Messiah!

--Look its a bird, no its a plane, no its Narendra Modi.

Our savior has come finally, yes, the One is here. He is the Chosen One who will rid us of big bad Voldy.  And just like that with a swing of his wand all our problems will be solved, but will they?

We so wish our life was like a fantasy novel, but it hardly ever is. Modi's victory though can be called fantastic almost. A landslide victory all over the country, a complete majority for a non-congress government for the first time. The stats speak for themselves, and the Sensex speaks with them :)
Aren't we just so happy that finally the whole election season is over and we have a leader who we can trust to run the country well for the next five years. As voters, our part is done. For the next five years we don't need to worry about the country anymore. We have voted in record numbers and put the perfect man in office. Yes we have.

I am not going to question if the man is right for the job or not, I dare not. But I would still like to question our role in the next five years. With such record breaking numbers we have clearly given the mandate to one man to do everything necessary for a better India. The responsibility is big and so is the power in his hands. There is no pressure on him of maintaining allies even, let alone opposition. No one to blame for policy paralysis, for not passing bills in parliament. No good old excuse of a coalition government. Seriously, over the last 30 years, we as a country had learned to accept coalition as an irrefutable part of democracy. And our leaders always pointed to it as a handicap to India's growth and prosperity. But now, just as there is no obligation on him to satisfy any of the coalition partners, he also, has nobody to answer to in the parliament.

The thing with coalitions is, they keep the government at its toes always. There is always a fear in the ruling party, it is always answerable to someone. Coalition was a form of pseudo-accountability that we as a nation had adopted. And I am  not advocating that in any way, but now that, that form of accountability is not there anymore, we have to turn to the traditional form of accountability in a democracy - The people.

We as a people need to keep Narendra Modi on his toes always from now. Previously, in other governments, we have been too lazy and helpless in dealing with the ruling parties. We need to shun that attitude now. If there is one lesson that needs to be learned from these elections, its that, public opinion and mood in this country matters more than it ever has in our history. With a media that is going through a revolution of sorts, and an ever so lively social media environment, the onus of asking the tough questions is on us. And there are enough platforms available now, enough mediums to do exactly that. We cannot be lazy and wait for the next Lok Sabha elections, if we have a problem, we have to raise it today and now. And we have to vote in the states, we have turned up in record numbers, but these numbers must keep going up with every election, Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. Parties will be wary of people if the voting percentage is high. Because they understand now that poor performance at state level can affect them at national level (AAP) and poor performance at national level can affect them at state level(Congress). And they know we are watching :)

This is the time to rejoice, to celebrate Mr Modi's victory and congratulate him, wish him luck. This is not the time to be complacent and sit back and relax. Not the time to say "Ok, lets get back to our lives now, this guy will run the country". This is the time to ask him what will he do about the increasing inflation, what about fuel prices and electricity, what about our foreign policy, what about Pakistan, China, the USA. What about clean water, toilets for everyone. What about the Ganga of Benaras, the diamond merchants of Surat, of the auto-drivers of Delhi and the adivasis of Jharkhand. What about the traders on Dalal street, and the Pandits of Kashmir. The Dalits of UP and the Muslims of Gujarat. The list of questions for India's messiah is endless.

 Finding the answers to these questions is Mr Modi's job, but asking them, is ours.

NAMO ya na NAMO!!!

Hunger for power can lead men to great heights of opportunism, our leaders these days don't hesitate to grab any opportunity that comes their way. It need not be an opportunity to prove their own merit, just the opportunity to bring down the opposition is enough, then misinterpreted facts and improper language don't really bother them. As long as they get to say - "Hey look, this is what this guy is doing, so it proves that this guy is bad for India, so I am good for India, vote for me". All political statements these days fall into this template, more or less.

Making allegations on one another is one thing, but these elections, people have taken it  too far, politicising matters like the Chennai Central blasts is opportunism and narcissism at its peak, its a terrorist attack for God's sake, at least let the first probe finish before saying that it proves Modi's life is in danger. The recent violence in Varanasi, whatever people there may be doing, violence of any sort is not justified, whether its AAP who is at fault, or the BJP, you cannot just beat each other up in a brawl to decide who is right, we don't live in a lawless land. Politicising the Assam violence, saying it was caused because of so and so leader and party,  BJP members are already saying, Congress has plans to instigate nationwide riots once BJP comes to power, to destabilize the government, and the Assam violence is just the beginning. And of course, the Muzzafarnagar riots, they were the result as well as a source of major political opportunism. These are all the most violent episodes of political opportunism  these elections, the incidents of politicians using poor language are just too many to recount.

What has happened to our leaders, have they lost their intellectual mojo so much that this what they have had to resort to, whatever happened to clean, noble, gentlemen leading a nation. Where are the AB Vajpayees of this election? even the party that Yogendra Yadav(the gentlest man in Indian politics today) belongs to has failed to produce leaders that have any dignity left now. It literally is a jungle raj out there , a man eat man world. And it will not stop until one man's  desire to be PM is fulfilled- Narendra Modi.

Some people say, they saw all this coming the day NaMo was declared the PM candidate by the BJP. He is known for politics of polarisation, the good old divide and rule policy.We Indians love it don't we, just divide us and we will let you rule us.This is how he wins his elections they said, this is how he governs even, shutting down voices against him using brute force, even arm twisting his  political competitors in his own party into supporting him. Snoop-gate, the fake encounters in Gujarat , the '02 riots, the toothless Lokayukta, its a long list. This is one side of NaMo.

The other side of NaMo is the one industrialists love, not just the Adanis and Ambanis as RaGa claims, but all businessmen in general have had a good time doing there business in his state. They have prospered, and the people of Gujarat have prospered with them. And only a fool would want to oppose that model being replicated at  the centre. In today's times, any model will be better than what the UPA is doing, the Gujarat model has its merits and ought to be tried.

NaMo is seen as a man of strong decisions, of authoritarian leadership. The policy paralysis that the country is going through right now, a dose of NaMo is exactly what we may need. At least that's what the nation's industrialists want, and it may not be a bad idea to give them what they want. Their prosperity, in theory at least, can trickle down to the nation's poor as well.

With the elections coming to their final rounds, the results to be out soon, it looks like in all probability NaMo will be our next Prime Minister, and whichever side of him you choose to look at, you have to accept that he is the man today's  India is turning to, for better or for worse, the next five years India's future will be his doing. We will be ruled by the Dr Jekyll and Mr hyde of Indian politics, Maano ya na Maano!!