Its Narendra Modi once again

So the psephologists got it wrong, the Congress (I) built castles in the air, while Modi and his multi masked multitude romped home to another win.

There were many cooks to spoil Modi’s broth – there were dissidents, there was the incumbency factor and there was the communal divide. Such was the relief at the outcome that Advani (of the BJP and the Prime Minister in waiting) called it a victory that had repercussions at the national levels, while Kapil Sibal (Minster of Science and Technology ) stated that even fascists come to power.

Political analysts have called Gujarat the laboratory for the right wing. They have been myopic in only calling Gujarat a laboratory – its India that has become a laboratory, it’s the politicians, the judiciary, police, and the common man across who are guinea pigs. The Saffron brigade want to see how far they can go before something happens. Well 5 years have passed and nothing has happened and the party and people under whose rule the genocide took place have retained power.

Which brings me to the question of should these people be actually allowed to vote at all. Yes, yes we are a democracy and all that. But the question is how does one deal with an inefficient democracy and with people who know how to usurp democratic principles for their own benefit. These people have to be re-schooled in the tenets of democracy, of fundamental rights, of respect, of equality and justice.

During the Emergency it was said that the trains ran on time. Media analysts state that Modi retained power because he gave the people of Gujarat a government free of corruption. For the media to repeat this and even agree shows the myopicness of the naiveness of the media. Corruption is not only about transaction of money and monetary profiteering it is also about a government’s high handedness, in this case to get its police to kill people, or to ensure that police do not act during riots, or to provide information and addresses of minority communities to rioters.

The next thing that this election has raised is Modi entering national politics. The BJP and Congress (I) hum and hawed with their answers but the very idea is frightening. Instead of someone belling the cat and stating categorically that this infected person should be quarantined and an antidote found for him, everyone spoke about whether Hindutva would become BJP’s election platform and the Congress (I) happily stated that if the BJP used the Modi model the BJP would loose its allies.

Modi has been called Hitler. This state is like pre-second world war Germany with the Gujarati’s, like the Germans, blinded by the promise of a 1000 year rule and the rest of the country like Chamberlain and others allowing a weed to grow and spread.