By
Sushil Kutty
The
gut has feelings. The 10 per cent EWS Quota (124 Amendment) Bill was bound to
happen. The Ayodhya title suit hearing was bound to see further delay. Jobs or
the lack of jobs are an election issue. Ram Mandir butts in and is pushed out.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says wait for “judicial decision”. But the
judiciary is hampered by process delays. Recusal and translation woes. Arabic,
Parsi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Gurmukhi. Will Modi be compelled to make ‘Mandir
Wahin Banaenge’ the GE 2019 issue?
The
SC adjournment of the Ayodhya title suit case till January 29 is the last
straw, say Hindutva organizations. Take the ordinance route. BJP Rajya Sabha MP
Subramanian Swamy wants Modi to dust a 1994 Narasimha Rao cabinet decision and
handover “tonight itself” the disputed land to the Hindus. And, whenever the
court decides who owns the land, the aggrieved party (Muslims) can be paid
compensation. Simple!
“Let
the court take 29 years. Government can acquire and dispose land anywhere in
the country under eminent domain.” Cool. Ram Mandir/Babri Masjid will become
election issue. CJI Ranjan Gogoi is in no hurry but RSS and VHP and sections of
the BJP cannot wait any longer. Did not Master of Roster know beforehand that
Justice UU Lalit was Kalyan Singh’s counsel in an Ayodhya case?
And,
counsel for ‘Muslims’, Rajeev Dhawan, what’s in the translations that he cannot
make sense of? “If this isn’t delay, what is?” asks a Hindu leader. “Ram Mandir
cannot wait.” The BJP also cannot wait. Losses in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
and Rajasthan were because of “jobs” and farmer unrest. For four and half
years, Modi worked on the premise that jobs and farmers don’t count, but they
do and Modi had to correct.
The
Mahagathbandhan is a consolidation of castes and once again the contest could
be between Mandal and Kamandal. It did not work for the BJP the first time
around in 1991. Since then, every election Ram Mandir figured in the BJP
election manifesto. The party is today without an election issue. The 10 per
cent EWS Quota can only go so far and no further. It’s not that everybody is
looking for a government job and everybody Savarna caste will get one.
Quota
will alone not deliver Prime Minister Modi another term. For millions, he is
Mr. Lazybone. Will Modi return to power post-GE 2019? Maybe, maybe not! What is
the gut feeling? Short-termism marks India’s democracy and India moves from
election to election, opinion poll to opinion poll. Modi hopes to win with 10
per cent EWS Quota and to Rahul Gandhi, Modi leads the ‘Chalis Chor’, he’s
Alibaba! Rafale and Agusta, everything about GE 2019 is in the air. Modi and
Rahul Gandhi trade insults and Nirmala Sitharaman is caught in the Mahabharata
defending the Emperor with no clothes.
Nearly
five years of Modi rule and Modi’s working ethics is in question, his priorities
maybe misplaced; besides, of course, his decisions, such as the demonetization
of high value currency. The gut feeling most people get is Modi rushes in where
others in his position chose to tread carefully. If the contention is that
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took orders from Sonia Gandhi, then it devolves
that Sonia Gandhi probably outdid Prime Minister Narendra Modi in taking
correct decisions. At least that is the impression.
Modi
ignored farmers and “jobs” for far too long, till it was too late. Everybody
has a stomach and the way to every man’s heart is via the stomach, farmer or
unemployed youth. Modi for all the grassroots man he claims he is should know
the human being is not cow on grass. Sleep deprivation could be the reason. Working
18 hours a day makes Jack a dull boy. Acche Din cannot be quantified. True
numbers of cars on the roads have increased exponentially, but who are these
people, the Rs 8 lakhers?
Mudra
loans and Jan Dhan Yojana. Show the data. Start-ups and skill development.
These cannot be seen. Modi travelled the world but he never got a bird’s eye
view of India. It’s hard to judge if he is ‘micro’ or ‘macro’ manager. Ambani
and Adani seem to be satisfied honchos but the middle class jobseeker and small
entrepreneur have complaints. The honcho are far and few, it’s the grassroots
which vote. Modi is a sucker for flamboyance. His life revolves round gala
events.
Rafale
and jobs; farmer unrest and a string of electoral losses, Modi has neither
Acche Din nor Ab Ki Baar… slogan for GE 2019. And all the while ‘Chowkidar Chor
Hai’ is ringing true like an alarm clock as time runs away in ‘tariq pe tariq.’
For the distinguished ‘Chaiwala’, even ‘Chai Par Charcha’ is not the option
this time. The gut feeling is he’s in a fix he cannot unfix from.
Like
somebody said on Facebook: “Yesterday MNREGA and loan waivers. Now reservations
and unemployment allowances. No fresh thinking to solve the root causes and the
resolve to come up with long lasting solutions, only solutions that create more
problems.” But then, he is in a fix and too late not to panic. So, Ram Mandir
it could be, the one-slogan fits all. That is the gut feeling: “Go for the
Hindu bellyache.” (IPA Service)
The post Modi Left With A Hindu Bellyache appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
