Narendra Modi: The Unchallenged Emperor of Modern India

People call it the golden age of tennis. Not just because, tennis is being played at the highest level ever, but because of the intense competition between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic & Andy Murray. Nobody can predict who’s year its going to be. Roger Federer dominated for a quite years & annihilated his opposition to rack up 12 grand slam victories, but the journey from 12th to 18th grand slam has been a difficult one, thanks in particular to Rafael Nadal. Roger Federer might do down as one of the greatest ever, not for his number of grand slam victories – records are meant to be broken after all, but because the legends he had to defeat to win those titles.

But, not everyone has to struggle as much as Roger Federer to retain their crown. Some struggle initially to reach the pinnacle of success & then manage to torpedo the opposition into oblivion. One such person is PM. Narendra Modi.

The fact that he walked away from his marriage & family to devote his life to this country is part of folklore. Hailed as one of the best CM’s in the country, what astonishes us is that he never held public office, before being made the CM of Gujarat. Ironically it was LK Advani, the very man who was overlooked by his party, in favor Modi as the PM candidate during the general elections of 2014. If stories are to be believed, Modi is not someone who forgets an insult. L.K Advani & Modi apparently were travelling in a car with two more people, when they happened to spot Mr Govindacharya walking. L.K Advani promptly asked then ordinary RSS worker Mr.Modi to get out of the car & walk to the venue so that Govincharya could be accomodated in the car. Truth be told, had L.K Advani been nominated as the PM candidate by the BJP, they would have lost & the country would have had to suffer another 5 years of gross mismanagement under the UPA & other secular cum corrupt parties.

Modi promised to cleanse India of corruption, strengthen the economy, bring back black money & reduce poverty. After three years, since Modi was given the mandate to govern the country, even PM Modi’s harshest critics will secretly admit, that Modi has left no stone unturned to achieve these goals. Jan Dhan, Swach Bharat, Make in India, surgical strikes, cashless economy & even the much discussed Demonetization are hugely popular moves. Despite changing the base year, the Modi government must be given the credit for getting the economy back on track. The economy is expected to get significantly better post introduction of GST.

Post the UP elections, it is a foregone conclusion that Mr. Modi will be given the mandate to govern India for another 5 years. But this article is not about glorifying Modi, it is in fact about the perilious situation of India having no strong opposition leader to stand up to Modi. All the leaders in the opposition across the country, have been badly wounded by the Modi wave. For a democracy to function at its optimum capacity, it is imperative to have a strong opposition. This helps keeps, the ruling party in check, barring which the ruling party gets a free hand to do as they please. In no way are we doubting PM Modi or his government’s intentions, truth be told BJP comes across as pious as Mother Theresa when pitted against the RJD’s or the SP’s of the country.

We list the steps to be taken by the opposition parties to get their ship back in order

• Congress: The GOP needs to shun its anti hindu & corrupt image. The thought of a Congress MP conjures up images of power hungry, corrupt & laidback politician who surfaces once in 5 years. Congress needs to sack MP’s with corruption charges against them. The leadership has to make it abundantly clear that corruption, won’t be tolerated. Despite Karnataka, being the only major state where Congress is currently in power, stories of corruption in Karnataka never seem to die. To be concerned about the welfare of minorities is one thing & to give them way too much leeway in order to cultivate a vote bank is totally another. Congress needs to shed this pro minority & anti hindu image. Last but not the least, Rahul Gandhi & the Gandhi family needs to be sidelined. Can’t a 100 yr old party find one candidate outside the Gandhi family to lead the party? Why the obsession & dependence on that family? Due to the National Herald Case, corruption charges against Robert Vadra, Rahul Gandhi being the country’s  biggest joke, the Gandhi name is more of a liability. There needs to be a democratic structure in place within the party to elect their leaders.The party needs to realize that the modern voter is well aware of all government actions & is not as stupid of voters in the 1960’s to blindly vote for them. The party survived the exit of several politicians when Mrs Gandhi took over the reigns & edged out Sitaram Kesari. It is interesting to note, that Congress seemed to be in shambles during Mr. Kesari’s leadership, when PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the toast of the nation. One must give credit to Mrs Gandhi for getting the party back on track. Thankfully for them, owing to theirs being the oldest party in the country, voters will always have a soft spot for them. But, they have to transform & at a swift pace or else the GOP will be blasted into oblivion in a few decades time.
• TMC: Mamta Didi’s party has recently won 4 out of 7 municipal bodies in West Bengal. Since the times Mamata Bannerjee has been the CM, her party the TMC, has been accused of being more left than the left. She is accused of employing the same old tricks of sending goons to beat up opposition workers, corruption, vote rigging, minority appeasement to stay in power. The state has no major achievement o boast of. Mamata must transform into a development oriented CM with jobs, economy, law & order before she suffers the same fate as Akhikesh Yadav.
• BJD & JD: Naveen Patnaik & Nitish Kumar both have an image of being pro- development. Although there have been murmurs of corruption against both these parties, The Opinionated Indian truly believes, that if not for Modi, Naveen Patnaik & Nitish Kumar are the best suited for the job of governing the country. But Nitish Kumar does badly need to distance himself from RJD, barring which his clean image might take a beating.
• Shiv Sena: It is an open secret that Mumbai’s BMC & TMC’s both run by Shiv Sena are hotbeds of corruption. The Shiv Sena is just as corrupt as Congress or UPA ally – the NCP. It needs to shed it corrupt & laidback image, or else face the wrath of the restless voter. In the recently held state & municipal elections BJP stunned the media & all political parties alike with their superlative performance. Despite coming second to the Shiv Sena in the BMC elections, it was the BJP who made waves with their performance. In spite of being an ally the party wastes no opportunity to criticize the BJP government at the state & the centre. It is the ally who criticizes the government more than the opposition. Shiv Sena has no achievements to speak about apart from criticizing the government. The once clear rulers are reduced to playing second fiddle to the BJP. Unwillingness to change will cost them dear.
• SP & BSP: The SP needs to get their house in order. The infighting between father, son & uncle has damaged the party’s credibilty amongst the voters, BSP needs to come up with a new positioning apart from just being a Dalit & Muslim friendly party. If on ground reports are to believed, the SP & BSP should pray for a miracle for them to win or rather even put a decent performance in the next UP state elections, owing to the tremendous popularity of CM Yogi Adityanath.
• MNS: The party which was tipped to erase Shiv Sena from the hearts of Maharashtrians is now in deep trouble. Several party members have quit, post the dismal showing in the general, state & municipal elections. The party lost the Nashik municipal elections (the only place where they were in power) to the BJP. Raj Thackeray needs to wake up from his slumber & set the agenda to get his party back on track.
• NCP: The party dubbed as the Naturally Corrupt Party, too is going through a bad phase. With several party leaders facing corruption charges & faced with charges of mishandling the drought situation in Marathwada, the party needs to reorganize & stand a chance in the next assemble elections. Although we predict, it will be the NCP & not the Congress which will be BJP’s biggest threat during the next assembly elections.

If sources are to be believed even the combined might of all the opposition parties won’t pose much of a threat to BJP in the 2019 general elections. A nationwide alliance of opposition parties might be the answer, but seems highly unlikely. Imagine Shiv Sena-MIM, TMC-CPI(M), SP-BSP being in the same room! RJD-JD alliance has developed cracks & it remains to be seen how long the alliance will last. Rumors suggest JD might ally with the BJP in the next Bihar state elections.

Is it plain luck, hard work, political manipulation, aura of Narendra Modi or all of these factors combined is something which few can answer. But, he is in a position many would love to be in. Only Jawaharlal Nehru & Indira Gandhi have had the distinction of dominating the political scenario, like Modi.  History tells us, that there are very few leaders who have had the luxury of not having much of an opposition to contend with. The way things stand today, all that the BJP needs to do is to continue the good work it has done till now & not give the opposition a chance to bring it down.