I don't know how to put in the most telling way, but it's like being in the TV room with the sneering guy who's always telling you, "Indian batsmen can't bat in Test matches on foreign pitches." Your cheer for your guys as the odd one makes the 50 or a 100, but the sneering guy almost always wins, because India almost always loses the Test.
The sneering guy is that man or woman in your life, in family, circle of friends and colleagues and you can't easily get him out of the room. There is that dreaded, "I told you so" sneer he's wearing at the end of the match. And you are the sucker who always hopes, rejoicing in raptures when India does win and he's wearing the "just you wait" sneer anyway.
Since cynicism is a straight art, darting above, overflying our foolish metaphors, I'll bother to explain that I no longer have much time for cricket, though I do get into raptures if an Indian scores a 100 in difficult conditions, not because I love cricket but because I love India more.
I'm talking about Indian politics.
I confess I belong to the multitudes that go out to vote every election hoping that things will get better. I'm in that 65 per cent or so. I confess I voted for BJP this time solely because I placed my faith in Narendra Modi. I confess I feel a little bit crushed and depressed by what's happening. I think Modi must admit to failing in the following ways:
(Expecting to be battered from both sides)
1) MODI is not strong:
Whatever interpretation any of you may arrive at on the appropriate meaning of the word, I'm saying that in political terms alone. He does not have loyal and uniform support from his own party. There's a lunatic fringe in the sangh parivar that provides constant material to the media and Opposition for 'I told you so' sneering. When it suits them, critics of one section of the Opposition will say he can't control the maniacs; otherwise, another could say he's actually orchestrating the jerks. Either way, he loses.
2) His Opposition is truly strong
Whether it is Jayalalithaa or Mamata or Mulayam or Sonia & son, these party leaders command absolute and unquestioning loyalty from their respective party members. Everybody is dependent on the central leadership, which is either vested in a single person or in his/her family. The leadership ensures that nobody rises as a mass leader to threaten this happy arrangement. Modi's BJP, unfortunately for him, has many leaders capable of winning Lok Sabha elections without his support.
3) Modi has intent
His party doesn't care about intent. Nor does the Congress leadership. This is a war between Intent to Change and Sneering Status Quo. Modi and a few other progressive chief ministers are isolated in this environment because of their ambition, their intent to change the way things are run in the country. The BJP, under Advani-Jaitley-Sushma, blocked Parliament during the UPA term often, frustrating the legislative process and important debates. Dozens of bills were stalled, including the blighted GST proposal. Jaitley even declared that this was a valid way to protest.
That is the kind of politics that has come to defeat Modi's intent. And the sneering brigade, led by the redoubtable Patron Saints of Sneering India - P Chidambaram, Mani Shankar Iyer, Kapil Sibal (Jaitley himself, were things different), Sitaram Yechury - and supported by an array of sneering columnists and TV anchors, who all speak and write much better English than the likes of me, will soon have stretch marks from all that sneering that Modi's failures must surely provide them. Another Indian wicket fell! Hah!
4) Modi is proud
Won't do. He's poor. His English, though admirable, is not what these guys own. He is not really clubbable at Lutyen's. And he has sartorial vanity, shocking in a person of such a deprived background. The Sneering Club believes he should have come to Parliament and subjected himself to the circus conducted by Sonia's minions. That would surely have dented his jealously held dignity. He's being made to pay because he has ambition. He will always be vulnerable.
5) Modi is inexperienced at this level
Yes he is. He thought he could effect change in his own way. But the legacy of governance that India has inherited from the Mughals, the princely states and the East India Company is of patronage, venality and sycophancy. Modi is an outsider. His kind has never seen acceptance outside their own little caste fiefdoms, not in any Indian region, not for a 1,000 years. Modi the Greenie is getting recognition from global leaders, corporate India, even a few respected columnists and bhakts, like me. He has all these. But that's still the wrong tool kit for the machine that runs government.
6) Modi stood by his principles
He should have forced Sushma Swaraj to resign, instituted an inquiry into the Lalit Modi incident involving her and also accepted any and all changes that Sonia and her shouters were seeking. He should have allowed Parliament to pass strictures and interfere with governments at the state level - in Rajasthan and MP - and ordered central probes into the alleged scandals. He should have forced Amit Shah to order dismissals of the two chief ministers. Modi didn't do any of it. Not like Sushma or Chouhan have shown uniform affection for him, but Modi knows what it means to be a chief minister who is relentlessly attacked from Delhi and mainstream media.
So, that's how he has failed, for the most part. There are other criticisms that I'm ignoring. My provincial mindset fails to grasp the nuances. I don't know how Modi can overcome these failures. But my vote is still with him, for him.
Flame on.
(Prakash Belawadi is a noted journalist, theatre personality and a film actor)
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not reflect the stand of CNN-IBN/ IBNLive.
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