Disillusionment digging its heels....

Sticking to pretty  much the same theme as my last post, thought it was worthwhile to ponder at the subsequent 90-days too. As a long-time supporter of Modi, my sense of disillusionment is growing. Despite his massive mandate, his politics is that of survivorship. Serious policy making is yet to commence. Administrative decisions while firmly pronounced seem to solve for the lowest common denominator. There is overwhelming emphasis on showmanship and propaganda. Its almost like he has either forgotten the elections are over or he believes 2014 marks the beginning of the 2019 campaign. He often resembles a runner who keeps running after breasting the tape little knowing he has won the race.

At one level it is apparent Modi brings a superior grasp of the issues confronting the country. His diligence and singular commitment to development is exemplary. Having been a Chief Minister for the last 15 years, there is no honeymoon required for the administrative rigmarole. He can therefore hit the ground running albeit on an expected higher plane. The prioritisation and the chosen level of playing field is where one is confused. There seems to be a need for him to convey he is the PM of India and not just Gujarat.  Parochialism comes through a bit too strongly. This holds true in his choice of support system,  conduct in cross-border interaction and some say, choice of snacks in important meetings. Exposing the Chinese premiere to an India beyond Delhi was a great thought. To do so on home territory queered the pitch. It felt like Xi was the guest of honour at Modi's personal birthday celebrations. There was opportunity to showcase the financial capital,  an alternate manufacturing hub or IT power-centre. A brilliant opportunity for statesmanship reduced to myopic grandstanding.

Communication with the masses is important. Repeated and focussed messaging gets the nation to rally around a common cause alongwith a sense of overall pride. However, the phenomenal band-width being devoted to this activity early on, seems to point at an obsessive intent for self-promotion.  To do so before any real delivery is the proverbial cart before the horse. Lulling the nation into a false sense of early optimism is one downside. The  more damaging one is the impact it has on the upper echelons on administration. One is given to understand senior level discussions in ministries focus entirely around whitewashing of walls, cleaning of toilets and installation of biometric devices for attendance. The priority of the leader rubs off onto the team. Issues of greater import get relegated to the back-burner and that shows in the 1st 100-days of the new government.

There are more similarities between the BJP and the Congress than average opponents. There were 2 flanks where the BJP stood head and shoulders above. The absence of personality driven sycophancy was the first. Calibre of the cabinet was another if one were to go by the only long innings they played under Vajpayee. Modi has chosen to reverse both in his first 100-days. Let us accommodate for some realities here. Human egos tend to get swollen with repeated and consistent success and there is no dearth of willing sycophants. Also, a political leader is expected to be suitably Machiavellian in cutting potential political threats to size. However, there are many political lightweights who are capable of punching way above their weight in order to make a difference to governance. Some of these available options were no-contests compared to the chosen minions. Suresh Prabhu vs Piyush Goyal for instance. Arun Shourie vs anyone for that matter. For all the promse of youth, promising contenders like Jayant Sinha werent even shoo-ins for anything relevant.

Politically too, conventional logic seems to be turning on its head. It may be important for the PM to keep Vasundhara Raje at bay. Nil ministerial representation from Rajasthan with 25 MPs is a bit extreme. Odisha with 1 Lok Sabha MP has 2 ministers ostensibly because there is no similar threat. Many political formations were formed by breakaways from Congress when the high-handedness got unbearable. Most regional parties were formed as a consequence. It is prudent to guard against such eventualities by avoiding needless provocation. The alliance with Shiv Sena is another such incident. They were overtly sidelined during cabinet formation. The next logical step was marginalisation on home turf. The party had no choice but to fight on its own. One relevant ministry would have changed it all at least in a perception sense.

Modi is infinitely smarter than yours truly. It is therefore possible I am missing a larger gameplan. Many argue that he is far superior to any other possible alternative. His sequence of priorities could have a method that I am missing. As a supporter I am irked that somebody I looked upto for "execution" is being hailed for "oratory". Even a mature democracy like the US voted twice for Obama on the back of grandiose speeches and absence of worthy challengers. So we cant really be blamed for getting carried away by empty rhetoric at Red Fort or Madison Square Garden. I just hope the Modi tenure is not akin to the  Obama era. High on charisma-induced initial hope  but little on delivery. 

An Irrelevant Report Card

A decisive mandate can bring about a sense of deep accountability. Alternatively it can lead to a sense of reckless entitlement. Despite being a fervent Narendra Modi supporter, his first 30 odd days have left me  disappointed and I would score him 3/10, however irrelevant my score may be. Truth be told, I was secretly hopeful the BJP formed a majority but  with just about 230 seats of its own. The 280+ number on the strength of a Presidential campaign made me apprehensive and early days seem to prove my fears right.

Lets start with the PM's choice of appointments. For a man who claimed to stand for youth, technology and capability he chose to usher in a set of geriatric former administrators with highly pronounced loyalties to the BJP and questionable track records to boot. (Ajit Doval seems to be an exception on the track record piece). Do we seriously need 70-year olds like Nripendra Misra to preside over the PMO? If reliable sources are to be believed he cant even boot a PC. So much for  technology bias. Loyalty over capability seems to be the order of the day. Several key ministries have been handed over to minions with low political base or negligible administrative experience.

Next was a decree that rendered babus who were Private Secretaries to UPA ministers ineligible for similar postings in the current regime. Needless to say, an exception was made for a crony from Gujarat who must have been shamelessly pliable.  (no prizes for guessing: he is the PS to the PM)This was par for the course in the Congress regime. Where then is the promised difference? More than the issues on hand , it  is the pettiness of the initial chosen battles  that rattle. Should the Prime Minister of a country expend bandwidth on Private Secretaries to ministers? Is a competent golfing civil servant necessarily less effective than a boring bureaucrat with no extra-curricular interests? (not even booting a PC) . Is it fair to stress on Powerpoint presentations when your chosen administrative acolyte is a dinosaur? Is issuing a populist diktat banning new cars for ministers supposed to be so high on the priority of a new government? While the wisdom of insecurity suggests that trench-fighting is important,  it ought not be the sole focus of a PM.

Moving onto the other power games on display. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is now down to 2 people. (Modi and Rajnath Singh). The Prime Minister wishes to meet Service Chiefs every month. (So who is the Defence Minister again?). Secretaries to the Government of India shall make presentations to the PM with ministerial absence being the preferred order of the day. (whatchamacallit......"snoopgate"? ) The only real alternate power centre is a man who lost the Lok Sabha elections. That makes him as disposable as a toothpick post dinner should he ever choose to demonstrate the existence of a spine.

Now for some of the real decisions the government claims to have taken. Rail fare hikes were touted as necessary and inevitable. The alleged UPA trademark roll-backs took just 24- hours to show up. Minimum Export Prices were decreed for a host of agri commodities in sharp deviance from the stated "Gujarat model" capitalism that the PM expounded. Indira Gandhi at her senile worst had confronted the judiciary. Modi has taken his first swipe in less than a month in a move that threatens to strike at the heart of judicial independence. Gubernatorial changes seem to be a key priority item for the first 100 days. Development model anyone?

I concede these are really early days and am being unduly harsh. Insiders say the sharp step-up in administrative discipline has to be seen to be believed. Real change does not occur in 30/60 or even 180 days. It is the number of  juvenile, vindictive and mindless false steps that worry. Most of believe we are good judges of people and situations for it is a direct reflection on our intelligence. Hope Modi doesn't expose my lack of intelligence so early on. It can only get better from here anyway......

 

Un-spoilt for Choices

The decisive mandate notwithstanding, Elections 2014 had more than its fair share of Modi-baiters especially in the upper-middle class populace with post-graduate degrees. Tirades against Modi often seemed based on incomplete information and a deep-rooted desire to identify with western "liberalism". The anti-Modi brigade invariably had 2 traits in common: an utopian desire for a perfect leader and a near unholy tendency to cling onto one period of Gujarat history as if it was deigned to make it to history books with the same impact as world wars.

Let us examine the choices Indian voters had. A clownish Rahul Gandhi, a maverick Kejriwal and a well-intentioned but politically impotent Manmohan Singh. You could add a Chidambaram to the list. His capability  comes severely laced with uppity intellectual pompousness and one could argue, inadequate experience of administrative nuts and bolts.

Lets shift focus to the long-serving chief ministers. Naveen Patnaik is a disaster. Period.  His model comprises populist half-measures with zero regard for development. For those who point to the general rule of law in Odisha compared to previous regimes one just has to look at the 12-13 districts in the state that are now in Maoist control. Jayalalitha is certainly an above-average administrator albeit with the standard tailwinds that governance in developed states confer.  Nitish Kumar tried the development plank only because the barometer of comparison was Lalu. In absolute terms he came a cropper. His Quixote like bid to play the minority card to build broader coalition consensus was the political blooper of the last half-century. He therefore loses votes for both, administrative track-record as well as political savvy. There are BJP CMs like Raman Singh and Shivraj Chauhan too. However, with the charisma of a turtle, they are unlikely to inspire confidence.

Lets move to the previous few Prime Ministers. Manmohan Singh was a wily technocrat turned economist who got a lucky break as PM. His linear pre-PM experience did not equip him for the role especially with a parallel power centre. Before becoming PM, Vajpayee was best known for rhetorical flourish as opposed to administrative capability. His best known achievement was a speech delivered in Hindi at the UN. Again a case of misplaced machismo rather than a significant contribution. IK Gujral, Deve Gowda and Chandrashekhar were accidents who do not deserve footnotes in history. The exception is PV Narasimha Rao. He outdid himself as PM and many owe their current prosperity to his foresight.  He shall be the benchmark for Modi on the progress front.

The English-speaking elite seemed more than  okay with each of these non-choices.   Lets specifically look at areas that seemingly erudite people insist on ignoring. Firstly that old-world value of hard -work. Love him or hate him you cant take away his sweat quotient. Critics argue Modi is merciless and I agree. I haven't known  too many successful professionals who are given to soppy emotion while making decisions. Focussed objectivity breeds mercilessness because there is singularity of purpose. Modi gets the rough end of the stick because his profession is the one everyone loves to hate. The Gujarat development model is a lot of hype. But the methodical campaign, the prepared gambits and the calculated throws of dice, point toward a methodical and decisive thought process. There is nothing the country needs more.

And then the delicate issue of Hindutva. It is unrealistic to expect religion to be a non-issue in a country that was divided on that basis. Every single political party plays with it (or a sub-component of it). It is admittedly cooler to be pro-minority and hence "secular". Modi chose to ignore  that sentiment during these polls with rich electoral dividends. (ref "throw of dice" above). In the past, Modi has irked the RSS no end by demolishing numerous temples during highway construction, urbanisation drives and development projects. The liberals are astonishingly ignorant on the subject. (Or are they?)

There are indeed a set of Hindus who lobby to send their progeny to missionary schools. Christmas Carols seem infinitely more desirable than Sanskrit Shlokas. If a bunch of them end up with a kick in the rear now, I may not complain (not that I have anything against missionary schools).  Till then, lets give Modi a chance IMHO.

Relocation Pangs

 I have been bestowed a highly peripatetic existence largely due to circumstances beyond my control. In just over a decade and half, work has made me move 9 times across cities (more often than not against my personal desire). One exception was a recent move back to the Capital which was to my liking. The missus insists otherwise though I suspect it has a lot to do with a lady's inherent tendency to keep her partner under pressure.

Despite living in 9 cities (and towns) , Delhi is the city I call home (after maybe Bhubaneswar where I have little hope of settling down anymore). So while I am delighted to relocate to Delhi after a 4-year exile ( even though I am yet to spend more than 4 straight days here after moving) , there are a few things about Mumbai  I certainly seem to miss as I get my  feet under the table.

Firstly, the "walk to everything" option that living in Bandra  (a Mumbai suburb for the uninitiated) accords. From a pedestrian chicken-roll to a 7-course meal, from street clothes to designer couture , from coffee shop relaxation to a therapeutic run-by-the-sea, Bandra had it all. Delhi has substitutes but most of them call for getting behind the wheel.

One had begun taking home delivery for granted. I enjoyed superior loyalty status from the neighbourhood wine-store, a far cry from my current routine where I often pick up my chosen brand of poison from far-flung Haryana on my way home from work. Even when  one orders in now, there is a concept of "minimum amount" which has been alien for years. While this affects the better half way more than yours truly, it leads to frequent marital discord (mostly contrived- refer para 1).

Mumbaikars have a unique ability to convert the proverbial "adversity into opportunity". So they actually try and convince you that their "casual" dressing is a reflection of the city's "coolness quotient". You could mistake many a unkempt Investment Banker for a rag-picker were it not for the environ where you bumped into them. Be that as it may, a part of me had shed sartorial correctness and begun dressing a tad err casually. It is still taking a bit of effort to lace up before each outing and I cant believe I sometimes curse denizens of  my current city for being turned out the way civilized people ought to be. 

All the above pale in comparison to the informality and prolific interaction that friends in Delhi confer. To add, the comfort of living close to immediate family is tough to articulate adequately . We are infuriated each day though by Gurgaon residents who question our wisdom of living in Delhi over Gurgaon. Well, please be my guest and live in Manesar (or maybe Daruhera) and you'll have your answer.


 

This Far And No Further

The Delhi gang-rape has awoken the social conscience of many people I know. I have been largely sceptical of their new-found activism largely through social media. This has been supplemented in some cases with symbolic gestures like candle-light marches. I have maintained a cynical view that all the above are largely feel good measures by people who don't really care about society unless threats come knocking too close home. I have not expressed outrage even though I probably have the same degree of social responsibility as most of these facebook activists.

 When I graduated I never even contemplated working for the government and making a direct contribution to society or governance. To that extent I chose material comfort over social responsibility and do not grudge those who chose roles in government with motives other than governance. For all I know, some of them had no other option. If they choose to excel in their profession and make a material difference to society, it's a bonus. It's not like all these social media activists are great at their day jobs. It's just that our day jobs are so irrelevant, competence or lack of it makes no difference to the bulk of the country.

 However, are we grooming the next generation for anything different? Do parents with law-school going kids wish them the life of a public prosecutor? Most seem to clamour for prestigious law firm slots ideally in fancy sounding areas like Intellectual Property Rights. Progeny who demonstrate above-average flair for communication are dispatched to foreign universities to seek "higher education". Seldom do I see encouragement for a career in investigative journalism. And yet, we expect society to reform by itself. With our contribution being restricted to interventions that call for absolutely no sacrifice .

 We then come to the issue of changes in law wrt Rape. As a test, I asked 6-7 of these self-styled activists the meaning of a "non-bailable offence". Each of them believed a non-bailable offence was one where a Court could not grant bail! Mind you, all of them possess credible post-graduate degrees and some occupy responsible positions in organisations. With such levels of illiteracy on Law, these people believe they are competent enough to push for changes in Law. The trouble may not be with their intelligence. The average corporate citizen restricts his understanding of the System to reading newspapers, periodicals and interacting with others of his own breed. Cocktail conversations therefore tend to be of the "one blind man leading another" sort. If only they took pains to interact with a few people engaged in civil administration, some understanding of pulls and pressures in governance could be comprehended.

 So does that leave us with no choice to contribute in a more meaningful manner? How about a movement that ensures there is enough pressure on the Government to at least consider some of us for roles in the government? Collectively we could force a debate on ridding some vital roles in the administration from the preserve of an antiquated bureaucracy. I am certain some FB activists have the financial stability (or indifference) to give up current levels of emoluments and work for a better governed nation. THAT in my mind is true contribution. Feel-good activism may not have negatives. But it can take you thus far and no further. And am not sure the distance it shall take us is significant anyway.

Time to go

The International media is waking up to a failure called Manmohan Singh. He is being castigated for having created a hopeless situation whereas he is actually caught in helplessness. Most pundits realise that any other leader from the current crop may not have made much of a difference. The nature of current coalitions do not leave a PM with much option but one-step-forward-and-four-backward. Any regional chieftain between Karunanidhi, Mulayam Singh or Mamata is regressive enough to derail most well-meaning agendas. When they act in cohesion, their collective might outweighs the PM-10 Janpath combine on the rare occasion they choose to take a decision.

The masses seem upset with Manmohan because he isn’t stepping down. His spine has disappeared and his guile would do a Machiavelli proud. He is behaving like a politician while people expected a principled schoolteacher. To that extent its only the mask that has come off. And one must give credit to Manmohan to have kept it intact and unscathed for over 2 decades. From a political perspective he has no choice but to demonstrate inertness. The next elections are unlikely throw up a significantly different outcome regardless of who comes to power. We are doomed to an environment of malignant coalitions.

The Congress party’s traditional strategy of plotting against their own regional leaders has caused this. Each powerful regional chieftain has emerged at the cost of a powerful congress leader in the same state. Typically if the Congress has a strong grassroots leader as a CM, his bête noire controls the local party unit. This ensures there are enough pulls and pressures on his power-base to weaken and gradually destroy. Mamata Banerjee was a Congress leader once upon a time who went on to become a minister in the NDA and eventually a non-congress CM. Jagan Reddy will be a powerful influencer after the next polls and shall have the option of joining any coalition on his terms. Orissa had just once leader of stature- Biju Patnaik. He was kept at bay and largely out of power by a successful Congress machinery. Ironically the congress was decimated after he died, in part due to 10 Janpath weakening the local satrap. Scindia and Digvijay Singh shall ensure neither rules M.P. Both shall be supported by the Gandhi family in alternate cycles.

The BJP has strong local leaders too but most of them have governance as their calling card. Raman Singh, Shivraj Chauhan and Narendra Modi are seen as progressive CMs. Their local strength is seen as an asset by the BJP. Each of them have supporters and detractors in the central arrangement. In the absence of a single-point power centre, this acts as a tailwind. Karnataka, the one state they failed was because of the absence of a strong local leader. When we look at regional alliances like JD(U)- BJP in Bihar, or the Shiv Sena- BJP in the past, the BJP has played 2nd fiddle in letter and spirit as mandated electorally. Contrast it with the NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra today where each tires to unseat the other every fortnight.
Future growth will not be a function of the next Prime Minister as much as it will on the nature of mandate. It is important for a national party to get as close to a majority as possible so that coalition partners are seen to be partners in governance and not irritants engaged in perpetual give-and-take. On sheer bench-strength quality the BJP should make a better choice currently, ideally without Mulayam/Mayawati or Jayalalitha/Karunanidhi. And if Narendbhai is not an acceptable choice for PM, we can make do with a Shivraj Chauhan or Raman Singh. The days of the all-powerful PM are history anyway. And we will probably be spared the likes of Sushil Shinde as Home Minister!

Ageing Gracelessly

With advancing years, the sense of not being “ in with the times”  creeps up with increasing frequency. From music to fashion trends to gadgets, one reconciles to being “too old for it” often.  Another flank where I inevitably give up is teenage vocabulary. A bit too abbreviated and sometimes annoyingly funky. However, of late I observe women in their late 30s (or even early 40s) use words and phrases that seem to suggest they are trying a bit too hard. Lot of them are with the “simple-living-high thinking” positioning i.e. they do not carry Gucci bags or step out of sporty Audis despite being well-heeled. And yet when it comes to the Queen’s language, there seems to be a desperate attempt to sound “cool”.  

As a result, “insane” is used with no reference to sanity. A dessert can be “insane” for instance! Largely with reference to  Tarts or Souffles though and seldom Gulab Jamuns. “Eeeeeewwww” and “blehhh” are other favourites in the lexicon. You are with-it if you use them frequently and also have a nuanced understanding of when to use which of the two. I could comprehend “eeewww” fairly easily. (Though I use the more conventional “disgusting” when applicable) The exact situation in which to use “blehhh” still escapes me. But I hope to decipher it someday and hopefully do not live to see a day when I use the term.  

My limited knowledge of grammar has me believe that  something that reads “I haven’t met her for the ‘longest time’ ”  is an incorrect sentence. But the frequency of such usage has convinced me Wren & Martin is being re-written. Strangely, some people no longer aim to reach you in “15 minutes” or “half an hour”. Its invariably “see you in 15”. I can understand this on text messages (its Short Messaging Service after all). Inexplicably, mentioning “minutes” seems like  a waste of breath even in normal conversation. 

 It would be mildly unfair to say this plagues the fairer sex only (I’ll probably punch a man using “eeeewww” though). But men have their own variants. “Have a good one” tops the list. From Birthday wishes to New Year greetings to slightly obscene innuendos, this phrase crops up almost everywhere. This owes itself to shamelessly plagiarising from the Americans. Surprisingly, this phrase is used by lots of folks who are otherwise unpretentious.  In one of my ex-employers, it was considered cool to sign off an email with a mere “Best” instead of something more conventional like  “Best Regards”. This owed its origins to a CEO who was considered by many as an epitome of sophistication.  Since his other indulgences were unaffordable, this was the only attempt at flattery by imitation. To my relief, people have increasingly begun asking for the “bill” at the end of a meal instead of the pretentious “cheque” as was the fad a few years ago.   

 Some blame my seemingly  quaint mindset on the subject to my lack of exposure to American television. By that logic, I should brace for several people in the above set using chaste Hindi cuss words in the near future. After all,  movies like “Delhi Belly” and “Gangs of Wasseypur” seem to have hit bulls-eye with them.