April 08, 2014 09:29 IST
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/ls-election-column-tarun-vijay-so-if-not-modi-then-who/20140408.htm
'Someone is needed to restore India back to
Indians. So you decided you won't vote for Modi. But then, who will you vote
for?'
'List your leaders from the north to south
and east to west, and ask your heart and mind, will any one of them be able to
deliver and bring back India from the darkness it has fallen into?' asks Rajya
Sabha MP Tarun Vijay.
There must be millions who
will never get a chance to meet or speak to Narendra Modi. Still they want him
-- as prime minister.
They would never ask for a Cabinet berth,
chairmanship of a corporation or even membership of the Minorities Commission
from the 'Hindu quota' as some of the worst Hindu-baiters availed of in this
regime.
So what ignited their minds?
I was in Karimganj, near Silchar on the
India-Bangladesh border, Shillong, Banaras, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow,
Kanpur, Patna, Amritsar, Pathankot, Jallandhar, Pune, Pali, Muzaffarpur and
Hyderabad. People who were never ever connected with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh or the Bharatiya Janata Party, were seen supporting Modi.
In Christian-dominated areas; in areas where
Muslims are in a majority; and in Hindu-majority constituencies who have always
returned a non-BJP legislator.
I have known Narendrabhai since the
days of our respected Advaniji's Rathyatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in
1990. He was never like this. The words I spoke to Advaniji, in his Ram
Rath, when we took off from Somnath after an elaborate havan, can be
used for Modi now -- you have entered a different orbit of public life.
The Rathyatra transformed Advaniji
from a gentle, intellectual BJP ideologue-leader to a mass leader whose
mesmerising charm would transform the party and the contours of politics.
This election is going to do the same thing.
Narendrabhai Modi will be a man of
destiny, so far from us yet so close to India's destiny.
You may choose to ignore him, pooh-pooh him
and say it is all a media creation, he is a big hoax, it's all propaganda.
Still, in your heart, a small voice says 'It's Modi this time'.
Why?
After all, every Indian voter has a choice.
So if not Modi, then who?
The dark age we have had,
mired in clouds of corruption, lethargy, when no government office was working
and/or delivering, with external threats looming large and our voice getting
lost in a din of being mocked at, ignored and taken lightly, with internal
security matters going out of hand -- not just the Maoists, but even a Google
playing with Indian security and the complaints of a government agency like the
Survey of India getting a boot from the weak, spineless leadership and
bureaucracy, price rise, inflation, rupee devaluation, corruption in gigantic
schemes like MGNREGA, the Supreme Court intervening to ensure justice in
government at every step... people began losing faith in the State's power.
Someone is needed to restore India back to
Indians.
So you decided you won't vote for Modi. But
then, who will you vote for?
List your leaders from the north to south and
east to west, and ask your heart and mind, will any one of them be able to
deliver and bring back India from the darkness it has fallen into?
Name everyone, weigh their acumen, analyse
their achievements and stand on various issues like terrorism, military power,
security issues, economy, external affairs, and all those matters that have been
making your mind anxious and uncomfortable.
And then decide.
It is not a matter concerning a personality,
a party, an ideology or a group of campaigners.
It concerns the future and safety of our
nation.
Our people. Their children. And the future of
those children.
It is your vote, and your nation, after all.
Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters.
Tarun
Vijay is a Bharatiya Janata Party member of the Rajya Sabha. He is a member of
the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs; a member,
Parliamentary Group on India China Friendship.
