The Many Colours of Modi

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ven if one tried there would have been no way to get away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to America. The media particularly the Indian television news channels have been beaming ‘live’ his every move, and every sigh. Modi unlike other Indian politicians has clearly understood the power of television and especially the ‘insatiable appetite for television’ of Indians in India and abroad. All the channels embarrassingly failed to place in context Modi’s ‘Make in India’ pitch in America to the reality of a divisive political environment that is being bred in the country. It’s one thing to give a dream for people to dream and quite another to realize the same in a political environment that is increasingly tilted to safeguard the interests of those agree to disagree. Any other way to dream, any other priority seems out of place.Television anchors repeatedly kept asking the Indian diaspora in New York what they would like to ‘takeaway’ from Modi’s visit to America. Their response came as no surprise. Why were the same audience not asked if they felt the Prime Minister was doing enough to protect the secular nature of India ? That would have provided some reality check. Even as Modi’s visit celebrates the meeting of the people of the oldest democracy with that of the largest, it’s a good time to remind ourselves that democracy survives in a secular environ, any other endangers its nature. . Modi the man of the moment was regaled and pitched at all the right events and places outside of his address at the United Nations General Assembly. All other appearances beginning from his walk to his hotel at the New York Palace Hotel, his appearance at Central Park, Times Square and at the historic Madison Square Garden (the crowning moment ) …were perhaps not picture perfect .. but well choreographed , cleverly pitched to present Modi the visionary of India in the 21st century So much sound and light and dance and a hard sell of a vision of an India on the making, on the go. At the Madison Square Garden on Sunday Modi referred to India and her 1.25 billion people of which 65% of the population are below the age of 35 … as a youth force ready to change their circumstances and the world! The rhetoric was stirring almost evangelical in its usage but the reality is that a bare percentage of this 65% will be educated employable and a lesser number who truly understand what he wants to achieve. In what ways does Modi want to mould and train these young minds for the future? India is a diverse nation and its identity is rooted in its diversity and in the myriad ways its people have approached and arrived at ways to solve their problems. He must promise to uphold and protect the diverse nature of this nation not just its culture and traditions and history but the belief and diverse faith of the population. We have yet to hear the Prime Minister reiterate his view on these issues. Neither did he refer to India in this manner at his address in the United Nations. On retrospect the only quiet ‘ moment’ in the non -stop television of PM Modi in New York was during his visit to the memorial for the 9/11 victims, at Ground Zero. One would have expected Modi to have shared a thought or two of his visit to a memorial so beautiful its simplicity in sharp contrast to an incident that shook the world. If I were asked what image I would take away from the ‘over telecast’ programming of Modi’s visit to New York … it would be the sight of the Prime Minister quietly laying several single yellow roses across the names of victims of Indian origin who died that fateful Sept 11, 2001, in the attack on the World Trade Center.PM Modi must have known only too well the impact of ‘good terrorism’ and ‘bad terrorism’ that he later spoke of at his address in the UN. Hopefully, the yellow roses will symbolize a ‘farewell to terror’ in any form, during the reign of Namo, in India.