He never was, nor is, the best bet

Some of us may get bored of the endless discussion of “if not Mr Modi the Great then who”. But we can’t and we must not give in to that boredom. The very fact that the conversation never dies down is because it justifies Narendra Modi’s continuing presence as Prime Minister of India. We are consistently fed the lie that he continues because there is no one else.

Try and remember how this narrative has changed. Eight years ago, we were told that Modi was the best option. He would miraculously transform our lives and India’s global image. He would galvanise the economy. We would all be better off. The evil practices of corruption and tending to the needs of the poor – the apparent hallmark of the UPA government would be banished forever.

Under Modi, this new India would be skilled, efficient, honest, marvellous and so on.

No one said then that “ah well, it’s the Opposition’s fault that we’re stuck with Modi”. Now we hear: “If only Rahul Gandhi was someone else, Sharad Pawar was not so old, Mamata Banerjee was less aggressive, Stalin was not called Stalin, we would have someone to stand up to Modi.”

It’s as much hogwash as was the “Modi is the greatest” fairy story. It didn’t take long for the wheels to fall off that wagon. Or let me correct myself. The wheels fell off in November 2016 with demonetisation. But by then, the “Modi will be the best” had subtly changed to “give him a chance” and “he was to correct 70 years of bad decisions by Jawaharlal Nehru”. Modi himself stated this several times.

We all know that the Sangh Parivar is not that good at mathematics (Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, a Chartered Accountant by training, made it clear when he stated with full conviction that “Einstein did not use mathematics to invent gravity”) so the 70 years can be broken down various ways.

Like how Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s middle names were also Jawaharlal Nehru as were the middle names of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzarilal Nanda, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, VP Singh, IK Gujral, Deve Gowda and so on.

The narrative is as carefully crafted as everything about Modi’s campaign to become Prime Minister of India. The truth then and now is that he was never the best candidate for the job. Tales of the “Gujarat Model” were sent out into the world with just cream on top to make you believe there was real milk beneath, not limestone water. Gujarat has always been industrially and financially forward. Modi did not create Gujarat and barely contributed to its mercantile and industrial strength. His own track record for core believers was always the 2002 riots and the large numbers of Muslims killed and Muslim businesses destroyed.

During his tenure as chief minister in the 10 UPA years, he opposed a number of policies – economic, global as well as most social welfare schemes. He then carried on with those social welfare schemes as prime minister, renaming a few here and there. He set us back several years when it came to diplomacy in spite all those hugging photo ops.

His own most “original” idea – that of demonetisation – was the most effective way possible to destroy whatever was left of India. The first few years of coasting on low fuel prices had been wilfully ended by the great man himself. India would not recover.

You will note that the same people who now tell us that no one is good enough to be a potential challenger and that is why Modi is safe in spite of his many failures, are also those who told us that Modi was the best person for the job. These two narratives are not the same – they are in fact apposite – and yet we have allowed ourselves to be fooled by both. Because these two questions are not answered:

1. If Modi was and is the best person, why are we in such a mess?

2. If Modi could be taken at PR value with a bogus track record, why can’t anyone else?

The fact is that Modi has been a failure as Prime Minister of India. He may have been a success as a Hindutva icon, as a representative of the BJP, as a member of the RSS. He has indeed increased sectarian hatred and violence.

I can hear the “but Covid affected the world what could Modi alone do” argument. And indeed, this was the chance for Modi to step up and prove his critics wrong. He couldn’t because he was never the person for the job. We were sold a dud. Now don’t let our hurt and weak egos destroy whatever is left of India.