Modi: Veni, Vidi, Vici

Mascot of India that is Bharat

Veni, Vidi, Vici is a Latin phrase attributed to the famous Roman General Julius Caesar. It means ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ It refers to a swift, conclusive victory. Same could be said of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Karnataka last Saturday and Sunday, including Mysuru. In Mysuru he did not speak but merely showed his face in a road show and won our hearts. Whether he will win our votes we will not know now. Let it be.

Yes, Opposition party leaders from Delhi too came to Karnataka, but they spewed venom, poison, on Modi and they indulged in rigmarole. However, the reality about the groundswell of Modi mania among the people is that no matter you Love Modi or Hate Modi, most agree Modi is a great Prime Minister. Modi is a redeemer of India’s lost opportunities and of India’s effete, corrupt administration reminiscent of the last days of Mughal rule.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to election-bound Karnataka on a two-day visit for election campaign. Yes, he came, he saw and he conquered. Not with military prowess but with his charismatic personality, like Nehru’s, his oratory skills and above all passion for building a NEW Bharat, New India. A Bharat where every citizen, irrespective of his religion, caste, creed, language and location will be given an equal opportunity to pursue his passion, profession, trade and happiness. A Bharat where affirmative action will be taken by the Government to help the poor and the underprivileged.

Reservation policy which is continued even after 75 years of independence is a reflection on the failure of the past governments in alleviating the economic, educational and social conditions of these sections of our citizenry. And this is the soft belly of our democracy which our Prime Minister Modi has been trying to make impervious to attacks from vested interests and the dogmatic upper class.

In the past, these vulnerable class of citizenry was made a vote-bank by a nuanced appeasement policy. This enabled foreclosure of benefits, under Reservation by those who have already enjoyed the Reservation benefits.

As a result, the already benefited group under Reservation policy, what the Supreme Court called the “creamy layer”,     continued to enjoy the Reservation while others remained excluded from the Reservation loop. This group thus remained poor and deprived as there was no rational and equitable distribution of benefits.

Now Modi is trying to find a solution to this ‘Gordian Knot’ of a very serious and complex administrative problem.

It is only after 2014, the people of the country came to know of the dangerous, dark, cobweb ridden crevices in the management of our country which if allowed would have driven us to a social uprising. Modi’s appearance in 2014 was like a new dawn for Bharat, India.

Be that as it may, Modi’s two-day visit on Saturday and Sunday (29th and 30th April, 2023) to Karnataka had an electrifying effect on the people. He held six public rallies and spoke of the development. He also took on the Opposition Congress and JD(S), answering all their criticism of himself and the BJP government. Fortunately for BJP there is none in the Opposition who could match Modi or even Amit Shah in their oratorical ability. They seem to be good in personally abusing Modi, calling him names, a chor or comparing him to a poisonous snake or calling him a merchant of death or denigrating him as neech or a common chaiwala.

If that is the perception of Modi according to the Congress, there are some women in this country who adore him, who believe in him and his governance. For them Modi is the Light of Bharat, our country. He has proved that a fallen, weak country that India was, could rise again and gain strength.

Last week I was in Bengaluru. My friend had arranged a homa in his newly-built house. The priest asked at the start of the puja, the names of the owners of the house, their gotra, nakshatra and rashi. The wife of my friend first told the priest the name of Narendra Modi and rattled off his gotra, nakshatra and rashi. The priest was flummoxed. He said, “Madam tell me your name etc., and then of your husband’s.” She said, “No. First begin with Modi’s name.” We few friends there smiled and also admired her love and affection for Modi.

No wonder, Modi’s two road shows — one in Bengaluru and another in Mysuru — were reminiscent of an off-season Dasara procession like summer rain. I guess people are ready to forgive the corruption and lapses in governance by the 4-year rule of Karnataka BJP looking at the face of Modi.

However, in the event BJP came to power in Karnataka, Modi should make sure the Ministers chosen must be non-corrupt, of character, qualification and merit to handle the portfolios as he has at the Centre. At the Centre Modi is successful because he has selected right persons to each Ministry, even by making them Rajya Sabha member if not elected to Lok Sabha — look at our Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar; Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal; Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh; Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw; Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar; Minister for Minorities Affairs, Women and Child Development Smriti Irani; Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju; Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and above all Home Minister Amit Shah. What more you want to take Bharat forward?

The strength of a chain is in its weakest link. There is no weak link in Modi’s Ministerial chain. Hence, India is safe in his hands. We are safe too.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ‘India Shining’ campaign was fake. India was not shining. Hence, he lost the second term. When Modi came to power in 2014 India began to reclaim its lost power, lost cultural heritage, lost status among the comity of nations and began to shine. And Modi won with greater majority in 2019. Now let us wait and see what happens in 2024.

Jai Hind

e-mail: voice@starofmysore.com