If you are one of those who voted for Modi in 2014 because you genuinely believed in his capabilities and intentions, and not because you were a insecure hindu, this post is for you.
You cannot be entirely blamed for who you voted for. Given the alternatives we had, you probably took a sensible decision. You thought that India was in deep trouble and only Modi can do something about it. Modi deserves an opportunity, you said. When he was tirelessly travelling across the country and kept launching his attacks on the UPA, you didn't ask him how his government shall be different. He didn't even have to give you a broad overview of policies he supposedly had in his mind. You simply trusted him, like you trust god. Exactly like how you say "God has his own plans", you believed Modi has his plans ready to take our country forward. "Achche din aayenge" wasn't just one of those political slogans. You genuinely believed that things are going to improve in this country.
Some voices here and there were raised, asking if that belief in one person is justified, only to be suppressed by the loud, crass, nasty political campaign by Modi and his men, which was widely applauded by the majority. Political aggressiveness and shrewdness was mistaken for capabilities to run a diverse and complicated democratic country.
Modi did win and how! That is when even those of us who were a lot more critical of him than the majority, congratulated and accepted him as our Prime Minister as any decent democratic country would do. "The scrutiny shall begin now" I told myself after he was sworn in. I was wrong.We gave Modi too much leeway. Following were some of the commonly heard excuses - "Only if he had more numbers in Rajya Sabha", "This is too early to judge a government", "He can't be making a statement every time somebody from his party makes a sexist or a communal remark", "Slowly he shall isolate the Hindu fundamentalists like he did in Gujarat", "We gave congress 60 years, let him complete one full term first" etc. It didn't end there. Slowly, probably without your notice, Modi convinced you that every decision he takes is good for the country and it's just that there could be a few negative implications here and there. When experts explained to you in detail why a few of those decisions were bad and that he should have taken those decisions after adequate consultations, "at least he's trying something" was your default response.
A few days after Modi announced note-ban, I went to a salon. Noticing that it was unusually less crowded, I asked the guy what happened. "Business has gone down after the note-ban sir. It has created problems for all of us" he said, and quickly added "It's ok. It is good for the country. No?". I realized then, that Modi had successfully separated "country" from all of us and was creating a narrative that he was doing something extraordinary for it. We foolishly bought that narrative. We forgot that we are the country and that "we" includes farmers, daily wage labourers and others who are part of the unorganized sector, adivasis, small scale industries and so on. What was supposedly a surgical strike on black money decided to change its track and just be an impetus for digital economy for sometime, but was in fact, a disaster for the Indian economy. "At least he tried something" - some of us continue to say.
This needs to stop now. Economic indicators have been raising alarms lately and the fact that by most measures, Modi and his government have failed and have performed worse than the previous government is not a secret anymore. This, apart from the fact that critics of Modi and his ideology are not just bullied these days but are eliminated, folks are being lynched for what they eat and are abused in the name of nationalism and trolls on twitter continue to harass women.
Let those who need Modi to serve their own purpose of feeling powerful in some weird ways continue to defend him, but if you aren't one of them, speak up! Say it loud and clear "Modi, you have failed this country, you have disappointed us". Ask questions and demand answers before it's too late. Although I'm personally not too optimistic about this making any difference to the self obsessed and self serving Prime Minister that we voted for, I just hope this shall send a signal to all politicians that Indian electorate is getting smarter and that politicians cannot rely on blind worship forever.
