Modi @ 75

As Mr Narendra Modi completes 75, let me extend heartiest greetings from a faithful critic of his. May he live long and work for a better India, at least better than what he has made of it in the last decade. It is a different matter that he expelled many of his partymen at the age of 75 from active life. The leader of the RSS, the organisation that shaped Modi’s ideology, reminded Modi a few weeks back that “When you turn 75, it means you should stop now and make way for others.” Of course, we know that Modi won’t listen to anyone simply because he doesn’t consider anyone worthy of giving him counsel.

I can write a voluminous book on how Modi could (and should) change himself on his 75^th birthday so that the nation will change itself revolutionarily. As a fatalist, however, I desist from doing anything of the sort and console myself that Modi ji is part of India’s current destiny. When the Saturn changes its position in the cosmic setup, India’s destiny will alter too. Wait for that, if you care. Whatever you care hardly matters because Modi ji is a divine incarnation and your cares can’t alter divine designs.

In the meanwhile, let us share Modi ji’s happiness on his having hit the diamond jubilee of his existence that has cosmic divine designs. As Aakar Patel said in his book Price of the Modi Years [2021], “India has not had such a figure as Modi. Messianic, full of self-belief and so adored for his charisma and charm. So full of himself. Offering wisdom endlessly and not liable for the consequences of his actions…. It is the fault of India that it has not lived up to Modi’s genius.”

Yes, Modi ji, forgive us Indians for not living up to your genius and its vision. Especially on this occasion when you’ve hit a landmark in your personal life, a milestone at which you terminated the political journeys of many less unworthy people – particularly those who loved yatras very much. By the way, do you still remember the historical Rath Yatra on which you accompanied a senior leader of your party whom you kicked underground eventually just as Vamana did to Mahabali? Arundhati Roy later described that Yatra as “interesting.” In her own inimitable style, “It’s interesting that just around the time Manmohan Singh, then the finance minister, was preparing India’s markets for neoliberalism, L K Advani was making his first Rath Yatra, fuelling communal passion and preparing for neo-fascism.” 

Modi with Advani on the Rath Yatra

It is not good to recall these things on your glorious birthday, I know. But even at the ripe old age of 75, one can look back and atone for one’s meanness. I’m sorry for bringing a word like ‘meanness’ here on this momentous occasion. It was none less than Shashi Tharoor who wrote about your meanness long ago. In his magnum opus on you, The Paradoxical Prime Minister [2018], he wrote about your “inability to rise above (your) narrow-minded, mean-spirited, sectarian political origins to the levels of statesmanship and good governance.”

Even Dr Tharoor failed to gauge your genius, though of late he has been making serious efforts to sing your paeans much to the chagrin of his partymen. I’m also making an effort to plumb the depths of your genius. But I confess I have been an incompetent plumber all my life. Hence I failed to gauge your greatness which you tried your best to highlight with the titles you conferred upon yourself, such as Viswaguru, Vikas Purush, and Hindu Hridaya Samrat.

Christophe Jaffrelot gave you an additional honour by conferring the title of Sultan on you in his book Modi’s India [2021]. Borrowing Max Weber’s concept of ‘sultanism,’ Jaffrelot ventured to explore the Modi version of sultanism which “has helped a limited number of industrial firms to grow – as he had done in Gujarat in 2002-2014 – and, conversely, has imposed strict control over others. The former, the winners, are gradually acquiring a quasi-hegemonic position, like oligarchs.”

So India is an oligarchy now. Democracy died quite a while ago, though no one seems to have noticed it except Rahul Gandhi whom you have dubbed Pappu and made the national clown. Judiciary, academics, media… everything is under your control. I know you will go on being India’s Emperor for many more years, irrespective of what the RSS men say. You are our All-in-All. Celebrate your birthday in style. Change your apparel a dozen times and pose for the infinite number of cameras that have been gravitating toward you since morning.