Can You Say One Nice Thing About PM Modi?

When my wife started to work for a crèche (child care center) one of her colleague (Ms. T) got into trouble. Ms. T developed a visceral hatred for a child and made no efforts to hide it. The child was having difficulty settling in the place and was acting out but he was a very smart boy. Ms. T’s bad behavior towards the child got reported. This was an eminently salvageable situation. Ms. T was put to a test and was asked to say one nice thing about this child. It was clear that her job depended upon the answer (The crèche had a strong policy about prejudicial hatred). Because of her intense hatred for the child, Ms. T could not come up with one nice thing to say about the child. The child stayed. Ms. T had to leave. Her hatred got the better of her self-interests.

Since 1947, we have had many PMs. Most of them were elected against our (the Hindu nationalists’) wishes. And yet we always found something nice to say about them. For all his faults, Nehru is credited wholeheartedly with installing a functional education system and ensuring the timely formation of the constitution (as opposed to what happened in Pakistan). Despite a lot of faults, Indira Gandhi did the right thing and did not stand in the way of division of Pakistan. Manmohan Singh is widely credited with India’s economic revival (with no credit given to PVN Rao). We have accepted all that maybe grudgingly but we have. But the sentiment has not been reciprocated by the liberals of India when it comes to Narendra Modi.

PM Modi is a hated person in Pakistan but if you watch their news reports on youtube, you can see that despite of their hatred for him, grudging admiration leaks out from time to time. Good things are said about his record, work ethics, honesty, simplicity and a whole host of other abilities that the man possesses. Even if you do not agree with anything that the man stands for, the one thing that cannot be denied is his personal honesty. Kejriwal claims to be an honest person but we all know how flexible his definition is. Manmohan Singh was called honest but to save his chair he let all his ministers steal with impunity. Only PM LB Shastri comes close to Modi in terms of honesty and simplicity. Can you name one leader of a nation whose family (siblings) continue to be virtual nobodies even after the leaders election? This man is honest to a fault. Calling him honest is an easy decision.

Indian liberals and leftists have done their worst in the last 15 years to destroy this man. Their hatred for him dwarfs the hatred that India’s enemies have for him. Now they all have seem him work and perform for almost two years. They still cannot say one nice thing about him. The entire Indian media, so called intellectuals and assorted liberals are clones of Ms. T. If it were up to them, they would have Modi drawn and quartered. They would send him to the depths of hell, knowing full well in their hearts that he is the best option India has. I want to tell these Ms. T clones that he is not going anywhere because of that little thing called democracy. Find one thing nice to say about him. Accepting him will bring you peace that way it did us for lo these many decades. Once you have done that maybe you can find it in your heart to help him help the nation. We all benefit if the nation benefits. Don’t let your hatred for him get the better of your self-interests.


For our readers, we post translation of Gunvant Shah's article in Chitralekha magazine.

Somabhai Modi reached my residence at sharp 11 o’clock on January 3. The visit was pre-decided. Somabhai is the elder brother of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi but there seemed no sense of arrogance on his face. We discussed various things for almost one and half hours. In our discussion, he said, “Yes, it is true that I am an elder brother of Narendrabhai but not of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi.”

I asked Somabhai “Have you ever visited Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Race Course Road?” The answer was memorable, “No Gunvantbhai…if I go to my brother’s home, he has to spend atleast 15-20 minutes with me but I don’t want to take this time which will be a loss for the nation.”
I wish, Kantibhai (son of Morarji Desai) and Robert Vadra (Son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi) could have shown such gesture!

Somabhai told me, “Till today, no one from my family, our mother or brothers, have visited PM’s residence.”

Is it a small thing? In many cases, relatives have been proved a reason behind politician’s fall. On the other hand, Somabhai has never even thought of taking advantage of his brother’s position.

I requested him to share a memorable moment where Narendrabhai showed what he is made off and he shared the following event:

When Narendrabhai was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, one day he came to my home. At that time, my son Jitendra was in the last year of engineering. Narendrabhai asked him some questions.

Narendrabhai: How are your studies going?
Jitendra: I will get a BE degree next year.

Narendrabhai: What will you do after that?
Jitendra: Will you help me to get the job? (Narendrabhai didn’t reply)

Jitendra: If I can get some financial assistance…
Narendrabhai: Has anybody helped your uncle? You should move up in life on your own!

This is a rare incident in Indian political history where the Prime Minister or The Chief Minister keeps such a distance from his family members. The leader’s lack of attachment maybe understood somehow, but can we imagine the same approach from his family members too?

Somabhai never mentions about Narendrabhai while meeting other people. This kind of approach of elder brother is also worth applauding. Even after 20 months, the mother of India’s Prime Minister has not visited the residence of his son in Delhi. In contrast, I have seen many saints who maintain relationships with their family members.

I was speechless when he left. I salute the mother of such a son.