Sir,
Exactly fifty years after Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the architect of today’s secular India going off the scene, the saffron robed Narendra Modi after virtually wiping out the Congress – the face of Indian secularism since its independence, has taken over the reins of this largest democracy in the world. Given his Hindutva background on the one hand and the free hand to him in running the Government on account of his strength of numbers on the other, Narendra Modi, as the Prime Minister, could hold both opportunities and apprehensions for the future of the Indian nation.
In the six decades of Indian democratic history, people have for the first time risen above their cast, cultural, ethnic and religious affiliations and given a strong and clear mandate for development to the man who they believed could deliver the most. The kind of mandate was as well enjoyed by Congress in the past but that was in peculiar situations that had arisen viz. the defeat of Pakistan in the 1971 war and the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1984, when in the elections that followed, the party received an overwhelming patriotic and sympathy vote while being elected to power. None of the kind of situations prevailed now and the huge support still received by Sh. Modi speaks of the faith the masses through the length and breadth of the country, have reposed in him. The elections have as well created the kind of unanimity in the country which it has been craving for, wherein all lesser issues have been set aside and the common cause of development has been brought to the fore.
Given the dream situation, it is now for Sh. Modi and his colleagues to make the most of it so that the country is able to progress fast in order to realize the dreams that have been shown to the common man. The fruits of progress have to percolate to one and all irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and the fact whether they voted for BJP or not. Should there be a detour from the announced path; the Government would lose the trust of the people and there will be question marks on the sincerity of the people forming it.
Yours etc…
Riaz ul Amin,
Srinagar, Kashmir.