Why I Want Narendra Modi To Win and Why It Has Nothing To Do With The Man Himself

There are thousands of articles floating in the media about the Gujurat CM and about his PMO ambitions. Such atmosphere of debate about our PM candidate itself is an achievement for India and promises of a much more informed voting population than ever before.

In this article I am not going to act like a NaMo fan boy nor am I going to be super secular and talk about him being a mass murderer. I will try to explain why the 2014 election is not just about Modi or Rahuls of the world, why the results will have a long lasting impact with much more at stake than party politics. 

There is more to it than just UPA vs NDA

Lets concentrate for a second on the things stressed upon by the NaMo campaigns. He has turned no stone unturned to inform us about the improvements he has done in Gujurat. There are efficient Public relations companies monitoring each and every post on social media. Millions is spent on managing FB pages and generating content for all forms of media. Gujurati societies around the world are lobbying hard to get him some international acceptance to flaunt back home. Consulting firms are sweating day and night to create a perfect manifesto and great video presentations for him. To back all this up he has the fact and figures supporting him. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the development in Gujarat  has been nothing short of exemplary. 

In such a scenario, if NaMo becomes the PM and rules for a long time, his strategy will start to become considered as a success mantra. Politicians around the country will try to replicate his strategy. Chief Ministers in all states will drive growths in their states to help their cause of becoming national leaders. MPs an MLAs will try to make their constituencies excel in order to gain attention of party leaders and media. The Kejriwals of the country will get encouragement and a hope that growth coupled with publicity in the most lethal combination in Indian politics. We will move towards a country where elections are fought based on development agenda and not false promises of upliftment of Dalits. And with this change in the mindset we will see, maybe, the next election fought between Modi and another leader who is as pro-development as he is secular. We will get a PM candidate who has the track record and the vision to lead a country and still is acceptable to the minorities as well. 

And in a scenario where NaMo loses, try imagining what will go into the minds of his fellow politicians. To them it won't be the defeat of a mass murderer, to them it will be a defeat of an ideology of growth. They will think of a man who did not give free electricity to the farmers and instead tried to give them an economic environment where they will be able to afford electricity. They will think of a man who instead of giving reservations for females, gave them the schools and safety where they would themselves excel and get into the work force. They would think about a man who tried giving more cotton mills and dairies for employment instead of starting NREGA. They would think of man who was more concerned about his image in the public than his image in the party. And they will think of a man who lost the elections badly. They will get reassured that Raja Bhaiya can get them election victories not Ex Mckinsey employees. They will be reassured that distributing liquor gets votes not some fancy presentation by an international ad agency. They will get reassurance that development does not sell in India. 

For the next 15 years we will never again see elections fought on development agenda. No politician would dare to touch it again. We will again have the same manifestos, same reservations, same state of mismanagement which we have started to loathe. You me or the country can not afford that to happen. Inspite of all the shortcomings that he has, Inspite of him not being the perfect man to be in PMO, India can not afford to let Modi loose. 

Related post: http://www.buffet4thought.com/2012/02/business-of-politics-capitalist-view.html