Kashmir
Challenge: Modi Could Write History Or Blot it
Saeed
Naqvi
Manmohan Singh was a fine Finance
Minister but, as Prime Minister, had a problem of being deferential to the
Gandhis to the point of being obsequious. He looked more ineffective than he
was. This collective anti incumbency was harvested by Modi.
Big business along with their
multinational linkages mounted a media campaign larger than any in electoral
history; by some estimates even bigger than the Obama campaign. This campaign
too found the adage apt: with opponents like the Congress, who needs friends?
For the first time in decades, a single party government came to power. Without
any alteration that same defunct Congress is being sought to be resurrected.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is
committed to Hindu nationalism. This does strike a chord with a majority of
Hindus. But the storm troopers who helped bring BJP to power were from ultra
Hindutva groups like the RSS and the VHP. These extremist groups read the
mandate which brought Modi to power according to their exclusive lights. They
went on a rampage demanding “ghar wapsi” or reconversion of Muslims and
Christians to Hinduism. Hindu women must produce five children to boost
population; they must resist an inexplicable quantity called “Love Jehad”. They
went to absurd lengths crediting ancient India with every conceivable
scientific invention. Elephant God Ganesha was a result of plastic surgery.
They provoked communal riots; barged into parties admonishing youngsters
against dancing and drinking beer. Modi waited and watched from an ambiguous
distance.
By their excesses, they ended up
embarrassing the majority of Hindus along with other Indians. This when that
very helpful tailwind, the anti incumbency against Sonia, Rahul and Manmohan
Singh had disappeared. The international talent Corporate India had mobilized
for one full year buying up every square inch of media space to build up Modi
as the development messiah, was no longer available. And, above all, prices of
food had risen sky high.
Came a series of by elections in UP,
Bihar, Jharkhand. The Modi magic appeared not to be working. Then came the
elections to the Delhi State Assembly. On a platform against corruption and for
social justice the Aam Admi Party trounced the BJP. Of the 70 seats, AAP won
67, making Arvind Kejriwal the David to Modi’s Goliath.
After this experience last month, there
was general nervousness among big industry and their multinational partners:
what kind of budget will Modi and his bright Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
produce?
They have produced a market friendly
budget focused on massive infrastructure projects, putting out allurements to
invite Foreign Direct Investment. After the electoral debacle in Delhi, the
fear was that the government would fall back on populism, increasing public spending
to enhance the social security net. But Modi surprised everybody. The
Corporates were overjoyed.
In fact, Modi has placed himself at the
mercy of Corporates: it is in your interest, he seems to be telling India Inc, as
well as that of the country, to keep the BJP government buoyant with cent per
cent media support on the scale that was available to the party eversince
Modi’s candidature was announced in June 2013, right upto the elections in May
2014. Will the Corporates now attend to his requirements, in the forthcoming
elections in Bihar, Assam, UP. He has gambled for growth not electoral
populism. If the economy shows promise he will look safe by the next general
elections in 2019.
The riveting development the one that
will define Modi’s innings, has been the power sharing government in Kashmir.
This has opened up the possibility of improved relations with Pakistan which in
turn will bring down the communal temperature, an enabling precondition for
accelerated economic growth.
The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
is the most astute leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mufti Mohammad
Saeed. He has vast experience of Delhi too where he has served as the Union
Home Minister. He is familiar with all the caverns of intrigue on the Delhi,
Srinagar, Islamabad axis.
Recently, one of the most respected
columnists in India, Swaminathan Aiyar lifted the scab from an old wound: the
genocide of over 2,00,000 Muslims in Jammu before the accession of the state by
Maharaja Hari Singh into the Indian Union. The later migration of 4,00,000 Kashmiri
Pandits from the valley to Jammu, according to Aiyar, is a living tragedy
though not quite as gruesome as the Jammu massacres.
That the BJP and the PDP have joined
hands in Kashmir against the backdrop is laden with possibilities. Summer is
round the corner. A bumper season to boost tourism in the most magnificent
parts of the state right upto the Gurez valley is possible in conditions of
peace. It will open up hearts and minds.
Ghalib wrote:
“Hasad se dil agar afsurda hai,
Garme
tamasha ho
Ki chashm e tung shayad kasrat e
Nazzara
se waa ho.”
(If meanness and malice oppress the
heart, step out and travel,
Narrowness of vision may open up with
the abundance of the spectacle.)
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