“Many Parsis Modi-fied”

I was intrigued to read "Many Parsis Modi-fied” (Editorial Viewpoint, Parsiana, May 21, 2014). Some time ago I said to myself that this man whom I intensely dislike for what he had done or not done in Gujarat in 2002 was undoubtedly going to be our next Prime Minister. I said to myself that the men who are going to rule our country in the near future are the inheritors of the ideology of the men who killed Mahatma Gandhi, and it was also the ideology of the organization that aided and abetted in this murder.
Years ago I had read a book called The men who killed Gandhi by Manohar Mulgaonkar and names like Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte, Vishnu Ramkrishna Karkare and Vinayak Savarkar passed through my mind. I said to myself, "It is good to know your friends, but one must know one’s enemies better” and so I sauntered off to a bookstall to see if I could find something on Narendra Modi. As I entered, on the front shelf of new arrivals was prominently displayed Modi — A political biography by Andy Marino. I picked up the book without hesitation and devoured it in four days.
Strange to say, to use your words, I was "Modi-fied.”

Narendra Modi: acknowledge his achievements

None can deny that he is indeed a strange man, a strong man who possesses many sterling qualities. After he fell out with his father over a marriage that he was forced into, he roamed the northeastern parts of the country, imbibing the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. He returned home after three years to see his mother for a day. When he slept, she went through his pockets and a small satchel he carried and found no money in them. When he woke up she asked him what he was living on — was he begging, borrowing or just earning by doing menial jobs? The son just smiled and gave no answer. So this man has known want and has steeled himself through years of hardship. He has a family but is untouched by the stain of dynasty or nepotism.
Marino says that when 2002 struck Gujarat, Modi had been chief minister for just three months, an MLA (member of the legislative assembly) for just four days and he was finding his feet. While he did the best he could under the circumstances, it was certainly not enough and things went badly out of hand. But no court has convicted him or implicated him and he has never apologized because he believed that he had done no wrong.
And Modi is quoted by the media as having said that "every action has a reaction” but there is a version that he was not fully quoted because he was supposed to have said, "every action has a reaction but I would rather there was no action nor a reaction.” This statement was made by Modi to Zee TV but the second part of the sentence was allegedly edited out by the channel and flashed across all the media. When the Special Investigating Team asked for the original video Zee TV could not or would not produce it. Now, one will probably never know what was really said.
Today, as Prime Minister, after a rather good initial start, besides a poor monsoon, things have gone wrong for Modi’s government. One questions the selection of men like Gen V. K. Singh and Subramanian Swamy for office in his government and the elevation of Amit Shah to the presidency of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). One questions his silence over a minister who is accused of rape. One questions the transfer of Judge J. T. Utpat who was trying the Tulsiram Prajapati and the Sohrabuddin alleged fake encounter cases. This, after Utpat severely reprimanded the counsel of Shah for filing an exemption application without citing any grounds for the same, Shah being an accused in both cases (The BJP counters that Utpat requested a transfer – editors). But what really rings a knell in my heart is the very recent Gopal Subramanium (former solicitor general of India) affair. Modi had a chance on all these occasions of showing his mettle but has failed to do so.
However, going back to Modi’s pre-prime ministerial bête noire of the Gujarat riots, as Marino points out in his book, before Modi Gujarat was ridden with riots every year and sometimes twice a year but after 2002 there has never been another riot. There is no doubt that Modi has converted Gujarat into a thriving modern state — water, electricity, roads and industry are all in place.
Will this man be able to do the same for this vast country? What manner of man is this Modi? Will he meet the challenge? Will he rise above sectarian and racial politics and think only of the welfare of the country? Will he root out the canker of corruption that consumes our people? Will he put the criminal politicians in jail where they belong? Will he thank the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for putting him where he is and then ask them to take a walk? Though he is a strong man is it possible that the system will break his back?
Will Modi write his name in blood over the length and breadth of this country or will posterity say of him that he saved this great land when she was down and out and when the challenge came he rose to Caesarian heights of achievement? Time will tell. As a Modi-fied Parsi, but as one who reserves his judgment, I wish him luck. Dr HIRJI S. ADENWALLA
Trichur, Kerala
charlespinto102@gmail.com