Om Namo Namah! If you thought this chant was a meditative
invoking of spirituality, well think again because the people who are reciting
it are probably ardent followers of Narendra Modi, popularly nicknamed ‘NaMo’.
I kid you not, these days of dynamic demonitisation, if not anything else have
taught me this. Well, apart from the fact that I now know what it means to be
poor and live day to day, counting my 100 rupee notes. So like every other poor
or middle-class citizen, I have been relegated to standing in a serpentine
queque at my local bank branch, in the hope of withdrawing some handy cash to
see me through the month. Of course, my efforts and patience have been rewarded
after missing meals, fighting and arguing with strangers I wouldn’t rub
shoulders with otherwise, tucking my kid in to professional day care services
to make up for my absence, walking miles to save on petty cash, standing for
hours in a line that refuses to move and being often turned down as soon as my
number came due to exhausted coffers of the bank for the day. I can only feel
the distress that senior citizens, pregnant women and employed citizens of this
country must be going through. And going by the number of sudden deaths and
suicides that have been the unimaginably and extremely tragic consequence of
the current malady, I seem to have got off easy. If you are not practically
part of the hullabaloo at this juncture, I am sure witnessing the anguish, the
dilemma and the misery is distressing enough, even if you aren’t at the
receiving end of it.
It’s been well over a month since NaMo’s glorious initiative
to nip corruption in the bud and everyday, news trickles in about illegitimate
cash, gold and bank transactions that are being nabbed thanks to the move.
Modi’s supporters are busy campaigning the virtues of this action and are
sparing no words of praise hailing his decision. Will it be able to eliminate
the atrocities inflicted on commoners thanks to the greed of a few, we will
have to wait to see but as far as the process of implementation goes, it’s a
sorry state of affairs no doubt. Our beloved PM meanwhile doesn’t believe in
standing at the sidelines and watching the show. He is the man of the moment
and is happily absorbing the attention he receives. This is a hero who hogs the
screen, calls the shots and directs the twists and turns of this rivetting
plot. This film is his and he is in fact, the film. A complete cinematic script
in motion, the climax of which is yet to come.
Even before our PM was bequeathed the challenging role he
now essays with pride and fervour, he has been proactive in being seen and
heard, often using the latest tools of technology to amplify his presence. So
whether it is his larger-than-life laser projection to an attentive audience in
a village during his electoral rounds to his very own Twitter account, the PM
believes in being there, doing that. He was quick to launch his own radio show
to ensure traditional media is not neglected and had the quick wit to devise a
user-friendly app that digitally surveys people’s response to the
demonitisation drive. So far so good. His public addresses broadcast across
Doordarshan have been sparse and significant but his speeches have been
profound, hard-hitting and making all the right noises. PM Modi knows when he
speaks to the nation, he must talk the language of the youth and hence makes
sure he gives out terse but catchy messages that are easy to embed in to the
collective conscious. Swacch Bharat, Make in India are words synonymous with
any nation’s progress and are hardly innovative or path-breaking concepts but
he has personified these slogans to make them gather steam thanks to the
unanimous acceptance of the aam junta towards these ideas. By using the right
way to communicate at the right time, Modiji knows how to turn a seemingly
obvious solution in to a strategic and cohesive act that will instantly win
popular appeal.
While the country rues the downside of demonitisation, be
sure that this is a man on a mission and is empowered to turn the tide in his
favour. What after all, can might not achieve when driven successfully by an
able mind? So while our beloved PM of humble origins is no aristocrat, you need
to still be wary of him because he is one indomitable and indefatigable technocrat.
I am worried he will track my net movements next, assess my likes, choices,
bank balance and personal traits through my shopping patterns, online
transactions and general netsurfing and then unleash another bang boom policy
or declaration which will of course be touted as beneficial to the larger
populace. This is NaMo we are talking about. Whether you voted in his favour or
not, he is here to stay and he can easily give Bigg Boss a complex. For this
man seems to like to catch us where we least expect him to, surreptitiously but
with a passion that is rarely encountered. As a result, he may not win your
complete trust, but he is in for the long haul and will not rest until you are
on his side, even if a tad uneasily. No wonder, he is managing to turn
detractors into devotees with his sheer omnipresence and the zealous goal of
administering his stoic reasoning and resolute opinion-making.
A daunting counterpart, controversial US President elect
Donald Trump actually can take a page out of Modi’s book when it comes to
first, keeping his audience enraptured and then make the most of it with his imposing
and irrefutable stance. His critics may be skeptical when it comes to adjudjing
the latter as an astute leader, but NaMo sure seems on the right foot to
convince us he is. As for the demonitisation drive that has swept the nation,
the examination is over, and India is eagerly awaiting the results. No matter
what they are, this is not the last ball NaMo hits out of the field.
I hope not. In lieu of four years passing after the terrible
December 16 rape incident in Delhi and considering no progress has been made to
abolish this abominable crime from the country, our PM would do well to turn
his attention to formulating a stringent measure against those who violate a
woman’s right to exist. How about using the brilliant means of technological
innovation to empower women citizens to alert cops when feeling endangered? We
could call it the NaMo Say No to Rape one touch app or device? Our PM loves to
play saviour and unfortunately, there are enough women in distress in his
beloved motherland who need saving so time for some more well-meaning action,
right?
