By- Swadeep Srivastava

This national election, it is going to be the biggest fight between Hindus & Hinduism, within so called right & left philosophies of ‘Indianness’ (Bhartiyta)

Today on the first polling day of the national elections 2019, at our Cambridge school, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad constituency it was quite evitable what the mood was…all around I could see the silent nod for voting for ‘Modi’ and that feeling was quite prevalent & was even expressed by all my known ‘mohalla walas’ very clearly. That’s where I got the word- ‘understood’, meaning Vote For- Understood, means vote for –Modi.

Now you could call it a typical middle class, upper middle class syndrome, mainly in the UP, Delhi, Haryana belt who are mostly possessed by BJP mania & off late- the Modi mania! But as I was driving back with my family (including in-laws & my brother-in-law’s wife who flew for 2 days all the way from Bangalore just to be here to vote for Modi…& according to her- quote-unquote- ‘if anyone doesn’t agree to vote for Modi, I never talk to that person’…& I’m sure by bro-in-law never commits such a mistake—not even think of voting for anyone else than ‘Modi’), I stopped on the way at the road-side thela-wala to buy fresh kakris, took 2 packs & then jokingly asked- bhaiya aaj vote nahin diya, kisko vote doge? He smiled & said- “sahab main to Kaasgunj se vote doonga..aur wobhi Modi ko, isme koi puchne ki baat hai?”!! I also jokingly said- thik hai, ye 10 rupaiye ka khulla rakh lo issi baat pe…☺

This was not just one incidence, same think happened about 10 days back, I was standing in the local shopping mart, waiting for wife & daughter who went inside a shop & I came across two ‘labour’ type guys passing by on a cycle & talking & what I over-heard was quite intriguing – ‘bhaiya is baar Modi ko jitana hai…’. I couldn’t stop myself & stopped them & asked- ‘bhaiya, kya bol rahe the, kisko jitana hai?’ One of them instantly shouted- “Sir, Modi ko jitaana hai, aur kya!!”

At my home day before yesterday, my boy who cooks food comes from a village in East UP, I curiously asked him what’s the voting mood at his village, he replied- “Sir, biwi phone pe bata rahi thi, wahan gathbandhan wale dabaw daal rahe hain ki ‘Modi ko haraana hai’… maine to bol diya hai…chup chap Modi ji ko vote daal aana…!!”

Now the interesting part in all these above anecdotes was the term- ‘Modi’!! Jitaane wala bhi chahen middle class ka padha likha banda ho/ family ho, or the ‘extremist’ like my bro-in-law’s wife…on everyone’s lips its not BJP or any party name, it is all along- Modi.

& even the gatbandhan or the opposition parties theme of the campaign seems to drift towards—‘Modi ko haraana hai’, not that ‘who should win’!! Or ‘who is my winning candidate’, or ‘which party you should vote for?’, of course, the gatbandhan has a great dilemma which party to name to their mixed group of voters, who had been vehemently opposing each other for last 25 years!!

Now, there’s also another twist to this ‘dance of democracy’ story, particularly when you deal with highly opinionated intellectual class of ‘Hindu Pseudo-seculars’ in our country.

While having a blast with my co-workers & well-wishers to celebrate a recent success at work & wind up another fruitful week, what I realized over a mug of beer, that when it comes to discussions around who will be the next PM, Modi (NaMo) or ‘No Modi’ (NoMo), everyone around us, of every age group seems to be an expert & fortunately or unfortunately for India…everyone has an OPINION.

Of course, that’s a great sign, our country is not only ‘more literate’, but majority it seems like, have views of their own, they just can’t sit silent, they have a perspective to share & everyone seems to be quite vocal about it (& confident about it, too)!

Whether it’s the WhatsApp Groups or the Social Media pages, anything you try to push around Modi, definitely gets tagged & many times, gets shared. I would see it as a sign of another election after 2014 when the theme still remains- Namo or NoMo, but this time with a great difference!

& the difference is the ‘Fevicol like tagging of Modi name with nationalism’. Though it’s good for BJP & Modi ji but certainly not good for our future. Just recently, this became a talk of the media headlines again when the ‘Permanent Politician’ (not born to retire on his own till he is alive), the respected Advani ji came out openly & said- ‘not voting for BJP or not agreeing with our ideologies doesn’t mean that one is not patriotic’, also meaning to say that- to vote against Modi doesn’t mean that you are non-patriotic… clearly asserting the fact that in current times (you may call it Pulwama attack after-effect or the surgical strikes impact)—Modi is the only ‘brand ambassador’ of ‘true patriotism’ in India, his name reckons a strong brand of ‘true loyalty & patriotism for this new India- Bharat’!!

Another one is our own Akhshay Kumar in Bollywood ☺

Well, I feel it’s a very sad situation, mainly from two perspectives:

1. in a country like India, are we moving towards another ‘Void of Leadership’, meaning what we sadly have gone through in last 25-30 years (till 2014) & subjected to ‘Gandhi Family’ rule rather than any Party or a any true Leadership Rule… and we also saw where it lead to…only misery, loss of self-respect. Loss of pride (across the world) & an ailing economy under burden of ‘poverty’ & creation of another ‘tool of permanent poverty & deprivation’- the Freebies (MNREGA & likes, etc.). Also we were not left with any answer to this question- ‘that in a country of 1.3 billion, can’t we get an Indian origin person to lead that we had to depend on an Italian-origin to save us, bail us, & lead us (without any experience or expertise)’!! Nor we were left with any answer to this—“does being the son-in-law of your President of the ruling dispensation automatically grants you the position of ‘super VIP’ allowing you ‘no security check’ at the airports & also making you one of the biggest modern day land-lords by way of donations & fraudulent/ corrupt practices”, with no answerability towards the country and the state??

2. now, with this ‘Modi’ rhetoric what again bothers me, is that can we again be subjected to a similar situation of ‘Void of leadership’, as it seems to be ‘Modi, Midi’ all the way, whether it is ‘for Modi’ or ‘against Modi’, the Brand name which flies up & high seems to be invincible and without any parallels, at least for time being, in this Election 2019.

People like me who are supporting & voting (already voted today) for Modi, very clearly understand & believe this very well that Modi doesn’t mean any Family, any dynasty. Worst case scenario you can call him a Sangh Ideologies Pracharak or a die-hard BJP Worker/ Leader who is stubborn on the idea of ‘Hinduism’ and the philosophy of ‘nation first’…but what we like about this ‘phenomenon’ Modi is that, he doesn’t come with any baggage of friends & family, gives more than 100% of his time thinking & working for the country and most importantly, he is a larger than life ‘phenomenon’ who is much above the ideologies of any Party (in this case- BJP) or any belief (in this case- RSS)…he is a true Leader of the people of the country & his ambition is to ‘rule the people as a true leader’, not make a Party rich or his Family prosperous or his/ son daughter secure in life…his prosperity & security imaginations are only for the country, I,e, India of today- Bharat. He is a true Indian come from amongst us & he can never gift a son like- Pappu or a damaad like- Vadra who come with nothing as above…so have nothing to give us back, in ‘true sense’.

Today being the first polling day of Election 2019, it is just a beginning of this affair called- ‘Dance of Democracy’ whose results can only be out on 23rd May & not before that.

Let ‘Dance India Dance’, but the Indian Idol is already out—it is ‘Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi’, whether you are voting for him or against him, the winner is already- MODI.