Modi's moment in India's history

Last 10 years or so Gujarat got a great story to tell, weaved around the enigmatic, decisive and razor sharp Chief Minister Narendra bhai Modi. For his critics Modi is a hardcore Hindu nationalist who benefited immensely by playing the communal politics and "disturbing" Gujarat's secular fabric. The decade old Gujarat riots keep haunting his Government (and himself). For most of the progressive and Capitalistic mindset Gujarati's - Modi is a catalyst for catapulting their own individual dreams.

Modi managed to provide a genuine development platform, free from both bureaucratic hindrances and corruption scandals.  These two are greatest achievement for any head of a Government in India. Over the past 7-8 years, India has been rocked by sequential corruption scandals. Even the saintly Manmohan Singh's honesty is in question. Yet, there are none in Gujarat.

Modi's administrative dexterity is genuinely praised even by his detractors. He is a blend of Chandrababu Naidu on Administation, MG Ramachandran on emotional intelligence and connecting with the people of the state, Sardar Patel in decision making. Add to that - his simple and frugal life style being unique advantages. Being a bachelor, he does have to bother of issues being faced by Karunaidhi or worry of family legacy like Gandhi-Nehru scions.

Like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the much adored Prime Minister of India, Modi had his roots in RSS. While Vajpayee adroitly handled the critical issues that mattered his image or stature - Modi failed to act decisively at the time of Guajrat riots. While Vajapayee had the benefit of Advani to handle the Ayadhya crisis (though he was indicted by Ayodhya Commission) - Modi could not get perfect alibi for the acts of his Government (from the media point of view) though he was cleared of any involvement by Courts.

India had a long history of communal riots and pogroms. Thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred post Indira Gandhi assassination. Yet, none in the Government were indicted. No one is haunted for the tragic death's of Sikhs. Still, millions of Sikh voices around the world plead justice. Congress self justice perhaps, Manmohan Singh a rank outsider is the two term Prime Minister of India. Yet, Dr Singh despite being the most power man in India (on paper at least) - could not bring justice to those innocent souls and families. Hyderabad, Assam, Bengal, Mumbai and host of the cities have witnessed pogroms over the past 60 years. Yet none in Government were booked.

This is the crux of the contemporary Indian politics. Religion on most of the times helps for career progression in India than bringing justice to their fraternity or fulfilling the "false"promises. Even if BJP were to rule India for 100 years, I am sure that Ram Temple at Ayodhya would not be build! It is easy to trap an average Indian with emotional pledge - and political class have mastered this art with perfection.

Any pogrom, let it be a reaction, response or willful is always unfortunate. There are some key aftermath events to be assessed to understand the consequences. There no riots in Gujarat since and there is no exodus of minorities to other states or abroad. Unlike in Mumbai, where even Hindu's live fear under Shivsena scanner, Gujarat has no such precedence. Narendra Modi is miles behind Bal Thackaray who lived most of his life time on false promises but never found solution for his  diehard followers on his "subjugation theory" in their own Maratha empire. Equally, Modi is way behind canny Congress which has long history of divisive politics under the Secular umbrella. The simmering cast, religious and regional issues, mostly are thanks to visionary political acumen of Congress leadership [Thanks to Congress, Hyderabad once a vibrant beacon city lost it's direction and dramatically declined during the Congress rule]

Recently, after watching the Sardar movie, I felt that the contextual position of Modi is no different to Sardar Patel. When the crunch moment came to select the future Prime Minister of India, Pandit Nehru was the 3rd choice of Congress Regional Committees. Despite being the on top of the preference list, Gandhi requested Patel to make way for Jawahar Lal Nehru. That was the moment perhaps, course of free India changed decisively.

Today, Modi's biggest challenge is not from Congress but from within. The in-cohesive, demotivated BJP leadership - with no respectable leader to fit into the shoes of Vajpayee have turned themselves into mockery. The RSS faith in their Nagpur neighborhood Gadkari who is anything but a failure, the [greedy] ambitions of Advani, ambiguity of Susha Swaraj and finally Arvind Khejriwal's onslaught not only caused serious damage to BJP reputation at the national level but landed them in chaos. Despite Government apparent vulnerability on various fronts, today BJP is neither in position to counter nor take onslaught from Congress or UPA. Recent debacle in FDI voting reflects the awfully tragic situation and vacuum of decisive leadership. Having run out of all options at Delhi, BJP's only hope is Modi.

The frustrated Indian citizens are hungry of good governance from South Block - with a vision and deliverance of tangible results. This is Modi's moment in India's history - While Gandhi stopped Patel, it is RSS which is coming in the way of Modi. Or do they prefer Rahul Gandhi instead?    .