Every Independence Day is an occasion for all of us to ponder over the situation in the country and examine if this is the country of the dreams of millions of freedom fighters, thousands of whom made numerous sacrifices, including their lives, so that the country is free from British rule and there is equality for all.
After we achieved freedom, many made great contributions for the development of the country in different walks of life, for the country to make progress and for better lives of its citizens.
Just like the freedom fighters, even those who have contributed to nation-building and are doing so now are unsung heroes. They — whether dead or living — did not wish to bask in glory, nor did they seek credit for their contribution to the nation. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the biggest exception.
His Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, like almost all his speeches on any other fora, was full of I, me, myself. The positive developments in the country during his tenure as a prime minister, are not because of his government, but because of him; that is the impression he gives in all his speeches. During his entire tenure, he has muted almost all his ministerial colleagues. It is as though they have been programmed to speak only in his defence and to make personal attacks on the Opposition, especially the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family. Thus, ministers of the Union Cabinet do not speak on the work of their ministries and hence are not in the news. One wonders how many in the country can name even ten members of the Union Cabinet, without a search on the internet; many journalists will also fail in the test.
One must say that as a prime minister, Narendra Modi is unparalleled. He has qualities that no other prime minister of India had. He has a superiority complex that has originated from a deep sense of inferiority — which has not come from his background but because he is aware that he is no match for his predecessors, especially Jawaharlal Nehru, the first and the longest serving prime minister.
Nehru was a man of letters. He was extremely well read and was a good writer. Though Nehru had a good academic background, he was not a bright student, he did exhibit his brilliance, nationally and internationally, in latter years. He was not ashamed to speak up about his performance in academic examinations. About that, he wrote that he passed his examinations “with neither glory nor ignominy”. It requires honesty and humility to say this publicly.
Dr Manmohan Singh, who holds the record of being the highest qualified person to head a government anywhere in the world, is full of humility and on more than one occasion he has said, “I know my limitations.”
While Nehru was a man of letters, Narendra Modi can be said to be a man of litters. He has given rise to a team of individuals, in his cabinet and outside, who are littering the society, spitting venom of hatred. These individuals keep themselves busy posting hate messages over social media, and making speeches that trigger emotions of misguided anger and hatred against certain sections of society based on religion or political ideology.
No other prime minister has stayed away from Parliament for fear of facing the wrath of the Opposition. The only prime minister who did not face Parliament even for a day was Charan Singh, but that was not because he was scared to speak in the House but because his government was so shortlived that there was no session of Parliament during his tenure.
While the Opposition parties were successful in getting Modi to speak in Parliament, after moving a motion of no-confidence against the council of ministers, they failed in making him speak on Manipur. Modi made a passing remark on Manipur in his speech in the Lok Sabha as well as his Independence Day speech. In the Lok Sabha he repeatedly mentioned that Home Minister Amit Shah has spoken on the situation in Manipur. Modi likes to take credit for positive developments, even if they are remakes of older schemes, but blames the Congress and Nehru for all that goes wrong in the country, including the situation in Manipur.
Given this attitude, the statement of Count Galeazzo Ciano (wrongly attributed to John F Kennedy) — that success has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan — has to be edited for the sake of Modi. It should be, “Modi is the father of all successes in the country and failure is due to Nehru.”
Luckily for the country, most of those who made sacrifices for the country have been cremated; had they been buried, there would have been a major earthquake with all of them turning in their graves due to Modi’s eccentricities and tall claims.
There is a Sanskrit saying that a tree laden with fruits always stoops, just as knowledgeable and learned persons bow due to their knowledge. Modi stands tall among all our prime ministers.
The author is a senior journalist and media trainer. He tweets at @a_mokashi
