Ahmedabad, 31 December 2012

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win!

This is my favorite Mahatma Gandhi quote, because it personifies the struggle of almost every great soul born on the planet. We have countless stories of scientists, sportsmen, leaders and actors going through the same grind and achieving prodigious heights in their fields.

In the present scenario this quote fits on one person better than anyone else. He is Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. We may say that he has lived this cycle and Won. But he will never complete this cycle. Yes, he has been ignored, ridiculed, scoffed at. Yes, he has fought a never-ending battle with the most treacherous of enemies. But in the end it will be the people of our Nation , who will win. Not Narendra Modi, because it has never been his personal battle. He has endured the pain of the entire battle and will continue to do so, so that the people have the last laugh in the end!

Going through the teachings of the Father of the Nation, I have been fascinated by the parallels between Gandhiji’s thoughts and Narendra Modi’s convictions!

A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.

A sound mind with a constant turn-over of goals can overcome innumerable physical obstacles. Narendra Modi was born in a humble household in a small town of Vadnagar. Who would have imagined that in six decades a member of a modest tea-vendors family would shake the roots of the Nehruvian political system. When most of his counterparts have a royal lineage to boast of, all he has, is his unflinching resolve to work for a better India.

Be the Change you wish to see

While majority of us have been cribbing about the inefficient system and carrying out candle-light protests against corruption , this man, Narendra Modi has been busy converting this very system into an efficient one. While red-tapism drives off most investors in the country, he has rolled out a red carpet to them, eliminating all the bureaucratic roadblocks. While the world is distressed over the rapidly depleting sources of energy, he set up the largest solar power plant in Asia. Gujarat also has the major share in wind energy tapped in India. Gujarat boasts of a plethora of tourist spots which were poorly maintained over the years. He developed them and gave impetus to tourism. Isn’t this a pleasant change to the hollow governance we have seen for decades? Would not we like this change to be accessible to the entire population of India?

To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman.

Since Independence, we have heard ample talk about the upliftment of minorities and backwards, while our Women were perennially ignored. They had to walk miles to get a bucket of water or wood for cooking. His initiatives of providing electricity to even remote villages has indeed proved to be a boon to women. He is trying to provide cooking gas by pipeline to the widest areas possible to solve the woes of cylinders. Drinking water is now reaching far flung areas of Gujarat. He was among the first to realise the grave situation of tilting sex ratio and started the Beti-Bachao Abhyaan. Today various initiatives by the Govt. of Gujarat help women in all spheres of their lives. Earlier women were considered redundant in electoral politics. Narendra Modi has pleasantly changed the scene. It is hardly a surprise that today women constitute of Modi’s most loyal voters!

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Can there be a better example of this virtue than Modi meeting Keshubhai after his victory. Keshubhai Patel had been the most vociferous critic of Modi and his entire campaign focussed on denting Modi’s win. Yet in a display of great humility, Modi sought Keshubhai’s blessings after his win.

I have even seen the writings suggesting that I am playing a deep game, that I am using the present turmoil to foist my fads on India, and am making religious experiments at India’s expense. I can only answer that Satyagraha is made of sterner stuff. There is nothing reserved and nothing secret in it.

Can there be a bigger irony than this? Even Gandhiji was not spared of doubts regarding his ambitions. The same history repeats itself with Narendra Modi. He has steadfastly maintained that his only ambition is working for the people. But he is constantly deluged with doubts cast on his intentions. Would he be committing a folly if one day he happens to serve the people of India rather than only the people of Gujarat?

The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy. That State is the best governed which is governed the least.

This is a very important statement which only a few realize in India. Thankfully Narendra Modi, is one of them. What Gandhiji wants is not a very powerful central organization, but a group of small but effective and autonomous group of local bodies. That is exactly what is happening in Gujarat. Taluka level bodies are empowered , thus entirely reversing the status quo of power prevailing in the country. Not only are the Taluka level workers given better facilities, they are also made responsible. This will, over the years evolve, into a perfectly oiled self-sufficient system least dependent on the state machinery

In the end I’ll leave you with this thought from Gandhiji with the hope that Truth shall prevail!

Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. I must continue to bear testimony to truth even if I am forsaken by all. Mine may today be a voice in the wilderness, but it will be heard when all other voices are silenced, if it is the voice of Truth.

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