I have always been a politically sensitive person. Maybe it has to do with the kind of political awareness we had when we were brought up in an era that was in turmoil - Emergency, Post Emergency Turmoil, Indira Gandhi Assassination.......................all these were defining moments in the history of India, and happened when we were impressionable. Unlike the modern day students we were not apathetic to politics, but debated about issues concerning the country amongst ourselves. We were a group of 17 - a bunch that had KSU, SFI, ABVP, AISF supporters and a few neutrals. We had party based elections in College and even at School. Today's generation studying in CBSE Schools and Private Colleges miss out this experience, which really shaped our thinking.
I have followed all the elections in the past 40 years, and there is an element of excitement with the current one. After a long time, we smell change in the air. We have as a candidate who has demonstrated, both leadership and governance, qualities. Modi is a man with a mission, and one sincerely hopes he wins big and wont have to compromise with smaller parties to implement his agenda.
Gone under the barrage of criticism of Modi by the Media, are a few facts that stand out.
Modi has proved to be a master organizer. He identified rightly that UP is where he will win or lose the battle for Delhi, and sent his right hand man Amit Shah 18 months in advance to prepare the state for BJP. And how well Amit Shah has performed. If BJP is optimistic of getting more than 45 seats in UP today, it is solely due to Amit Shah. It has also led to a situation where Modi is willing to fight in Varanasi, despite Murli Manohar Joshi winning that seat by a mere 17,000 votes last time around. If Varanasi, with its symbolism, is considered to be a safe seat now (otherwise Modi wont fight there), it is no mean achievement. Amit Shah, has single handedly, sidelined spoilers like Uma Bharati, Kalyan Singh, MM Joshi and even Rajnath Singh, who have done enough to queer the pitch for BJP in UP in the past.
One of the reasons why BJP almost degenerated to being considered to be the Congress replica is the functioning style of L K Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Sushma Swaraj. There was hardly any differentiation in their functioning with respect to Congress. But these people, who lived on past glory, like Yuvraj Singh in Indian team now, were proving to be a drag. To their credit RSS and BJP identified this bogey well in advance and anointed Modi as the PM Candidate well in advance, giving him the time and space to have his own team and agenda in place. It was on the cards that the above mentioned will try to put a spanner in Modi's rise at some stage or other. That is precisely what happened. But one by one they were cut to size. While media might scream about disrespect shown to senior leaders, one can go back to panchatantra to find the logic behind this act - 'One can sacrifice an individual for the sake of a house/village'. Modi took a stand that if some people had to be shown the place, or cut to size for the greater good of the party and the country, so be it. Advani was forced to accept Gandhinagar, Yashwant Sinha is not even contesting, MM Joshi was denied his Varanasi seat, Jaswant Singh refused his choice of seat and Sushma Swaraj's opinion on various issues have been contemptuously dismissed. And all these were done using the party apparatus. The party is run by a team of dedicated people, who are there to strengthen the arms of Modi, and they are doing a good job. Once the above 4-5 are put in their place, dissent down the line will die down naturally, which augurs well for BJP.
And nothing succeeds like success, or rather, nothing attracts like a person who is about to triumph. Parties and individuals are lining up to align with BJP - be it Paswan, Pawan Kalyan, Raj Thackeray, TDP, TRS and even DMK, PDP, NCP. Modi is no longer untouchable. But I sincerely hope, BJP gets 272 seats on its own, and wont have to depend on the whims and fancies of the turncoats.
