The writer is an independent journalist based in New Delhi and writes for several Indian newspapers
We all know what the Gujarat model is, Jha said to his desperately poor audience, and how it has involved making the rich richer at the expense of the underprivileged. If Narendra Modi comes to power, he added, policies pursued by socially-sensitive governments, such as the distribution of wealth and opportunities for the poorest of the poor, will be replaced by pro-corporate policies.
Whether Jha’s audience bought the film-maker’s argument will only be known when results from India’s marathon campaign are out in two days’ time. Many seemed attracted to Jha, perhaps because of his claim to Bollywood — certainly Jha has used commercially attractive actresses like Katrina Kaif in politically compelling movies like Rajniti. Others pointed out that their man from Bettiah — the headquarters of Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha andolan or non-violent movement against the indigo planters of Champaran in 1917, which served as the launch pad for the satyagraha movement across the country — should be given a chance, considering he has lost twice already and has come back to fight for a third time.
Other Champaran natives pointed out, more realistically, that political battles in 21st century India have much less to do with compelling ideas and much more to do with caste arithmetic. If the constituency in question predominantly belongs to the caste of your candidate, irrespective of his/her other qualities, the probability of victory will increase by leaps and bounds.
There are exceptions, as always, to that rule and these include candidates like Prakash Jha contesting from West Champaran (Janata Dal-United), Hema Malini from Mathura (BJP), Vinod Khanna from Gurdaspur (BJP), Nagma from Meerut (Congress party) and Moon Moon Sen from Bankura in West Bengal on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
Certainly there is something about wanting to become a Member of Parliament that persuades these beautiful people to get their hands dirty. Many, like Dharmendra, tire easily and barely show up when the House is in session. Vinod Khanna, who was a former junior minister for external affairs in the early Vajpayee government, didn’t deliver dialogues with the same panache that he did in movies, but I guess he was trying to build a different image. Satabdi Roy of the Trinamool Congress hardly asked a question in Parliament these last five years, content to look glamorous behind those sunglasses. Nagma, in this election campaign, caused a riot wherever she went, detracting from the attention that constituents were supposed to be giving the Congress candidate in question.
Mulling the next Parliament in these hours before the results are announced is an exercise paved with cliches and unsurprising metaphors. The exit polls have predicted a Narendra Modi-led BJP government — from a simple majority to one supported by allies that are part of a coalition as well as those supporting the BJP from outside.
But there’s no denying the saffron surge, essentially led by gargantuan Uttar Pradesh, whose 80 seats will be responsible for catapulting the Gujarat chief minister to the throne of Delhi.
Interestingly, Bihar has thrown a spoke in the wheel, with its backward and lower caste Hindus allying with upper and lower caste Muslims to stymie Modi’s march to Delhi. At a tea shop in Jahangirpur village in Muzaffarpur constituency, a Yadav farmer explained to me that even if Modi comes to power in Delhi, “secular Bihar” will ensure that he won’t be able to expand his presence in this state.
Just like the Yadav leader, Lalu Prasad Yadav in 1991 stopped the Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival) of senior BJP leader L K Advani to Ayodhya, where he was going to offer support in the building of the Ram temple, we will now stop Modi, he added.
That must be wishful thinking. Modi is coming and the rest of India will use the next 72 hours to get used to it. The question is, what priorities the new prime minister will lay for such a diverse society.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (28)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Last fort of secularism is also lost. Lalu couldn't stop Modi. I couldn't even save Rabri's seat.
@narendramodifacts: so what if this govt is elected by the said people ? you forgot to advise the UPA govt for disenfranchising them.btw Modi seems to be the flavour of the season...
The article is not well researched. All the exit polls are showing NDA is leading in Bihar. Even in the previous election BJP+JDU won 32 out of 40 seats. When Narendra Modi gave his speech in Patna, approx 5-7 lac people gathered to listen his speech. They were so glued to his speech that even 7 bomb blasts in the ground didn't cause any stampede.... These writers are disillusion with little knowledge of ground realities.
@Wazir: Even in Pakistan muslims practice casteism. there are many muslim castes like shia, sunni, pashtoon, baloch, sindhi, mohajir, punjabi, tribals etc. Even among tribals also there are many castes. Tell me what will happen if a mohajir boy tries to marry a pashto girl or a shia boy tries to marry a sunni girl.
Waiting for Modi means waiting for more complicated and tensed already relations between Pakistan and India.....
@Wazir Unfortunately Yes they do, But your response was like this evil does not exist in Pakistan? Me myself practice a lot of Hindu Cultural things without hesitation. If any thing does not include SHIRQUE than usually we don't bother at all. its our culture and we are not Arab. Brother that is the stereotype mindset of Pakistanis that Indian Muslims are Not so "Much Muslim"
@narendramodifacts: Yet we all know what really happened. The UPA polarized the working class with runaway inflation, corruption and nil governance that everybody from the executive at an MNC to the lowliest village worker were pushed to one corner and had no choice other than to vote for the BJP. This is the real polarization that took place in India this election.
It's not quite as clear cut as "UP going to Modi" and "Bihar not going to Modi". The opinion polls - especially when you look at them all, not just one, differ, and both statements could be wrong. But there are a few things which are consistent in all polls: 1) The upper castes got behind the BJP in massive proportions in both UP and Bihar; 2) The higher your income, the more likely you were to vote for the BJP. 3) Minorities and dalits by and large wouldn't go near the BJP.
So the BJP worked very hard to split alliances like the OBC-Muslim alliances in UP which kept them out of power previously. What we don't yet know - despite the exit polls - is the extent to which they succeeded. If we do end with a BJP government, then this will be a government largely chosen by the urban, upper caste, relatively well off, with some support from OBCs. Hardly representative of the country as a whole.
@Genius: Genius should be written as "Jee nee yas". Birmingham should be re spelt as "Bar mee n gham" and BIRD should be pronounced as "Byerd". thanks for enlightening.
@Genius: You are wrong about the pronunciation of Bihar. The i' in Bihar is to be pronounced similar to information, industry, ingest etc. 'i' is not always pronounced similar to 'i' in bicycle. The problem arises because English does not have adequate vowels, hence the same vowel can have a different sound which makes English not phonetically correct.
As such the the current spelling is the most accurate way to represent phonetically.
Having said this, it is indeed true that many Indian names when spelt in English are not done correctly ftom a phonetic perspective. Despite that , these are proper nouns and you cannot change their spellings as you wish. For example would you ever ask a Britisher to chsnge the spelling of 'England'?
Based on your recommended dpelling it appears that you have been pronouncing Bihar incorrectly all this while.
@Genius: You really are a Genius.
@Genius: and pray how is biscuit pronounced in English?
Dear dear learned, honourable author and commentators, with due respect, please, please allow me to suggest the following most humbly. Please do not use English language anyway you like. Just like any other language English is ruled by its Grammar. " Bi " in English is pronounced as Bye as is "Bicycle" is pronouced as Byesykle. So when you write Bihar it will be pronounced as Byehar in English. In my most humble opinion the English way of pronunciation tells us that the right way to write this part of India is Bayhar. I have noticed that in India people are taught to write " Me " for " May " . I have seen a label on the bottle with " Methi " written on it. In fact in English it will be pronouced as Meethye or sweet. The right way to write is " Maythee "(Fenugreek). So it goes that some smart person started writing Behar pronounced in English as Beehar and from Beehar it became Bihar pronounced in English as Byehar. Thank you for your kind attention.
it was the combined idea of appropriating a bulk of minority votes and nursing an ambition for the top post in the country which pinched Nitish to the extent of dumping a coalition of 17 years.his recent success in state elections which anyways was a team effort of both JD(U) and BJP, filled him with arrogance.his arrogance and bad decisions have once again brought Bihar at the brink of repeat of Lalu-raj.its clearly visible that minority votes remained intact with Lalu-Congress,and Nitish lost a huge chunk of votes,which preferred going with BJP. this election can prove to be a life breath for Lalu,who was staring at a political annihilation and a jail term. and a major disaster for Nitish.far from reaching anywhere near PMs post,Nitish seems to be losing Patna also.In a way, a lesson for convenience -based seculars.
@Jamor: not a relevant comparidon. Modi had executive responsibilities. Rahul refused to take on any.
Incidentslly i could nit find a website tgat gives attendance of indivifual state MLAs though one fir MPs is readily avsulable. Having said tgst i did read sn article tgat stated that both number of dsys Gujarst assembly met (150+ dsys) was slmost double tgst of states like Kerala snd Maharashtra as well the average attendance rate of. 83% gor Gujarat MLAs was exceptionsl. Do you have reason to believe Modi's attendance was poor? Please provide reference
@Wazir: apparently they do....but isn't it slightly better than blowing up and massacring each other as it seems to be in case of Pakistan ?
PM's have come and gone, some without a whimper. The aspirations of the Indian voter are currently so high I doubt any ordinary human being can fulfill all of them. The Indian voter is also spoilt for choice and to add to the chaos another new political party "Aam Aadmi Party" is in the fray. When new parties are in the fray, even when they do not win, whose votes they feed on, could decide the ultimate winner. No one would want to be in the shoes of Modi with expectations running this high. Politicians also know that one term is all they will get to show performance, else out they go.
@Gp65: Please also check CM Modi's attendance record in the Gujarat state assembly.
@Biswajeet Arunpaiwala: Sir, you are surely entitled to your opinion but the notion that poor and illiterate voted for his raises the question as to why they would do so (particularly poor of Gujarat who repeatedly voted for him) if as Ms. Malhotra says he only cares aoy some corporates and not the poor people. Also, everyone acknowledges that the social media campaign of BJP functioned like a well oilded machine including google hangouts. Is it illiterate people who participated? Finally if such a large number of Indians are poor and illiterate according to you so as to be able to decide who PM is despite educated people not being with Modi, then does it make you wonder what were the policies of Congress that kept such a large number of Indians poor and illiterate despite ruling for 6 decades?
@alas: There are several factual errors in what Ms. malhotra has said. @gp65 has pointed them out. Is that your notion of truth?
ET,
Can you link up the comment section with disqus as we see in lot other sites?
Thanks for the wonderful article. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of Modi's international corporate sponsors. Who gives him how much ? And also how it impacts his policy?
Alas voices like Jyoti's and Arundathi Roy's are a minority in Indian political scene. More truth-seekers like these are definitely needed in this era of crony capitalism
Excellent article by the author. A learned person indeed. Educated class knows what Modi represents. A third rate charlatan. Who wants to teach Pakistan a lesson. And show China some muscle. Dire policies, with dire results. However the great majority of basically illiterates have spoken. And have been enthralled with cheap tricks and falsehoods, their votes captured. So be it.
The concluding line of this article, quote - " The question is, what priorities the new prime minister will lay for such a diverse society." - unquote
I would like to know from this author, in her apparently long enough career as a journalist, why did not she ask why, 67 years since independence, more than half the population in India still do no have access to healthcare, education, water, electricity, roads ... why did not she think it the right time to hold the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and its criminal enterprise, the Scamgress party, responsible for this mega mess ... ??!!"Lower caste Hindus allying with upper and lower caste Muslims."
Muslims still practice caste in India? Very interesting.
ET- everything here is factual and contradicts poor facts by the author in the OpEd. Pl. publish.
Have you looked at exit polls from Bihar? Pretty much every agency has given NDA the lead. The notion that 'secular' Bihar will be a spoke in NDA wheel is absurd. Did the same Bihar not vote for NDA in overwhelming majority in 2009 parliament elections? Did they not vote for NDA in the 2012 state elections?
Also the notion of UP being the primary reason to bring NDA to power is absurd. Did BSP not win handsomely in UP in 2009, did Mayawati become PM?
NDA is the expected to be the leading party not just in UP but also Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhatisgarh, Haryana, Goa, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and possily Seemandhra. It is also expected to do better than it had in the past in Assam, WB, Odisha, TN.
NDA is getting a natuonal mandate which is not lmited to one state as you seek to portray.
Also i was not aware that Modi was already he PM or that he was CM of Bihar, that Jha was trying to 'dislodge' him.
Before criticizing these acors for not asking questions in parliament, please check Rahul Gandhi's record in this matter. Do also check his attendance record.
The reality is hat poor migrants from Bihar go to Gujarat for employmen. There they see goode farm to market roads, 24x7 electricity, good irrigation and a peaceful environment and come back and tell their friends and relatives what they saw. Any amount of lies by people like Prakash Jha does not change their opinion about what they saw.
Incidentally you referred to last ditch effort to dislodge Modi. Dislodge him from where? Was he already the PM at the time Prakash was asking these people to vote against Modi? Is he the CM of Bihar? Or is Prakash Jha campaigning in Bihar to dislodge Modi from UP?
For someone who claims to be liberal, you have minimal appetite for respecting people's mandate.