World’s
largest democratic process of electing the leader of the nation has officially
ended in India. A sigh of consolation and relief supposed to have been set in
the hearts of the people of India. People can now breathe the fresh air of the
new cabinet headed by an experienced statesman Mr Narendra Modi, will take
control of the second largest population in the world. Hopefully India will
move out of an economic status quo that prevailed for several decades. A few
questions that whiz through my mind at this juncture are; Will India is a Hindu
right winged nation? Will the minority of India really breathe the fresh air?
Will the foreign policy of India change, particularly towards USA? Will Mr Modi
put some money into the pockets of the poorest of the poor? Will India shine
despite its longstanding religious taboo, in other words, will India uphold its
secularism and pluralism?
Vatican
Insider reported after Modi had won the landslide victory in the Lok Sabha
elections, “India is officially in the hands of the Hindu right wing, the
Catholic and other religious minorities are concerned with the new man in
charge in India.” It is obvious that Modi is a Hindu, thus it is quite natural
for him to have a soft corner for the Hindus. He might favour the Hindus, that
is because he is born and brought up in Hindu environment. Will that quality to
make premature judgements that Modi will not take care of the minority in
India. If he is a real Indian he would take care of the minority because of the
fundamental right of religious freedom. Thus the statements and reflection in
the minds of the people on Modi as being a threat for the minority must be nullified
until it is proved true. It is not right for us to make premature conclusions
before even he is sworn in as the next Prime Minister of India. Modi is a
street tea vendors son, thus he had a humble beginning which will come in handy
when he sees the minority being persecuted by the Hindu fundamentalists. He is
accused of causing communal riot in Gujarat, but he has proved it to be an
accusation. I only hope that Modi will prove everyone wrong that he is allergic
to minority people and rather takes care of them like the shepherd that cares
for the wounded sheep. I only hope that Modi puts sanctions on the Hindu
fundamental groups. This will console the entire minority population of India
to breathe a fresh BJP (Bharatiya Janatha Party) air.
Technically
Mr Modi must be the most powerful man in the world and certainly in Asia
because he is the leader of the second largest population of the world. He is
the leader of approximately 1/6 of the population of the world. He is the
leader of the largest democracy in the world where about 814 millions electors
participated in the process of election. He is the leader of the largest
emerging economies of the world. He is the leader a largest secular country in
the world. Hence, I would attribute him as the most powerful man in the world.
This is not to make him a dictator style of functioning but it’s for his credit
that he makes India as the most powerful country in the world. Modi can make
the India economy visible to the world where world will march towards India. But
then it is a huge challenge for Modi because there is an ever-widening gap
between the poor and rich. Every GDP statistics showcase the ever-rising growth
in the India economy. That does not really qualify the real growth because most
Indians live in acute poverty. Modi has a great challenge, first of all to
alleviate the ever-growing poverty and then put the Indian economy in the world
spot. Modi knows what is it to be a poor, because he was a son of a street tea
vendor. He does not have to make any effort to know the poor since he has gone
through it in his early days.
The
Indians like to celebrate life despite the social evils that is impassable
during the past years. I have fond memories of celebrating Diwali with my Hindu
brothers in my neighbourhood and celebrating Ramadan with my Muslim brothers.
As Christian, my family always distributed sweets and cake for the Hindus and
Muslims in my neighbourhood. These are the few never forgettable moments of my
life. I looked forward for this kind of celebration where we forget our
differences and doctrines; rather we celebrate as human family. Modi would have
been brought up not in a compartmentalized Hindu family rather; he is from a
mixed neighbourhood. He too has had umpteen numbers of Muslim and Christian
friends. We can hardly come across any Indians who never had a close friend of
other faith. For Modi it is not a huge challenge at all to safeguard the
secular style of government where his cabinet will be made up of ministers from
different religious backgrounds. It is hard to have sheer Hindu cabinet of the
government especially a country like India. Thence, Modi might have to watch
out people who influence his decision to favour only the Hindus.
I am
always sceptical about people talking about Modi being inclined towards a Hindu
nation. I might be completely wrong, but my instinct says, that Modi will rise
as the superstar of Asia and put India in the limelight. As far as I see, Modi
will be more concerned about the Indian economy than the religious allegiance.
Modi has a strong charisma will allow him to make his own decision that help a
nation that is limping for the past one decade. Being a minority Indian, I
might sound very optimistic about Modi, it is because Modi is passionate about
his country. We have witnessed his passion for India through his untiring
election campaigns throughout the past year. His electrifying election
campaigns have overshadowed the lousy and ineffective campaigns of the Congress
party. Finally, I wish that this most powerful man, Modi may modify India and
make each Indians, poor and rich proud. Let every Indian may exclaim, “We
needed this man at this time.”
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