Aa Gaya Modi

We wake up to a saffron day and quite a lot of us would have had the most peaceful of sleeps last night having known that Modi-led BJP has secured a majority on its own and the wider NDA will get the opportunity to lead this great nation for the second time in a row. In Jan 2019, I had presented my thoughts with mathematical arguments on why BJP alone should score 290-300 seats in Lok Sabha elections after being prodded by a friend. I received disbelief, doubt, hope and trust among many emotions and responses. However, what helped me state so confidently as the elections came and went was outright mockery by the left liberal ecosystem and the robust 67%+ electoral turnout (a general election record beating 66.4% of last time). Today, albeit by a small margin, I am glad that I am proven wrong and the Modi Juggernaut exceeded my calculations by securing 303 seats and a ~37% vote share (my guess in Jan 2019 was a minimum of 35.6%). This event has notable takeaways for us Bhaaratiyas and some cautionary indications as well.

Firstly, the electorate has once again demonstrated a remarkable ability to distinguish between different scales - from micro to macro - the convincing sweeps in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh prove so, beyond a doubt, after similar instances starting from Bihar Assembly elections in 2015. This ability is no more a flash in the pan, but there is a sense of continuity of thought associated with it across multiple years and elections. This was vindicated as NYAY failed. However, I must caution that the failure was not so much because of the assertion that people reject freebies but more so because of relatively dominant undercurrents that should not be missed. Every individual loves freebies, let us not forget that, whether rich or poor. The possible difference is maybe the rich line up at Starbucks or Apple Stores etc to collect their highly discounted products or free stuff and the poor might get attracted by NYAY. So what pulled the plug or made it a dud? The single greatest overriding factor to it was the combination of the incompetence of the politician who offered it and the superior competence of the one who had an overarching alternative to it. Raul Vinci's hopeless incompetence and lack of personal appeal sabotaged NYAY to begin with and Modi's track record and economic promise confirmed the failure. Narendra Modi's concerted attempts to raise the population from physiological needs into the higher tiers of the pyramid depicting the Maslow's hierarchy of needs has rendered such NYAY style gimmicks difficult to function taking away Congress's greatest political weapon - mass poverty of the electorate. The indications were provided in 2018 Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh assembly elections with BJP's vote shares not dropping to the anticipated extent in both states in spite of freebie promises suggesting that the electorate's awareness levels are increasing with every election. If anything, NYAY pushed the fickle fence sitting petrified middle class further into the Modi camp. This however does not mean that NYAY style doles will fail in the future as well so to be guarded against them, public consciousness needs to be further strengthened. The 6k income support will help here as the pitfalls of socialism too are highlighted through social media or otherwise; this combination will provide the needed balance. Overall, if there is an over-arching thought that can unite various castes, religions, races, creeds etc under a common umbrella, then that thought has tremendous positive potential. This not only helps us transcend boundaries but consolidate them - nationalism (both geographic and cultural) did that this time around. Put together, this underlines the electorate's Viveka Buddhi and that bodes well for the nation.

Secondly, blatant mocking and demeaning of beliefs cuts no ice as the liberal ecosystem has found out. It can help in discrediting someone but that tactic is useful against a politician who has lesser reach and no substance, not behemoths like Modi. The repeated vicious assaults on Hindutva (mocking Modi's pilgrimage to Kedarnath, disgusting ridicule of the Gau Mata and disregarding the growing support for Raam Mandir while continuing to appease Abrahamic thoughts of conquest) have been highly counterproductive. Mocking Modi for his spelling mistakes or comments on radars, cameras and emails etc might give you two moments of hysterical sniggering delight, but that is where it ends. The electorate has discounted the fact that politicians are humans and are undoubtedly a subset of the wider mass - they care two hoots about their knowledge on certain aspects, but lay emphasis on the politician's ability to answer the questions that truly plague the electorate. These people were the wave that most did not saw coming though we were confident it was there but simply not being vocal enough as the wave that was vocal in 2014. When it mattered, these men & women stood up to be counted - hurt by the mocking and shame and determined to back the man who had enhanced their lives. They were the seemingly invisible but actually transparent molecules of the TsuNaMo!

Thirdly, if 2014 offered a glimpse into how irrelevant has the main stream media become in shaping opinions, 2019 certifies it. This is a big plus for our national polity. This might redirect media back towards simply relaying information and content, letting people form their own opinions rather than trying to tell them so. The Lutyens played a big part in sabotaging Atal-ji in 2004; come 2019 as another BJP PM sought re-election, the leverage Lutyens had has been demolished. People have their own opinions today, by and large, and neither side can influence them any longer to the extent that was done earlier. This should also herald the age of delivering on the ground for politicians, rather than relying on media creating images and winning them elections. More and more opposition MPs and MLAs might start reconsidering dedicating their efforts towards delivering for their constituencies, rather than trying to manage the environment through the media and bahubalis. More and more people might start reflecting on varied content rather than blindly trusting "opinion-makers". Not only the likes of Ravish Kumar, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose or Barkha Dutt will find it difficult to regain their powers, the advanced and sophisticated versions (simply because of their medium of delivery and the apparent "unbiased and methodical" images they could build) like Kunal Kamra or Dhruv Rathee too have their traction on the wane - again a big win for democracy. The influence they had was limited to urban youth and that is too small a constituency to significantly matter; even that constituency is now receiving dosages of Indic thoughts and the one-sided urban Naxalist sway has been dented.

Fourthly, our armed forces will be a relieved lot, I am sure. Their lives will continue to be valued by the leadership at the centre; they will continue to be cared for, respected and honoured. Modi's nationalist credentials (intent, tangible actions undertaken and promise aggregated) are far beyond any other politician on the scene and that being the single most voting preference of the wider electorate has ensured better lives for our armed forces going ahead. These elections were no doubt the "Modi elections" broken up into with Modi or against Modi. The man demolished the fence that sustained the corrupt; it was the indecision of the fence sitters which helped the ecosystem and now it was the decisiveness of the Modi camp that trounced the desperation of the anti-Modi camp. This does throw up another challenge for the BJP in coming years - the need to develop a wider acceptance that transcends Modi himself. Generally, leaders could either win elections or provide an excellent productive administration and therein lied the sad reality of the bane of constructive politics; this shed light on the scuttled attempts of promising leaders across the political spectrum. Then came Modi who could do both; now, the Yogis, the Fadnavis', the Shivraj's etc will need to be constructed brick by brick and marketed with a singular goal of pan-India acceptance so that the vote that BJP bagged in the name of Modi can be bagged in the name of BJP itself. This is not at all going to be easy given the once in a century (or even two) aura of Narendra Modi but Bhaarat needs that and a think tank as capable as the BJP's backed by the Sangha will surely find a way, they have a minimum of five years to do that.

These four takeaways summarize the broad themes of this election, I feel. Next, I offer thoughts on certain specific seats or states (in ascending order of impact, in my books) and try to draw certain trends from those:

1. East Delhi : Gautam Gambhir, with ~7 lac votes (55.4% of total) trounced his competitors recording a victory margin of of ~3.9 lac votes. A true nationalist won and that matters a lot. His service to the Indian armed forces awareness campaigns, monetary contribution to their families, his pretty vocal stance on issues for many years leading up to 2019 and his aggressive, combative and capable leadership (less so for India and more visible as the KKR captain) suggest we have one more fantastic MP in the house. His victory also demolished the slanderous and despicable campaign of one, Atishi Marlena; the disgusting woman's pathetic attempts to play the #MeToo female victim card fell flat as she slumped to the third place, trailing Gauti by 4.8 lac votes. The selfish feminists have completely diluted what a woman's dignity means thereby reducing such stunts to jokes, especially with social media around.

2. Andhra Pradesh (assembly as well as parliament): Chandra Babu Naidu has been the biggest loser of this election, according to me, give the relative negative movement he has witnessed in his prospects. Jagan's moves unsettled him and pushed him into a state of complete panic leading to him quitting the NDA. By jumping off from a speeding boat into a sinking ship, he washed his hands off the Andhra assembly (the state and his CM post) and also his relevance in the parliament (just 3 wins out of 25 seats with Jagan winning 22). Naidu had a tremendous opportunity and he blew it up big time registering the worst fall amongst all his cackling peers. Now, Jagan has the chance and I am sure he will learn from Naidu's mistakes. If Jagan makes it count and co-operates with the centre, he can truly establish himself in Andhra's centrestage - poetic justice for a man who lost his father to the shenanigans of I(A)NC and was denied his dues a decade back; he was not given his dues back then and in 2019, he has taken them.

3. Uttar Pradesh : From 2014-2019, the SP's ~22% vote share dropped to ~18% whereas BSP's ~19% stood intact by and large. The former won 5 seats in 2014 and they have 5 seats now but the latter, with a big zero in 2014 has increased its tally to 10. The most prominent conclusion is that while SP could transfer votes to BSP as part of the Gathabandhan, BSP could not or did not! Given greater unpredictability of the wily BSP supremo, Akhilesh Yadav and coterie is the second biggest loser of this election. After the suicidal tie-up with I(A)NC in 2017 UP assembly elections, this was certainly not what he would have wanted. He fell out with his father (and went against the experienced campaigner's advice), he will be envious of the BSP (who might as well crack a deal with the BJP in coming days to secure certain safe passage when needed) and he has also seen his family members lose around him (e. g. Dimple Yadav from Kannuaj). Gathabandan politics has received a major slap and Amit Shah has turned prophetic - the C factor in the equation "A+B-C" is something every psephologist wrestled with and as it turns out, it has been decisive leading to chemistry beating mathematics.

4. Begusarai and Bangalore South: These two seats have been pure poetic contrasts; Begusarai's "son" Kanhaiyya Kumar lost by ~4.2 lac votes to an "outsider" Giriraj Singh though his second place finish over RJD's Tanweer Hassan is also worth noting. On the other hand, Tejaswi Surya stormed home in Bangalore South with a victory margin of ~3.4 votes. Tejaswi's humble talk as the votes were being counted remarking of how "we are" (not I am) closing in on a victory in Bangalore South give a peek into why he was chosen to contest. No doubt this was a BJP stronghold represented by the Late Ananth Kumar, but the win still matters. Both, Kanhaiyaa and Tejaswi, are young candidates with vastly different ideologies. The latter's constructive thoughts about the nation, culture and polity have received a big thumb's up while the former's destructive and unproductive rabble rousing has been rejected. This story is worth pondering for all young men and women - we have to be prudent in our choices and whom we back. The nation has spoken and the urban youth, in particular, have a story to ruminate on, if they wish to.

5. Guna and Gulbarga: Heavyweights like Scindia and Kharge lost in Guna and Gulbarga, respectively; both these losses were unimaginable for political analysts. Guna has been a traditional Maharaja bastion while Kharge went on to lose for the first time ever. Gandhi lieutenants have deep introspection to undertake - whom are they siding with, where does it go from here and what is the output? I feel more so for a man like Scindia; what is it that makes him still stick with a party which has "disrespected" his father and screwed him from the MP top post after delivering them the state? This loss will get him thinking, no doubt; does it lay the foundation stone for a Gandhi-mukt Congress with leadership taken up by the Scindias and the Pilots? Only time will tell who has the spine and the spunk. If there triggers some deep emotion within, we can see major political upheaval which will be in the best interests of our democracy.

6. Amethi and Wayanad: Now many might rank this at the top but for me, it is second best. Vinci lost by ~55k votes in the Gandhi stronghold of Amethi. The derelict the constituency has faced, Vinci's arrogant responses to the young school girls asking him about MPLAD funds for Amethi and the deep rooted dynastic entitlement has cost him finally. It took immense perseverance from Smriti Irani to breach the so called citadel in spite of not having the caste as well as the family advantage. Though Raul is no giant, his image is; Smriti has become the giant killer and has delivered on Raul's wish - she has destroyed "the image". Raul's run to Wayanad will reinforce that he "ran away" sensing defeat in Amethi. The fact that he picked Wayanad (i.e. a constituency and state where BJP has evoked hatred and is not the principal opposition and where the supposed principal opposition is nearly into the grave) for the comfort it offered will miss no one's attention; does he go further south now? Possibly into Sri Lanka to escape defeat? It furthers his image as a weak and reluctant leader and that gels with the future we wish. This nation does not need another Gandhi to lay to waste its great traditions, resources and culture.

7. Bhopal and Bengal : The most significant of all seat wins was Bhopal and state wins was Bengal as it truly signaled the much promised and much awaited Hindu Consolidation. Digvijay Singh (the most vocal marketer of Hindutva Terror theory) lost by ~3.6 lacs votes (61.5% of total) to Sadhvi Pragya (the woman tormented over false charges for years on end that led to a broken spine, a scarred mind and irreparable emotional losses). This was revenge at its most beautiful forms. Though her comments on Karkare or Godse were insignificant in electoral context, as per my reading of the Bhopal constituency, certain pundits did mark them as deal breakers. I for one, thought they might just provide her with the coverage she will need to quickly make inroads into the minds of her prospective voters. Without going into the merit of those comments, I sincerely hope she avoids making such comments in the future as the upside is too less, the downside too high. Nevertheless, cultural nationalism has got a major shot in the arm and will be a warning to the left liberal ecosystem - mock Hindutva further at your own peril. Bengal demonstrated the same and Didi's violence stands explained with BJP more than doubling its vote share (from ~17% to ~39%) and multiplying its seats (from 2 to 18); her intimidation might have saved her 4-5 more seats, I guess. The Hindu Awakening has happened and is here to stay.

Finally, the remarkable promise showed by us as the civilian mass, as an informed electorate and a Bhaaratiya chunk is truly heartening. It should be a fillip to positivity and constructivity; while there will be pockets where the election process and the intellect of the electorate will be ridiculed and mocked, the noise will subside to a great extent, I believe. However, we should never forget, we have simply won an election, not the war. We haven't defeated the enemy, but simply one of its manifestations. The Ecosystem has no doubt been weakened, but like every evil, it will regroup and be back so let us not rule out intolerance, award wapsi, "divider in chief" style stunts; let us not forget that Abrahamics come with deep pockets and a wide reach. The influence of our enemy is still intact and our systems are still compromised with a lot of cleaning still left. Let us celebrate this moment of joy but let not our awareness and intensity drop for an instant. Let the thoughts of Savarkar, Chanakya, Shivaji and Swami Vivekananda continue to guide and protect us. Their ideals will be needed so that the hard fought victory, that has enabled us with a chance to reclaim our nation, is not squandered. In these next five years, we have a responsibility to put this nation beyond the practical reach of our enemies, within our borders or outside. Raam Mandir, Article 370, RTE repealing, Uniform Civil Code, temple deregulation, fair taxation policies to all religions, illegal immigration & demographic altering, GST simplification (that might entail the inclusion of fuel within its ambit), infrastructure modernization, resource redistribution & reallocation, judicial reforms (NJAC, hopefully), educational restructuring & righting the historical wrongs, leading the global realignment for climate change and many more goals are yet to be achieved - by us, not only our politicians.

For such a future, one filled with immense faith and peace, may our walk solidify; may our minds sharpen thy focus and may our heart pump up the passion.

"Ask not what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"

Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitaha

Jai Hind!