Men, Matters & Memories
M L Kotru
Narendra Modi , the Prime Minister had it his way yet again. The world bowed to his whim, first aired at the U.N general assembly session. We must have a world yoga day, he had said. And on June 21st the world did so.
I have waited the rest of this week to see lively, rejuvenated men and women , I have sought help of the social media, Facebook, Twitter, et al but found myself confronted by the same old, faded sulken faces, of 700 men dying like flies in the heat of Karachi in Pakistan, I saw scrawny frames of the poor in the Bombay’s underbelly seeking escape from the drudgery called life, succumbing to the lure of hooch and 100 odd of them losing their lives in the bargain. Afghanistan looked no better with the Taliban seeking control of additional territory, causing loss of many lives. In Syria and Iraq the Islamic state was busier than ever, destroying whatever came in the way.
Yoga did not bring about the expected change, Except that it confirmed doubts expressed by respected indian Ulema that Mr Modi was only trying to put the squeeze on the Muslim minority by suggesting that Surya Pranam, a yogic posture, was another name for acknowledging another god, separate from the one and the only one god they knew of.
Modiji’s plenipotentiary Mr Ram Madhav though had a different take on the issue. Vice President Hamid Ansari had insulted the nation by not joining the great yoga fest staged in Modis’ presence on the famed Rajpath in New Delhi- on specially commandeered “Made in China” yoga mats (40,000 of these)
It turned out that Hamid Ansari was never invited. Ram Madhav who claimed he had been disappointed by the vice president’s absence from the mela, He withdrew the the tweet with a clever by half clarification, that it was ok if Ansari was unwell. The message was clear that the V.P had never been invited nor was he unwell as suggested by madhav. This was the official signal from the V.P’s office. Ansari simply was not invited.
There was another twist to the tale. Mr Modi’s obsession with the grand, the grotesque; he wanted to somehow get into the Guinness’ s book of records crediting him with the distinction of having led the biggest matted (seated) congregation anywhere in the world.
Mr Madhav meanwhile turned up in Jammu and Kashmir to tell us all’s well with the PDP-BJP alliance in this state, giving it a clean bill of health. He had happy tidings for his bosses in Delhi and Nagpur, announcing induction of 350000 new primary members into the BJP from the Valley.
Am guessing whose genius it was that roped in so many willing men and women in the valley into the saffron Parivar.
Madhav, otherwise, sounded so vary boss- like when he dismissed the talk about the return to the state of the hydel projects(NHPC), a core PDP demand which figures in their common alliance programme as a matter under discussison.
Mr Madhav, whose has been the genius behind many a dramatic dos by Modi internationally a la the Madison Square Garden show in New York in Canada, Australia and in Shanghai or Mongolia, the land of Chengis Khan, where he invoked the spirit of Buddhism.
Ram Madhav therefore is not the light weight some assume. Remember it was he who bargained hard for weeks with PDP representatives, notably Mehbooba Mufti and Haseeb Drabu, to forge the alliance in Kashmir. He ruled out any major hiccups in the future for the tie-up but without showing any inclination on new Delhi’s part to address the pdp’s concerns.The Finance Commission he said would be announcing a big allocation for the state shortly. He had nothing new to add on the critical issue (to the Valley) of relief and rehabilitation of victims of the devastation caused by the unprecedented floods of some ten months ago.
There was a peremptory response from him confirming one’s gut feeling that Modiji is not overly concerned about the trail of shame left behind by the floods which scars and scares someone like me who sees it for the first time and continued to live with it for 3 weeks at a stretch. The magnitude of the disaster the struck the Valley is simply shocking. And , frankly I do not see much good being done either in the near future, given the mindset of the saffron leadership in Delhi.
I have heard Modi , his Home minister and others of their ilk offering to undo the damage done to the residential areas in Srinagar and other major towns but with little happening on the ground.
Ten months of th flood the latest from New Delhi is that a high level team of officials will be visiting the Valley soon to asses he damage. Such callousness ill-behoves a great democracy and one, according to the Prime Minister committed to the concept of cooperative federalism.
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