The Dharma Dispatch Endorses Narendra Modi as Prime Minister for a Second Term

The 2019 Indian general elections are about a week away. This is an election like no other. No, not even remotely like the landmark 2014 general elections. If we could capture the broad themes of the upcoming elections in a few words they are the following:

• Civilizational
• Generational
• Economic
• Futuristic
• Irreversible

The converse of these themes is also true.

Let’s see how.

I have said this many times elsewhere, if any non-BJP political formation succeeds in assembling even a semblance of government after the elections, the Indian Sanatana civilization or whatever is left of it will be obliterated sooner than later. Because a non-BJP formation is essentially Congress rule by proxy. Which automatically means that the coming generations will have no idea who they are.

On the economic front, Prime Minister Modi has succeeded in three major spheres. One, to a very great extent, he has cleaned up the calculated mess that he inherited from the two-term plunder of the UPA government. More on this in a bit. Two, through tireless and sustained effort, he has been the champion of the proverbial India growth story all over the world and the full results will show if he remains in power for at least one more decade. Three, with tough measures like demonetization, a uniform tax regime and the bold IBC, he has made life tough for crony capitalists and robber barons. For all the hoopla about not bringing back Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi et al, let’s not forget the foundational fact that these plunderers were close friends of the Congress and its buddies. Given this, what are the odds that if a non-BJP formation ever returns, all of this will be undone within a year if not sooner?

Most of the measures and policies that the Modi government has initiated are essentially futuristic in nature. To a very large extent, the next two or three generations will realize their full benefit. For instance, PM Modi’s massive impetus on digital—and now, Artificial Intelligence—his investments in overhauling our national security, science (including space technology), and most importantly, the way he has thoroughly rewritten the grammar of our diplomacy are both futuristic and irreversible. This sort of accomplishment in less than five years is nothing short of a miracle. And it needs a sustained, solid, and stable political leadership like that of Narendra Modi to spread its roots and grow robustly. Except that you must account for Congress Inc. This is a party that has mangled the Indian Constitution itself for far more times than we can count. Enough said.

The 2014 general elections were about throwing out perhaps one of the darkest tyrannical and plundering regimes masquerading as a democratically elected government in world history. The full story of the two-term UPA horrors is still waiting to be written.

Five years later, the Congress party has unraveled quite spectacularly. The credit should equally apportioned between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Modi because he stood his ground rock-solid—calling the Congress’ bluff, remained unblinking in the face of allegations, abuse, skullduggery, and that patented dark art of the Congress: street hooliganism. And Rahul Gandhi because he is his own worst enemy. He is the Bhasmasura who doesn’t need a Shiva to undo him. What does it tell us that staring sometime in 2013, in India, April Fool’s Day has been renamed as “Pappu Divas” to honour the only achievement of the selfsame Rahul Gandhi, now scurrying scared, now desperately scouting for electoral safety in Muslim-majority Wayanad?

Then there’s that other non-starter called the Mahaghatbandhan (Grand Alliance) which has not and will not take off. The very fact that this no-brainer idea was even mooted is the clearest proof that the so-called regional parties are the illegitimate offspring of the Congress dynasty. And this so-called ideation of this motley crew of nation-plunderers is also the best evidence that the Congress has got its comeuppance at the hands of these mini-dynasts: none of them want to touch it with a bargepole. This is the classic case of the Congress mothership which has so many craters that any attempt at patchwork will only widen and deepen these craters.

What this so-called Mahaghatbandhan has also revealed is that other deadly plague on the Indian body politic: the filthy Congress-Communist cohabitation, which began during Nehru’s era. To put it mildly, the understanding from Day One was clear: the Congress dynasty would wield political power forever and in exchange, cede institutional control to the Communists. This institutional control has indeed endured quite sturdily as events of the last five years have shown.

It is precisely this fact that Prime Minister Modi hinted at in his recent interview with Arnab Goswami. If a completely focused and no-nonsense Prime Minister like Narendra Modi armed with a solid majority has to remark about the pervasive, all-encompassing institutional rot without naming any institution, it reinforces the scary fact that the Congress has spared nothing and nobody in its immoral quest for eternal political power. This also has a parallel in what Modi had told Parliament in 2016: “inke jade itne jamadiye (their roots have sunk in so deep).” As also the fact that he has to tell openly that during this term, crooks could only be brought till jail, but that he would require another term to make sure they are sent inside. Such examples abound.

So I ask all Indians: should a Prime Minister of Modi’s caliber, intent, and demonstrated track record be made to feel so helpless?    

To say it bluntly, the last five years have shown that Narendra Modi spent a significant portion of his time in what can only be described as toilet cleaning. This is what the Congress had reduced India to: a massive garbage dump of countless wasted opportunities and at least four ruined generations not to mention the enormous human cost that this wastage entails. As the Pulwama attacks and the aftermath showed,  it is the Congress and not Pakistan that is the greatest threat to national security.

The other way to look at this is to notice the kind of people endorsing and opposing Narendra Modi’s re-election. On the one hand we have industry and business leaders from the likes of Anand Mahindra, Adi Godrej, Mohandas Pai, and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala passionately making the case for his re-election. As also towering intellectuals, scholars and writers like Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa, Shatavadhani Dr. Ganesh et al who have stood solidly behind PM Modi.  

And look what we have on the other side. Nation-wreckers like Genocide Suzie a.k.a. Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad, Siddarth Varadarajan…oh well, I’ll spare myself the effort: here’s the full list of the names in this Rogues Gallery. Not one, I repeat, not one of these ingrates have contributed anything positive to national service…given their ideological mooring is in breaking India.

Perhaps Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister in these seventy long years who is boldly, honestly, openly showing his report card to his own people and inviting them to judge him. From this perspective, this is not his electoral campaign in the sense that we have come to understand it. It is his appeal, plea, and challenge all rolled into one. This is a fundamental, positive transformation in the manner in which both electoral politics is conducted and how a Prime Minister should conduct himself/herself. Or, in plain language, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is declaring self-accountability to the nation. Which is how it should be. Even a marginal loss will be our collective loss. Because then it will mean a victory for cynicism and a return of the garbage politics that Congress Inc has perfected. It will also mean a defeat of even any hope for India’s revival as the preeminent civilization the world had looked to for guidance and knowledge and wisdom and spirituality.  

Narendra Modi is 68 years now. What is our excuse? Can’t we even vote? For him?

The Dharma Dispatch emphatically, enthusiastically, and wholeheartedly endorses the re-election of Narendra Damodardas Modi as the Prime Minister of India in the 2019 general elections.