As the election fever is going up, mood of general public is becoming debatable. The current trend in public mood makes me think that Narendra Modi is going to be Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah of India!
Surprised and shocked to read this line? I am sure, you are. Before I dwell upon this line to explain why I am saying so, let me share a small but significant incident.
It was demonetization time. A pal of gloom had descended upon the general public who were worried about their hard earned money as Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes were declared invalid without any notice. The cash crunch had hit the market. In this period of mayhem, I along with my friend were on an official trip to Jammu. My friend took some time out to get lenses of his spectacles replaced. As we entered an optician’s shop, we found some confusion prevailing inside the shop. The optician was having a heated argument with a few customers. Mode of payment of the bill was the cause of argument. The customers were short of cash and wanted to pay their bill through PoS. The optician was asking for cash. Somehow, the argument ended and the customers left the shop disgruntled.
My friend was now in the queue to get his job done. While handing over his spectacles for repairs, he started explaining the disadvantages of demonetization to the optician and criticized Modi for the mess and inconvenience caused to the general public in the country. The optician was steering at him and I could see the anger brewing up in him.
“Modi is destroying the country by his acts like demonetization,” said my friend to him. There was a quick reaction from the optician, as he lambasted my friend for criticizing Modi. “No doubt demonetization has caused a lot of inconvenience to us (general public), but we cannot tolerate criticism against the prime minister. In all circumstances he is our leader and he has the right to do whatever he wants to do. We are here to support him in all his endeavors. Modi is our devta,” dished out the optician as if he was addressing an election rally.
Somehow, we calmed the shopkeeper and got the spectacles fixed and left the scene. During that period I could visualize anger among most of the people against demonetization, but they were not expressing it for the love of Modi.
Actually, demonetization initiative was like a tranquilizer for general masses. It caused a lot of pain to them, but couldn’t feel it as their blind love for Modi had left them in a state of drowsiness. In this state of drowsiness, another dose of tranquilizer was given to the general public, especially the business class, by slapping Goods & Services Tax (GST).
But over a period of time, as the general public is coming out of drowsiness, they are feeling the pain and are now showing signs of anger against the Modi government. During all these years of rule by Modi, the general public worshipped him like a god and didn’t mind what is now called ‘anti people’ measures.
Now, let me turn a few pages of Kashmir history. When we look at the leadership qualities of Kashmiri politicians, we find Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah a perfect, towering and unparalleled leader. He had such a massive following that his ‘anti-people’ moves too were blindly supported by the people. His role in state’s accession to India need not to be elaborated. But, over a period of decades, the same public support took a U-turn and started ‘cursing’ him for engineering ‘anti-people’ measures. However, it cannot be denied that it was the support of the same people of the state which acted as fuel for the kind of politics Sheikh Abdullah pursued.
Now, history is on the verge of repeating itself. Modi triggered transformation of the country. There were measures which caused huge pain to the public.The general public didn’t cry, but accepted the pain with love from the prime minister. Now, the same public feels the pain ‘unbearable’ and have started vomiting anger against the transformative measures. So, Isn’t he going to be Sheikh Abdullah of India?
(The views are of the author & not the institution he works for)
sajjadbazaz@greaterkashmir.com