Suddenly, the knight in shining armor, Narendra Modi is the chosen man of avaricious Indian middle class to solve all the problems facing the nation from Fiscal deficit, falling growth rates, rising prices, widening gulf between haves and have nots after 60 years of independence. Congress also seems rattled by the Modi mascot of growth offered as  an instant solutions to the ills plaguing the nation by a disgruntled right wing political party. Rahul mentioned in his CII speech that knights in shining armor could not solve the problems of the nation which was criticized by pink brigade and urban middle class as defeatism. Rahul was speaking from the bottom of his heart and was yearning that our expectations that leaders left to themselves could find solutions to all the problems without active people participation should stop. Again people said that Rahul was talking problems and not offered solutions. Well solutions as Rahul said are to be found collectively through decentralization of power. Again people said it is Rahul’s own party which had over a period of time arrogated all powers to the centre .

Narendra Modi happens to be a successful politician from the States with no pan India appeal. Earlier also we have had many such models such as Devraj Urs once Indira Gandhi’s man Friday, Ramakrishna Hegde, Chandrababu Naidu ( I am excluding Deve Gowda who won this through a lottery) and even late Jyoti Basu. Even today we have Mulayam Singh and Mayawati waiting in the wings for the ultimate coronation ( I leave out Jayalalitha all time favorite of Cho Ramaswamy) and perhaps a more reliable and dependable choice of Nitish Kumar. There are two more poor cousins in the Hindutva Brigade, Mr.Sivaraj Singh  Chauhan of MP and Raman singh of Chattisgarh who are also set to win third terms but relegated by their own leaderships. Both Mr.Chauhan and  Raman Singh have ushered in landmark legislations in their respective states and MP has surpassed Bihar’s GDP rate. But both of them are not having machismo  appeal of Modi. They are humble.

Modi magic is being spread by media especially electronic media and more specifically  CNN IBN whose Editor is more an RSS pracharak. Than a journalist. Modi has won half of his battle towards his cherished ambition of entering 7RCR. His party has now started backing up with occasional sledging by some sane elements. RSS is fully behind Modi and his admires have set up private road shows all over both in India and abroad to promote Brand Modi. Does he deserve all this attention and does he have the capability to lead our Country? If Rahul addressed CII gathering featuring captains of our Industry, Modi was given an opportunity by the wives of CII members under FICCI banner. He addressed them saying the very same thing that Rahul said albeit in a different tone. Rahul bemoaned the lack of opportunities for the voice less in the existing system while Modi spoke about too many rules stifling talent. Rahul spoke about decentralization of power when he spoke about empowering ordinary Indian, Modi spoke also spoke about concentration of power at the centre. The stigma of 2002 riots refuse to leave but Modi ignores them as if nothing happened while leaving the job of defending him to his band of admirers. Rahul spoke about inclusive agenda for growth. Rahul was all modesty when he spoke about his vision for the country while Modi touted his Gujarati model which in any way is not due to Modi given the fact Gujaratis are enterprising by nature. Rahul spoke about the greatest Gujarathi of all times, Mahatma Gandhi who listened to the people while in the case of Modi you need to be the listener always.

Almost 3 decades ago against a personal tragedy of losing his mother to assassin’s bullets Rajiv spoke about his dreams for India. That ignited the youth of India. 3 decades later, we have a youth brigade which is impatient and grown immodest that an honest appraisal of the maladies in the system invite derisive laughter while thumping of chest by a machismo ignites and instantly connects. That is the tragedy.