0. But before I start, some hygiene issues: First of all, I'm not getting paid to do this. One of my companies - and I have over 40 investees, by the way - has done work for BJP and AAP, and of course, the BJP spam accounts will shout that I'm being paid to do this. The truth is this, I'd love to be paid to do this. Except the darn Aam Aadmi Party folks have no money for me. @Arvind Kejriwal, if you're reading this, dude, paisa hai to bhej de yaar. Public demand hai.
Good. Now to why some people think Modi is the great white (or wheatish) hope for the country.
1. First, we're all pissed off at the Congress. Anything, we think, is better than that bunch of thieves and dynastic robbers. So we're all looking for a saviour. So much that we don't even talk about the Congress in this election - we've already written them off completely.
2. The thing is, we don't see deeper that the hidden figure behind the Congress' corruption - Mukesbhai - is the same guy who has since decided to support and bring in a BJP government, one that will again jump to its whims and fancies, till you get tired of it too, 5 or 10 years from now.
And Ambani has done it indirectly, through the media he owns: First Post, First Biz, CNBC, Lokmat, Awaaz, CNN IBN, NDTV, ETV, 9x and more.
And directly too, via his cousin-in-law, if there be such a term - Saurabh Patel - running the Petrol, Energy, Mines and Tourism industries in Gujarat - all of the more corrupt ones. The Mining Scam in Gujarat is a Rs. 2,000 crore loss to the state government, and the gas price scam is Rs. 25,000 undeserved crores every year in Mukesbhai's pocket.
3. So if you're seeing those childish orange ads on TV saying BJP is against corruption, you should laugh. They're not just terrible ads, they're also terrible lies.
The BJP is as much a front for Reliance and other large chor businesses as the Congress is. And it's just as corrupt. As some of the factoids say - 37% of BJP's candidates - the most of any party - have a criminal record. It beats even the Congress in this norm.
4. The next big reason for Modi love is, many of us think, wow, "Development" and "progress". "Modi really developed Gujarat - I want India developed". Again, the truth, as everybody has pointed out - is that nothing spectacular has happened in Gujarat in all these years of Modi rule.
Sure, Gujarat has done one or two things well, it is average or below average on loads of other things, and it is terrible on one or two things. You could perhaps grade the state government as a "C" on its report card. Average to below-average.
Many states, Bihar included, did far better. What you're seeing is a PR campaign, well-funded, and with a lot of print and TV fluffing it up. Oh, by the way, the HT owner - a Congress MP - has his child married into the Ambani family too, if you're looking for even more conspiracy fodder here
5. Then it comes to leadership. "Man, what a commanding presence this guy is, what a leader." Well, Modi certainly seems to have turned India into a Presidential form of government, with every message - including "Ab ki baari" being about him and not the party or its principles or its candidates. While I don't have an issue with egoism itself - I personally dislike egoistic folks, but others seem to like such people - perhaps one should ask, who is leading him from behind, and where is this gent going to lead us to?
Is this leading to more money for Reliance? More freebies for Adani? The manifesto just came out today and it seems to be saying "We'll do quite a bit of what the Aam Aadmi Party says, plus in addition we're going to screw the Muslims".
6. Which probably brings me to the point that few seem to talk about. "Modi showed the damn Muslims." Many of my Hindu friends say it after a drink or two. It's some matter of pride, perhaps. Maybe Modi-love is really about Hindus taking revenge centuries after the Mughals screwed us over.
Which is also the perhaps the reason why the rabid RSS and even more rabid VHP have pushed Modi down the throats of the once-apparently-secular BJP. (Yes, yes, some fake account will come by and say "sickular" as though being secular is sick. Dude, it's in our constitution. You've heard of that thing, right?")
Modi is a RSS man, and will support every RSS belief. Being gay is a crime. So forget about Section 377 being repealed in the BJP tenure. Women being equal to men cannot be tolerated, because that idiot Manu said so in his Smriti. The country can't eat beef, because of some silly chant like "gaai hamaari maata hai", even though were were traditionally a beef-eating country.
All of this is just a Hindu version of religious fundamentalism in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. And it's just as nauseating. This is Hindu Sharia - rule by the demented old farts in khakhi chaddis, and nothing else.
And remember, Modi's rise started only after the direct support, shielding and protection of the Hindus who killed over a 1,000 innocent Muslims in Gujarat. That wasn't a Hindu movement - it was a goonda movement in the name of Hinduism. That let him take the "Hindu Hriday Samrat" crown away from the equally racist Bal Thackeray. That made him the RSS's new point man for the Hindufication of India.
When it comes to that, I really have only one defence or alternative to suggest. If you're a rabid Hindu who believes India should be Hindu and the rest of Indians - Muslims, Christians, or even Atheists and Agnostics like me should not be tolerated, then say so openly. Carve out a different country for yourself, man - and go there.
India's constitution doesn't support you and your beliefs.
And don't tell me you're a patriot. You're not. You're a Hindu zealot.
Sure, you can love Modi. You can even make him one of the darn Shankaracharyas if you like. But you can't vote for him or the party he represents.
If you want to be Indian, then shed the religious slant when it comes to public life, private life and government.
And shed it when it comes to voting for who will lead us. Religion has no place in politics.
Cheers
