My name is Rahul Modi, fondly known as RaMo. I was born in
the developed state of Gujarat, just a chariot ride away from the
Ramjanmabhoomi and very far from Italy. I am the son of a former tea-seller
though that is not how the world will know me. They will brand me as the heir
of a neo-patriarchal family, descending from a line of Chief Minister and Prime
Minister.
I did not know I had a mother until very recently. I was
raised with the understanding that Bharat was my ma and her freedom from evil,
my dulhan – quite rang de basant-ish, you might note. It is fortunate that people like Dr. Swamy are on my side. I
doubt many others will bother to dig up my educational qualifications and such,
especially since they must have realized over the past ten years that those
things don’t really matter in this game. Yes, I know I called it a game. I do
call it like I see it – though I have been told that’s not the best trait to
nurture in politics. I was a distinguished karyakarta, if I may only be saying so
myself. I have been taught to forgive, love, live and never give up on my
fellow man. This was the basis of progress and it does include, though not
being limited to, the empowerment of women and the youth.
However it is this very concept that confuses me – for who is
my fellow man? This nation is littered with the embodiment of plurality –
from scientists and nurses to policemen and teachers – social and professional
lives collide. However that is just one side. On the other hand, is it the
person who pollutes our streets, is it the person who rapes our women, is it
the bribe giver of the bribe taker, is it the thief or the murderer – who must
I call my fellow man?
You will argue that I have in me, blood from an era where
those in power stood by and watched genocide. I will quickly evade the
allegation, cite court decisions, blame a biased media and finally quote
election results– just the way I have been trained to do. Thank heavens for
professional P.R. teams!
Speaking of results days, I would like to thank the people of
our glorious nation for getting over their attentional blindness from the last
decade and giving us this opportunity to serve you. Your whole-hearted support
brought tears to my eyes. Even my father, the stoic man that he is, was an
emotional bundle of joy that day. Amit Uncle probably had to pinch him in U.P.
to get him to fully believe. Alas, I digress from the question at hand – what is the basis
to represent a society with so many flaws while garnering each of them equality
and justice, not only before the law but in all things. Take even the concept
of secularity – is it really individual policies for appeasement to cater to
the various faiths that are housed in our nation that unites us. Selective
secularism is just the continuance of divide and rule. I do not know if I want
to be responsible for constructions that will see my country burn. When does democracy become equality? It can be argued that
the religious foundation of my father’s party reflects that of the populis
majori. Yet that cannot be why we got the vote we did. We’d never lose if that
was the case. Do the people of this nation expect us to cut the supply of beef
or declare the nation the homeland of the Mahatma and hence alcohol-free. I do
not think these reasons are enticing enough for the modern mind. We shouldn’t
even be here to make people answer for their failings in the last decade. I
want to be here to lead the way of change. This is where it gets tricky...how do you take men, women, minorities – those that up to now
belonged as mere statistics in the vote bank and see them for what they are –
the pillars of our society, each one important in their own way. I have heard
of this man, Abraham Lincoln, who seemed to grasp this situation, like few did,
a very long time ago. I would have liked to go learn more about this. Maybe I
will. After May 16th, the U.S.A. has gone to the extent of offering
me citizenship there. How the tides turn!
I have my doubts about the reservation system in place in the
country. It seems to have made the ‘general’ category a minority too. I
probably shouldn’t say more. Mentioning it is bad for politics, apparently. Yet,
there must be some way to amend a 50:50 grant scheme for a 90:10 nation. I have
friends who are so frustrated they would go so far as to forge more conducive
family names. Fortunately for me though, mine is a name that is going to last.
There are so many things to deal with - social and
economical. The point is to make India a strong, developing and inclusive
nation. To think we will have to start again from where Vajpayee Sir left off
more than a decade ago, to achieve this is a daunting task. These will
hopefully not end up becoming just words. However the onion will have to be
peeled.
Bearing that in mind, I quite liked the invitation we
extended to Pakistan to attend the swearing-in ceremony. I might even claim it
was me that set of the spark when I claimed I would probably get along well
with the Bhutto scion in days to come. Father took it literally and decided to
pave the way for ‘ever-lasting peace’. The things Indian parents do for their
children - almost as much as their Italian counter-parts. Of course, the Thackerays
were miffed by it – I think father got a distasteful cartoon in the mail the
other day. Similarly the Tamils were quite disappointed with our shout-out to
Mr. Rajapakse. Well, it didn’t seem fair to call one ex-warring neighbour and
not the other. Besides, the photo-op is simply too big to miss.
The right to information, being one of the prime (few – alas,
ignorance is not a crime here) things trumpeted by an amulish name-sake of mine,
was actually quite a visionary tool. We must give credit where it is due.
Jaitley Uncle, will no doubt use his immense wealth of experience in this
manipulative web of survival to capture red-handed those truly responsible for
black money and its proliferation into our society. If not at least we will
make an attempt to do so. You might be condescending of our links to the
Ambanis and Adanis. There is a saying amongst us – ‘When Lakshmi, the Goddess
of Wealth, catches an auto to come meet you - that is not when you declare a
transport-strike’. We are just taking the developmental model from our state
(we stand by it being better than Kerala’s) forward. Also Neetu Aunty has
always been very kind to me. I still remember the times we spent laughing about
that man, Kejriwal’s attempts to blackguard Mukesh Uncle. She even introduced
me to Sachin-ji at a Mumbai Indians game - one of the most defining moments of
my life – even if he did accidently joined the wrong side of the Rajya Sabha.
Despite what the environmentalist of all things might say, we
are not here to uproot trees and mine our lands into the ground. My father even
said that we must plant trees outsides our houses. This is a two-fold strategy,
it was claimed – twenty years down the line they can be cut down and the
daughters of the house married off. They say there is a fine line between
genius and insanity. The polls define our genius. However don’t get us wrong, we
have seen our fair share of hardship and misfortune on our race course. We
understand and empathize with the like-minded and appreciate the gifts of the
different. We emerged successful but there are dues to be paid. There are
several pulls and twists and turns that need to be successfully swerved by,
avoided, granted and yet others that need more innovative ways to put behind
us.
We are not an elitist crowd. We do not want another banana
republic on our hands. Even our Cabinet Ministers fan across regions, incomes
and religions. India will continue to be saffron, white, green and blue. Just
any one of them simply won’t do, in the long run.
My father is the Prime Minister of the sovereign, socialist,
democratic, republic of India – cloaked in immense power. With our numbers, we
are the true representatives of the people of this glorious nation. We are
responsible for the road ahead and hopefully we will understand and respect
that as the honour it is.
There are promises to be kept; many miles to go before we
rest...
Jai Hind!
