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The obsession with dismissing the Modi wave

By - Published: 12/09/2013 - Section: Domestic

results

By Sunday evening, the results of elections in the states of Rajasthan, MP, Chattisgarh and Delhi were out. The results were nothing short of spectacular for BJP. Yet, predictably the Indian media was churning out stories by dozens as to how the so called Modi effect failed. Political pundits, journalists, even congress spokespersons were at pains trying to prove how a Modi wave did not exist. Newspapers the next day were littered with same stories.

Media space was mostly shared between singing paeans on AAP and Kejriwal and disproving a Modi effect. While this partiality is baffling, it is not something new. Over last one decade we’ve grown up listening to such news. Politicians like Nitish Kumar from JDU, Shivkripal Yadav from SP, Satyavrata from Congress, Yogendra Yadav from AAP and many more were telecast non stop shown dismissing Modi and his effect.

During early hour of counting the so called experts were saying a lack of 2/3rd majority will be failure of Modi. When MP and Rajasthan went past 2/3rd majority they said it was because of Vasundhara and Shivraj’s leadership despite both crediting Modi for the landslide victory. When Chattisgarh was in doldrums they slammed Modi but when BJP won they credited Raman Singh.Incdently It was Raman Singh who requested more Modi rallies after the first round of voting as he sensed balance of power shifting towards congress. BJP was languishing at third place when Modi took charge and replaced Vijay Goel with Dr. Harshvardhan which was both a risk and an example of Modi’s strong leadership. Modi’s rallies brought Harshvardhan from 4% approval ratings to 43% and helped BJP be the largest party in Delhi. And yet by bizarre twisted logic its Modi’s failure that the BJP did not get absolute majority.

Modi’s success rate is 71%. Out of 300 seats that Modi reached through his rallies BJP won 212. He won 73 new seats for BJP from last time while defending the existing 139 seats. On the contrary, Rahul Gandhi reached to 110 seats and congress only got 25 seats which is a loss of 25 seats from the previous tally. This disproves a lot of misconceptions that opponents and media propagate about Modi being a regional leader.

The truth is advent of Modi scares many. Mostly the nexus of politicians, media, self proclaimed activists, NGOs and coterie of Lutyens elite who are uncomfortable at the thought of changing status quo. Modi, as tough, incorruptible, no nonsense leader is the last thing they want after 60 years of uninterrupted abuse of power, resources and money without any responsibility. It’d be interesting to see the corridors of power get shaken by the humble chaiwallah.