On the absence of ​Baapji - I

For weeks now,have been willing to publish this post -Its happening at a proper time is purely accidental. Considering the political landscape today ,choices of people ,scenarios -When almost everyone is getting infected by this wave of populism ,it becomes bit difficult to remain humorous all the time ...and yes ...unlike my other posts I have chosen to make this post a political one …  


..a great deal of unrest was there before posting it.  

On 16th of August this  year ,Baapji passed away .Baapji -so as to call Atalji (was called  by that name, lovingly ,by many)- It was there in my mind to blog for him (to give  a rough character sketch of the man )- was willing to write about him ,address a concern -which has been apparent (to me)after his  demise -the absence of people like him in Indian politics today -leaders primarily driven by ideology ,putting national interest above themselves- the absence of  entire school of thought constituting of politicos whom the nation ,conciously OR subconciously,   can follow or be inspired from them.-Baapji was that kind - irrespective of what some might feel about his style of leadership having undertones of self-centeredness ,a way of leading others (or a Govt.) which some find more close to identity politics (or personal,confusingly because of him being a poet) ,but if you look keenly upon  life of the man -it strikes  you that no matter how unique his statesmanship style was,it was righteous (the kind of style developed by practicing  tenets found mainly in religious scriptures and not in the  books written by political thinkers).-

...yes,Baapji was no ordinary politico..arguably the greatest politician (with Indira Gandhi) to have graced  indian politics in the post independence era  ,here , in India. ..As for the facts,conducting of Nuclear tests(despite global resistance), victory in  an Indo-pak war (kargil), Indian economy crossing 8% growth rate for the first time , starting the  ambitious NHAI project, Restarting dialogue process with a rogue neighbour -the nation realized all of it during his tenure WITHOUT much showmanship -a man of peace he was,I must say. 

The kind of poise he exuded is hardly to be seen today in Indian politics.(not even in the leaders of the party he himself founded ..the bjp)   ..This is the concern I was talking about.-a total absence of the old guard or anyone  with the characteristics like his which could remind us of the great leader .We stare at void today when we look at the face of Indian politics .
 
When did it happen ??..Was it gradual (intentional and deliberate )  ??This depletion of Indian political landscape of such leaders -the reason which the party implicitly propagated was -“they belong to an old ,orthodox mindset “ ...an excuse it was, of course it was -to make way for a self promoting zealot whose natural effect upon  nation's conciousness has been horrendous (something unrecognizable which we are not able to fully grasp ) Is he changing country's infrastructure or its collective conciousness. 

What is he changing??  ..because if its only the infrastructure ,its fine . 
 

Most of the frontline leaders ,with their half-characters (as if their personalities haven't  been evolved completely  ) juggle with their lesser important issues as if trying to gain enough political experience in the course,while being in power. In their  initial years of the tenure ,the leaders ,what we today call the party frontline , experimented with their policies ,in which they showed extraordinary  nativity ,where every goof-up  was covered up  by digitization -failed to show even half of the wisdom as the great leader once showed. Later ,primarily driven by the mood-swings ,where, as if ,every decision was taken to shock people ,the prime portfolios of the ruling bjp took decisions. Notwithstanding the intentions or the  purposefull mindset or the energy they started with,today,when their entire tenure is done , we view their span (full of misadventures and bizzare way of governance )as being TASTELESS. 
 

..as the proverb goes :       
                     “the road to hell is paved with best intentions in mind” 
 

--For not sounding too philosophical and for  people obsessed with facts,I'll  give one (for the books): 
 
“OBOR -the brainchild of the Chinese -is a 1 trillion  dollars infrastructure  project ,and is funding them them with a low cost loans to the participating nations .Never did any country start such an ambitious project in this geo-political region ,of which India is an integral part.  But, the Indian Govt. chose to remain away from it because of the construction to happen in the contentious PoK region (on which the chinese didn't agree) . Instead of finding a middle ground to agree upon with the chinese and be a part of the historical project-and gain a piece of it -the bjp govt. chose to completely boycott it.(as if to remain at a distance from a headache ).The Govt. kept on communiating in  a quid-pro-quo fashion with the Chinese diplomats only to boycott it with a mild certainty, which seemed disastrous as far as country's business interest were concerned . You call it progressive or is it a  simple diplomatic failure. ??”  

Its just one example...leave DeMon ,gst aside. 

(..maybe.. during the period of  2016 to 2018 ,they lost control of the change they started with (in every quarter of Governance.) and were unable to connect the dots).

That's what went wrong with this Govt. -they started in a fashion to change the world but were clearly unable to keep up with their own pace.(I'll talk about it in the second part of this post)  

After 4 and a half years ,the visible pattern of their policy-making and implementation is so unsettling that sometimes we even question the intentions of the present Government -whether its solely following a progressive agenda or something else  . 

So...as for vision,it took us (and all of us) 4 and a ½ years to realize that this  Govt. lacked vision .We waited ..and saw first.  Generally,it doesnt take that long for us but the mandate was there. as for change, what will it change -more than often change is wrong .. 
 



p.s ::there's a second part.