With everybody clamouring to
write about Shri Narendra Modi as he turns 75, I decided to instead put together my personal comments
I have made in my blogs over the years. Here is the compendium over 12 years. They give a glimpse of evolving opinions rather than an article with a flow.
2013
Like many of his critics say, Modi had a great state (Gujarat), people and culture on which to build. What must be acknowledged is he managed to harness this capability to push Gujarat from a lower orbit to a higher orbit with new ideas, innovations and a results based approach. Whether Modi can work the same magic elsewhere is a question, but he has been able to provide astute and excellent leadership is a fact.
I recently heard him speak in Hindi which was excellent but in English he did not ignite any spark at all.
My take is that while his performance and leadership bestowed upon him substantial aura, it is his opponents who have catapulted him to the top of the heap. It is their single-minded obsession and strategy to oppose Modi and burn him at the stake that has resulted in a towering man who is feted and fawned upon as the PM aspirant of India.
Every attempt of the opposition to crucify him has only drawn more attention to him, his work and his results.
The sound bites on Modi if counted will show Congress / others topping the charts with BJP far behind. Congress talks of Modi; BJP talks of Modi. His, Modi’s, is a classic case study where your competitor builds your brand for you.
In this obsession about Modi Congress have completely confused between Gujarat, Gujaratis and Modi. They club all of them together. Their fear is that if you say AMUL dairy the pride of India is in Gujarat it will somehow mean credit to Modi, so they instead complain.
2014
When the name of Modi was announced I know that ministers and others in Congress celebrated the 2014 elections as a walk over, a non-contest. Little did they know the change in people’s mood or the change that could be achieved.
Within the BJP every leader you care to name, they sat on their fannies for 5 years and did not come up with a single idea, issue, action which could make them be noticed by the people. They were hopelessly out of sync with the people, did not plan any action, did nothing to connect with the people and had resigned to the fate of another 5 years on the opposition benches. Every single leader in BJP had completely abdicated any thought of making a bid for power.
BJP’s geriatric leadership didn’t like Modi but also realised they needed someone to go do the battle and the quid pro quo was that if he won, he gets the crown. For BJP, Modi was TINA in a manner of speaking. Now that he has the crown, he needs to ensure that his own partymen don’t undermine him. That will take time.
The fact that today he is the rockstar, the star campaigner speaks volumes of the pusillanimity of the team and that is the biggest risk for BJP.
2015
That the PM led from the front is obvious and for the first time in a long time the people have confidence that in most crisis issues this government has a workable system already in place.
While there can be credence to the opinion that Modi doesn’t like others to hog the limelight, fact also is that none seem to be working as hard as him. Modi continues to be the face of this government, not just because he is the PM, but barring a few none of the others has shown initiative, leadership and presence.
The notable feature of the Modi government and its politics has been what can be termed “Disruptive politics”. His government and himself in person are rewriting the rules of how to play politics, how to react to situations and taking many initiatives and risks that few dared to do so far.
2016
This tweet/post of mine is enough to explain the year.
Every political leader, Modi included, wants to win the next elections and more than any altruistic agenda, it is plain and simple politics. Except that, the (Modi) strategy is different, the marketing is different, the branding is different and this to my mind is being done with a view to change the rules of the game in the long run from caste and religion to something more tangible that can resonate across caste, community and religion and which can mobilise more votes in bulk. I sense that Modi wants to change this paradigm - how successfully, time will tell.
2019
That Modi and his advent created zeal and excitement must be acknowledged. That Modi catalysed the nation to be more involved is an incontrovertible fact. Citizens have an opinion, feel they must be heard and think they are being heard, thanks to social media.
Modi showed courage in closing the Rafale deal by making it a Govt to Govt deal which even previous govts could have done if they believed that defence preparedness was dangerously inadequate.
Undoubtedly foreign policy and diplomacy have been the most successful in the Modi govt even if there were fly's in the ointment like China.
The biggest failure of the Modi govt, and it has nothing to do with him - nobody other than Modi could effectively communicate with the masses.
Given the brilliant communicator that Modi is, the party cannot become like the Indian cricket team of the 70’s/80’s when if Gavaskar was out, it meant the team was out.
For the first time there is a leader who is willing to accept the blame, the brickbats, the abuse but says that I will also take the credit, the glory and the name for the success.
Modi told the officers that he would work longer and harder than any of them. Many have said that the man sets a punishing schedule and be it ministers or officers they face breakdowns.
If anybody had told me that a PM would talk of hygiene, cleanliness and such I would have laughed.
The one thing that Modi can be given full marks for is the disruption that his govt caused to a long established well entrenched ecosystem.
When has any politician, let alone a Prime Minister stood on the ramparts of Red fort and in his Independence Day address asked a nation - Why do you not question your sons? Why do you not ask what they do, where they go?
2021
Modi changed the rules. If they called for a game of Hockey, his team came with Baseball bats and pulverised the opposition.
2024
Modi 2.0 was unrelenting in its efforts to bolster the security of the nation and play catch up as fast as possible.
What Modi 1.0 did was to prime the foreign policy, so that in Modi 2.0, India jumped orbits, dreamt big by creating an aspirational society, that had a force multiplier effect
The raison-de-atre of the Modi government has been promoting and using technology as a game changer.
There will always be some element of political freebies, but where the Modi Govt has scored is that majority of the freebies are targeted with a clear end goal.
The Modi Govt does not deny the really deserving and the target in a majority of cases is about teaching people to fish and not being fed the fish.
The transformation that has happened within 10 years is a huge tribute to the delivery and execution strategy of the Modi Govt.
The Modi Govt focussed on execution, implementation, and last mile delivery with a ruthless focus in every case, including in every project conceived by the Congress.
The Modi Govt doctrine was not about an omnipotent god figure protecting the people, it was about enlisting the support of the people and making them equal stakeholders in the efforts. It was about communicating that the Govt was not the horse that would pull the national carriage but equally needed the people to push the carriage.
The Modi Govt achieved the target of abrogating Art 370 after 75 years.
It is to the credit of the Modi Govt that there has not been a single scam till now.
Today, as the man himself says – the Neeyat (which conveys a whole new meaning compared to its English translation), meaning motivation (or one can say hidden agenda) is honest and sincere.
His ability to play high stakes poker left his own party, colleagues, opposition, the administration and the citizens breathless. At every stage he raised the stakes, bid high, played Russian roulette and even the global community was gasping for breath.
I can personally say that having travelled widely across the world for more than 2 decades, the common people one bumped into abroad at best knew about the Indian curry, elephant, snake charmers and the software engineers. Today, the number of people who invoke the name Modi when they hear the word India is an amazing transformation for a political leader.
The hallmarks of the Modi leadership as observed in hindsight are Demonstrate, Discipline, Deflect, Divide, Decide, Determination, Direction, Deliver, Dedication.
2025
The Modi govt upended 65 years of security doctrine by stating that any action against the nation would attract strong and disproportionate response, which will be further escalated.
Whether Naxals or the Pakistani establishment, the Indian govt demonstrated this policy in action and even called out the nuclear bluff. Surgical Strike, Balakot, Operation Sindoor, Indus water treaty in abeyance demonstrate that the Modi Govt has walked their talk.
In 2 blogs I had summed up the Modi govt as below.
- · Status quo disrupted.
- · Citizen participation and involvement in India increased.
- · Citizen involvement in politics, policy and even governance has increased.
- · A new bar has been set for citizen service.
- · India has upped the ante in dealing with Pakistan.
- · Foreign policy reset in a new direction.
- · Clearly identifiable leadership with decisiveness
- · A willingness to take risks & politically risky decisions
- · The bar of citizen expectations has been raised very high
- · Defence and security of the country is back on the table as the priority
- · Out of the box thinking
Key take away's are the following. 1. Sincerity of approach
2. Dedication to the end goal
3. Execution of the objective
4. Unrelenting focus on the last mile delivery
5. Motivating and making People get involved and feel like stakeholders in the development and progress of the nation.
6. Creating Aspiration within the people as a desirable goal
7. Creating confidence within people about who they are culturally, linguistically, and not feel ashamed in comparison to the English speaking, western world.
8. A leader even in the direst situations having a calming effect.
9. An immense pride and confidence about India.
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