Need to Decipher Democracy
The people of India have spoken loud and clear and given their verdict decisively and unambiguously. There is absolutely no denying the fact that Mr. Modi is seen by the majority of Indians who opted to vote to be the most suitable leader to be at the helm of affairs.

All sorts of allegations were/are levelled against BJP and their modus operandi which were said to be, and rightly so, against the basic tenets of our constitutional spirit. Religious sentiments and nationalism were whipped up and exploited to the hilt and the results are here for everyone to see; his methodology worked and people have responded.

It is high time for people who think otherwise (yours truly included) and have a different notion of what nationalism should stand for and what role religion should play in public polity, to do some introspection. It would be absolutely necessary that a serious attempt is made to understand the reason behind this overwhelming support of the Indian electorate for a party that openly flaunts its religious preference, intolerance of dissent and is a believer of an alternative narrative which till the results were out was considered not mainstream at least by people who are well educated by any standards and have an inclusive worldview ( refraining from using words like much maligned intelligentsia or looked down upon intellectuals).

We need to explore as to why a party that had very little to show or say about jobs, development and growth in a country which needs a healthy dose of all these, absolutely nothing to write home about its credentials vis a vis inclusive tolerant society in a country which has as much diversity as one can think of and can be safely said to have inflammatory views on most sensitive matters, strikes a chord with most of the people of this country. To decipher the anatomy of this mandate is a prerequisite if we have to understand how democracy works and who wins elections.

It surely would be a foolhardiness and a certain arrogance on the part of those people who don’t approve of what Mr. Modi stands for, if this mandate is dismissed as propaganda trumping real issues. Mr. Modi cannot be denied his credit and the fact that he is seen by the majority as not only a saviour but a leader who will take India forward on the path of becoming a super power and a major economy in the world. The adage that you can fool some people sometimes but not everyone all the time works here also. I am sure people would have seen something in him, his ideology and methodology to have placed their destiny for the next 5 years firmly in his hands. Rhetoric could have according to me fooled only a few and not such a large proportion of our electorate. If one could have a better and clear idea of the profile of people who have supported him so decisively and also of people who have not supported his policies, we could perhaps understand what people want. We need to understand better what does he stand for and what have people voted for. We also need to understand what is peoples’ perception of a strong leader and how do they feel that he and his party are most competent to deliver what this country needs most which according to an educated guess should be an inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

The only slogans that I could see in this campaign were the need for the country to be in safe hands and the fact that our country needs a strong leader who could make us visible on the world stage. Were we not in safe hands till now is something that baffles me no end. I always thought that we were a strong nation and stable democracy with our able armed forces always ready to face any challenge if there were to arise any.

It was a matter of pride for a lot of us at least that there is a perfect balance as far as division of powers is concerned between the executive and judiciary, between the executive and legislature and also how our armed forces were away from the machinations of politics. Everything seems to have got shaken up in these last few months, but I do understand that these things can’t be of grave concern to a large chunk of population in a nation like ours where poverty is still rampant and education not world class.

I thought people were at least interested in jobs, growth and development and they will support whoever would deliver on those fronts. If the statistics, whatever are available and can be relied upon, are to be believed, there doesn’t seem to be anything worth celebrating on that front but still a majority of this country feels that the current dispensation deserved a more robust mandate. I agree that none of the governments so far have been true to their words and there is no one visible on the Indian political horizon who could be considered both competent and trustworthy to deliver the growth promise, but to say that lack of options or alternative resulted in this landslide victory would be to belittle the wisdom of the electorate of this country.

This election has according to me busted several myths, one of them being that people are most interested in their own growth, development and well-being. There is something else that ticks democracy and no one else except Mr. Modi knows that.