terrorists only Ajmal Kasab lived to expose the truth? Why was he not shot down? Kasab lived because already Pakistan was readying conspiracy theories to counter India’s charges. India’s own congress especially P Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu who we Tamils shall NEVER FORGIVE even dared and tried to pin the blame on RSS/BJP. There lives a God you know, and that is why I am a believer in Allah too. Allah spared Kasab alive. Not Raam. Allah is the one who is buttering the bread for millions of Hindus working/living in Middle-east. I shall forever remain grateful to Him. He showed me/us also the good/benevolent side of the Arabs/native muslims. They are neither like Indian muslims nor Pakistanis who are all converts and NOTHING MORE. Its all politics to our political parties and media guys. Its much more than that to aam aadmi or general junta. We MISS NOTHING. We know every single detail. The irony was that, for rebuilding of the Taj, even a Pakistani team bid for the global tender. Reportedly there was pressure from PC to award the contract to the Pakistanis. We Hindus shall never forget the betrayal of the congress. Finally it was Tata who summarily rejected the Pakistan application. So Congress did not lose just like that. Hindus are neither fanatical. But we believe in basics like loyalty, gratitude, honesty that’s all.

That combined with promise of growth won the 2014 elections for BJP. Since then there is no looking back for the party. Modiji’s achievements for India are in the public forum. They don’t need to be documented. In 10 years he got for India what congress could not in 60 years – in many issues. But I do concede that India needed the good start like a good batting line-up for first 20-30 overs in ODI cricket that was provided by congress govt. Nehru was also a man of the world even if India could have benefited from Sardar Patel who Gandhi ruled out for PM post. In those days, when leaders spoke, the subordinates listened. Patel accepted his watered down role even if he was defence minister. Had Patel been India’s first PM, we would be ahead by 30 more years today. Consolidation of India: this was the work of Patel NOT Nehru. It was a tragedy, he lived not for long after independence.

Today whatever we may have in our midst by way of social media propaganda or bribing voters with biriyani packets or 500-5000 bucks and wooing them with false promises, the general janata are very much aware who will deliver, who can be trusted, who can keep the nation stable and who can assure us the sense of security. Modi wins for these reasons. Its not his speech that gets him votes. Its his actions.

Modi the dynamic: its going to be excruciatingly tough for India to find a replacement for him when it shall be time for him to leave; his energy levels are unparalleled. There can never be another Modi.

Down south, I come from Tamil Nadu, a staunch Dravidian state who along with Kerala would never give a single parliamentary seat for central parties. As far as Kerala is concerned, their marxist/communist parties tie up with congress so that way congress gets a backdoor entry. Still no chance for BJP in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, BJP has been drawing a blank for decades now. I first saw the lotus symbol in my school days. May be the year was 1977. There was also the symbol of a farmer turning the yoke printed on a neighbour’s wall. Everywhere else it was the hand symbol of congress. That was the first time Janata party won a Lok sabha elections in India even if the Morarji Desai government never lasted the full term of five years. My family always voted for congress even if congress lost in Tamil nadu always. They never voted for DMK – the local dravidian parties who they believed were totally corrupt. BJP was unheard of.

Lately we believe BJP is making inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala like never before. I expect BJP to bag at least 3-4 seats from my state which will be kind of world record. The state leader Annamalai is as promising as young Modi of those days. In fact I can say, he is slated for All India role/central role in very near future. Extremely decent human being and well informed, he could be a main reason for voters drawn to BJP. Even otherwise in my city where not everybody knows Shahrukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan or can speak Hindi, Modi became household name with demonetization, even with Covid management and mainly for LPG subsidies, medical card etc. I hope BJP will be building their vote bank and may be one day, they shall take the state assembly. It shall happen but it shall take time.

Every government will have to face unemployment issues, contingencies and natural calamities and catastrophes and even those like Covid situation, investment snags, execution issues, corruption at all levels. A successful government has to survive after all this and triumphantly lead the nation forward.

As for congress, first of all this bachcha Rahul Gandhi has to grow into serious adult! Then he must have some transparency. Whole world knows he has a family tucked away somewhere. He is so disinterested, talks to China, anti-national openly and lacks simply the maturity and mental strength like the seasoned BJP leaders. If he has any shame at all, he should pull out of contesting in Lok sabha elections. Should India go to his hands, then we must be ready to commit mass suicide. There is NO ROLE FOR INDIAN MILITARY EXCEPT IN OUR BORDERS. Hopefully they idle away never fighting a battle. May their artillery rust and may they be bored because of nondeployment in action. May their only mission be peacetime relief works.

Narendra Modi: Conceived for India. Born for Ram Temple Ayodhya Mission. Breathing, living for India – with NO OTHER PURPOSE. Working 20 hours a day, catching up sleep in flights. Decisive. Well informed, Diplomatic. Progressive. Adaptive. Tech savvy. A visionary. He is the answer to our 1000 year penance may be. May be when the Moguls struck our temples down and took the Hindu women to their harems, robbing us of our gold and diamonds and livelihood, when the British enslaved us and stripped us of our dignity, the Hindus enmasse prayed for this Avatar Purush. You cannot satisfy every quarter. You cannot perform 100% and you cannot be perfect 100%. We have to see the overall picture that’s all. If Modi is that bad, then the muslims of Gujarat/entire India would have fled India for citizenship in Saudi/Pakistan. As you see, it never happened even POST GODHRA and is not bound to happen ever. But we see on the other hand, the largest Hindu temple coming up in the desert sands of Arabia and the emiratis breaking the Ramadan fasting in the Hindu Mandir of Abu Dhabi. My greatest contentment is that I am a contemporary of Modiji. Try to create a single selfless political leader like him first before you criticize him dear Pakistanis. Imran Khan who stole and married a grandmother of 5 kids in her 50s became your prime minister. Nawaz Sharif sold official gifts for private profits. These are not trivial isolated incidents: these to me represent serious character flaw in the heads of state. This is the essential calibre of Pakistani. And your military had no role to play in both the cases.

To me personally, investment in human resources plays a major role be it at family level or national level. India is doing progressively better in this scenario though leaves much to be desired. From media observations and dramas and very minor interactions with Pakistanis, my take is that: their HUMAN RESOURCES ARE VERY POOR. SUBSTANDARD. A thorough homework has to be done. I would say, FIVE WOMEN PAKISTANI CEOS COULD NOT COMPARE TO ONE SINGLE MIDDLE AGE INDIAN HOUSEWIIFE hahaha! Really. Defence, manufacturing sector, all these are secondary. First improve your manpower pool. Its very stagnated and below par. Having said that, I don’t want the China kind of growth story in India. India still has this SOUL. We do so many things for our holistic improvement: from spiritual pursuits to recreational ideas. From classical art forms to dense literature. I would hate India to lose that soul for material short-term gains. Present rate of growth will do. Consistency is the key. Labour intensity is a blessing in the days where AI is swallowing millions of jobs. World is bracing for a complete breakdown with chaos. Labour intensive economies are gifted in this kind of time. That way I hope Pakistan has a chance but must be tapped optimally. We are talking about a country whose entire annual GDP is the market realization of one single Indian conglomerate, the Tatas. How could you even compare.

After Modi who?

I have a line=up. For Prime ministerial candidates, none other than Yogi Adityanath from Uttar Pradesh. Second choice Jayashankar, the present external affairs minister. But Yogi is locally curated. Jayashankar could be politically diplomatically savvy. However when it comes to internal administration, his history and expertise remain a big question mark. You need a Chankya, a Raja tantri to govern India. That seems to be missing in him in my opinion. Internal politics much more important than foreign diplomacy. I hold hopes on TN BJP head Annamalai who may have a pan India charisma already. He is well received across states. He is making waves. One day he could be our prime minister but he is too young. BJP must start making a roll of probables for a near/distant future as well as for any eventuality (god forbid) if/when they return to power this year. They may have a roster already. They are far ahead of others in these matters. I like the firebrand Annamalai. Seeing Annamalai and Yogi I realize what an aspiring politician or a politician growing in stature must be like. India has any hope because of men like these.

As for congress?!

Rahul; Rahul ka beta nahi hai tho Priyanka ka beta ya beti; then Priyanka ki pouthi. Pouthi ki pouthi. (Rahul ka beta has to brought down from Venezuela may be!)