New Delhi, Oct 30 – Recently I watched a video sent by an esteemed friend of mine denouncing the work of the Modi government in India. I do not agree on the contents of the video and also on the assessment of some of my friends who commented on the video.
I thought the video is biased and not factually correct. It is a propaganda video trying to influence fence sitters.
For the last two years I have been travelling in Uttar Pradesh , West Bengal , Tamilnadu, Saurashtra , Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa where silent revolution is taking place in villages triggered by Narendra Damodar Modi.
He is the person majority of the villagers to whom I talked to adore. Based on my verbal survey during my travel in these states i found most of the villagers including cab drivers in Bangalore and Kolkata consider Modi is doing a great job.
Here is the result of my personal survey on Modi’s performance as revealed by a random survey of villagers I met. Young professionals i met in Bhopal, Agra and Mathura, some Muslims in Jamnagar, villagers in Rampur in Uttar Pradrsh and a Barat party in Lucknow.
My question was tell me ten best things Modi has done
The response were the following:
1. Modi has elevated India on the World Stage by reaching out to the world
2. Modi has brought a new energy among the soldiers and the entire military machine adores him. He has dealt wisely with China in Doklam and Pakistan by surgical strike.
3.Filth is our nation’s shame. He has aroused our conscience through “sachhya Bharat Abhiyan”.
4. Toilet in villages is something that has made him dear to women of all ages, castes and religion.(incidentally this year 1500 husbands will get “Ideal Husband Award” for presenting their wives with toilets during Karwa chowt)
5. The “Jan Dhan” scheme. This has empowered all villagers. Their gas cylinder subsidy of Rs 125 gets
deposited the next day which before was not available in full on time.
6.Demonetisation they consider is a good thing Modi has done. All the money collected in the banks will be used for their “kalyan” (welfare). People are scared now to deal with black money.
7. Modi is the son of a poor man. He understands poor man’s grief better and works tirelessly for 18 hours a day just to help our country to rise and become rich and powerful.
8. Because of Modi and Yogi Aditynath (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister), school-going and college going girls are safe in Agra. Mathura, Lucknow and Vrindaban.
9. He has empowered the Muslim women and given them a new voice to fight “talaq” (instant divorce).
10. He has introduced butter milk in village schools, saturday as sports school day, separate school for talented, public discussion on addiction, discipline in office,and direct connection with the people through his radio talk.
Finally one respondent told me: “Sir close your eyes. Can you see any leader other than Modi to govern India”?
Since then I am introspecting profoundly on the statement of this villager. Prime Minister Modi may come back because of the love, respect and trust that he has built in the hearts of common Indian voters whom our intelligencia often discount.
These simple folks believe that he is an honest politician as compared to others.
Even if he is criticized because of demonetisation and GST he will be back by default.
BJP rules 18 out of the 29 states in India on its own strength or in alliance covering 68% of India’s geographical area and 67% of its population(810) million. It has a membership of 110 million equivalent to Japan’s population.
To this you have to add the undiminished popularity of Narendra Modi.
He has been declared as the number 1 in popularity in a recent survey by HT. The same paper has declared him as the “Model Man” of 2017 replacing Shahrukh Khan.
To that one has to hear the clarion call of BJP president Amit Shah as reported in HT.
“Not that we are not looking at 2019 or 2024, but our idea is to stay in power perpetually and not just for one or two terms”.
Elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat will prove whether Narendra Damodar Modi is still considered by the Indian voters, largely the poor, as a no-nonsense politician who cares for the national interest only or otherwise.
(This article is written by Barin Ganguli, a retired Indian Forest Service officer and a former Senior Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, Manila, and the article originally appeared in the South Asia Monitor)
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