From: bcsabha.kal...@gmail.com To: From: Roger D'Souza <rdsg2...@gmail.com>
DOES MODI LIVE IN FEAR? By Dr. Francisco Colaço (COURTESY GOAN OBSERVER dt. Aug 1, 2015) PM Modi seems a forlorn figure unsure of himself, a far cry from his pre-election behaviour We fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict Jim Morrison If one looks at the visage of PM Modi in recent times and compares it to the one just before the elections, it is striking that the effervescence in his countenance has all but vanished. As of today he looks like a worried man trying to exorcise his ghosts. Earlier, there was immense euphoria and his mien (along with his 56-inch chest) exuded exuberance and enthusiasm as he crisscrossed the country promising the moon to those who would bring him to power. There was no need for anyone to doubt or think twice because, we were made to believe, he had the capacity to bring rivers of economic prosperity. What is more, corruption would be a thing of the past; he would usher in an era where everyone would be able to feel and savour acche din... in other words, the brightest future one could ever fathom. And those were no empty promises, for sure, because he really sounded like he had a magic wand to the extent that everything he touched would turn to gold! EMPTY PROMISES Merely a year on, the rhetoric begins to fade as he fails to deliver on most counts. Soon he begins to realise that being head of a national party organization is an entirely different challenge from being the chief minister of a state. True, the prime minister is first among equals in the national parliament, but he miserably comes to realize that he is just second fiddle to the powerful leaders who govern the states that make up India’s federal system and these are people who bear battle scars inflicted by caste politics and the virulent anti-incumbency tendencies that rile India’s state elections. REMOTE CONTROL Moreover it is a truism that BJP cannot alienate itself from its remote-control, the RSS daddy. Modi’s sordid track record of stoking anti-minority sentiments, both in Gujarat and nationally surely must be coming to haunt him at every moment while he is incessantly being egged on to toe more and more the line of the right-wing Hindu fanatics. His silence on the Lalitgate and the Vyapam scams places doubt in his competence to deal with major crises within his own party and has dented his reputation as a taskmaster leaving behind deep gashes which Modi will find difficult to heal. Promoting peaceful relations with India’s neighbours is vital for creating a geopolitical situation conducive to economic growth but Modi has miserably failed to deal effectively with Pakistan and non-state actors operating from across the border and this will continue to be a thorn in his side. TEESTA NEMESIS It is said that the brave crusader Teesta was thus named by her father after a river in Bangladesh which flows fearlessly across the border. Why does Modi fear the fearless Teesta so much? For one it is undeniable that Modi would like to roll back the clock, consign the 2002 Gujarat carnage to the dustbin of history and replace Teesta Setalvad as the villain, who hounded the then chief minister. Then, there are so many other fearless and selfless crusaders breathing down his neck for allegedly curbing human rights. But “can the collective amnesia on the Gujarat riots, and the view that we must move on be ever legitimized?” asks Indira Jaising. “Yes”, she goes on, “it could possibly happen if one day Zakia Jafri and Teesta Setalvad, who are doing everything constitutionally and legally possible to hold the head of the then government accountable, are checkmated, gagged, and put into jail.” Admittedly, conspiracies are not easy to prove, but judging from the attack on Teesta Setalvad, the PM seems worried and insecure that there is an off chance - maybe just an off chance - that some well-meaning judge might accept the evidence pointing to the massive failure of his constitutional duty to prevent the killings. What stands between him and the "clean chit" are the courts and the cases Teesta is pursuing. Jaising emphasizes, “What we are witnessing is the power of the state and its terrorising arm, the CBI, to mount a raid on Teesta's home and office to prove that she misused foreign funds versus the power of the courts to hold power to account. Who will win this battle? It is the courts of this country that are on trial, not Teesta”, Jaising concludes. It very much looks that in PM’s designs there is one law for the “non-profit” organizations and another for “for-profit” corporates. Modi seems to be utilising FCRA (Foreign Contributions Regulations Act) as a gateway to crushing human rights, and what is worse, an alibi for an argument that the NGOs who take up human right issues are "anti-national". All this is really sad for a democracy whose founding fathers gave their life and blood to uphold secularism, human rights and, above all, the right to dissent.