During Vajpayee time, all his glory was brought down by his own party men and party affiliate. They were in an eager to amass and expand. Most of his time had been spent on sorting out the troubles created by his almighty Fringe RSS and its affiliates to save his government's progressive image.
Prime Minister Modi's history is also no different. Even as one can not negate his dictatorial tenacities, considering his party's overall fundamental structure that lay emphasis on the primitive arguments of patriarchy, I wonder what alternate does he has with the party men who grew under it?
If one look at the times of Vajpayee, one would not be able to find any difference in attitude and culture of the present government and the fundamentalist forces. Things were same, Ideas were same and agenda were same. Perhaps one difference would be the industrialised television news channels and social media imputes something new to this government's time.
That point of time also people were scared of talking about Advani an equivalent of present day Modi. I think except RK Lakshman who always portrayed him with a crown to represent his archaic mindset in relationship to his hawkish Hindutva agenda of patriarchal nature, no one dared to speak up against the government. All those who tried paid the price very badly. Tehelka is the classic example. The opposition was in a complete disarray.
But Vajpayee with his non-BJP allies with roots in non-Hindutva roots somehow could manage his big brother RSS and its fringe using coalition compulsions. Still, Advani's hawkish interventions and coercive politics brought down Vajpayee government. Unfortunately, Modi did not enjoy the privilege of coalition compulsion to rein in his party men and as a hawkish politician himself and his lieutenant Amit Shah, his government may not require any other person to bring it down.
His Amit Shah wipes will not last for long, as their "aya ram -Gaya ram" kind of politicians adopted from other parties who gave the limited edge in states, will become their biggest threat in 2019 or at least post 2019.
History of Indian politics, from Indira Gandhi onwards, to whom Prime Minister has indebted many things for his style and methods, if at all proves one thing, what brought down Congress is not the corruption or leadership issues, but the downfall started with their threat culture of using CBI and Income Tax to tame the leaders and businessmen. When your own back yard is not clean, people will reject it as one more nonsense. Also, a new set of leaders will emerge in those parties, who will be beyond those threats.
In the entire history of Indian politics, except a very few, no leader has ever lost their position in politics on corruption charges. Party structures in India are corrupt owing to the election expense compulsions and its crony capitalism. In India, a local constable onwards is appointed at the behest of a local crony businessman and their political representative that this agenda of corruption starts. One has to understand the frame of corruption as popularly interpreted. In a population of billion people with less than a million options of employment, business and the never ending long lines of waiting for everything and anything, corruption will never go away as a means of practice in our daily life. If a selected few still remain politically and morally incorrupt, it owes it's complete indebtedness to religious morality and ethics. Gandhian politics is a classic example of it. Also, the classic example is, in spite of very tall leaders of moral high ground existed in left atheist leaning politics, Left could never impact the Indian politics, also most of them could not find a place in left politics itself. That is also the reason, Kejriwal's idealistic opposition against corruption is getting deranged in his power politics and losing his face day by day.
In a democracy, when the citizens as varied in culture, language, tradition, aspiration, food habits, literacy and religion exist, consensus politics only work for a better long time political dividend. Coercive politics will only make them rebel and victim. With a 40% below poverty line people, aggrieved farmers, a large section of unemployed educated youth and many of them with heavy educational loans, large-scale displacements, this coercive terror plank is not going to work with any leader. Remember all they have to do is identify with these youth who have a distrust of the government or is building its momentum and also have nothing to lose.
This Corruption, Mandir and cow policies is of no relevance to the city dwellers, the largest vote bank of BJP. For them their daily life expenses, income and employment for their children are important. In fact, they wouldn't even mind taking the ugly root of corruption to settle their life, priorities, children and their aspiration.
Recently my daughter did a school project of surveying two city markets: KR Puram in Bangalore market and Mittayee theruvu in Calicut. Shockingly every shop owners only had one story to tell about the disaster brought upon to their business by the demonetization. Most of these small-scale business people have never made large profits but were only managing their daily expenses by the business of " rolling money" or settling through credit servicing. With demonetisation, this meagre managing has become a mere survival and that too in a big loss that they expect if they are able to survive for another couple of years in business, then they may be able to bring up to a living support.
The government of the day should remember there is no eternity and Utopia in politics when your country has a population of one billion people and out of that half of them are poor. Let them live, do not destroy their life any further. They don't need your cow belt policies of mandir and cow slaughter ban. You have taken away their basic money from their pocket for bank defaulters, now you are ruining their another meagre earning of cattle income. Unlike corporates, none of the farmers sells their cow so dear to them for slaughter. They are forced to sell them in the market to buy another cow that milk and assure their meagre income.
I read somewhere about the idea of imposing the ban on cattle trade getting linked to Gujarat elections. If one knows the large numbers in cattle trade among Patels and Rabaris, one only can laugh at that planted story.
Stop your coercive politics or else BJP will be doomed like Congress.
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