Monday, May 19, 2014

An open letter to the Prime Minister-Designate, India: Narendra Modi

Dear Sir,

First of all, congratulations for that thumping victory for your party which made May the 16th, 2014 etched in the History of India forever. Never in my 27 years of existence had I thought that I would ever witness something of this sort, given the dependency of the national parties over the regional parties in our country and owing to the fact that the electorate of India has given a chequered mandate in so many general elections in the past. But this was not the case this time, as the BJP gathered 282 seats on its own and the NDA under your leadership and constituting 29-odd parties gathered 336 seats out of the total 543. As far as I am concerned, I am a strong believer in the two-party system. In other democracies in the world, wherever there is a two-party system, it has proven efficient and resulted in a strong government as well as a strong opposition. But in India, this liberty of having so many parties only create nuisance. Although I agree that for the time being, it is a necessity here because we still have a daunting challenge of providing social equality and there are certain sections of our society who don't have proper representation among the national parties.

Now coming to the important thing. Sir, you are a Gujarati. And everyone knows that Gujarati and Gujarat means business. So, I am sure that you would have already started to work over who you want to be in your team, and who will be appropriate in which department. As we wait for you to take oath as the Prime Minister, and announce your cabinet, we expect some able minds in your core team. Minds, who are in complete sync with you, who are absolutely loyal towards you and who can understand what is best for the people of this country. We cannot afford another PM who doesn't know what his ministers are up to. We had enough of that in the last 10 years! Your past record is the testimony of what awaits us and I am happy with that.

There are few things over which we need immediate attention and action. The most important being the current foreign policy towards our neighboring countries. With your advent, there is a feeling of shock and awe among them, and we should make sure that they understand that it would be foolhardy to do any funny business from across the border, now that you are the boss. A tough exterior with a tinge of humanity is what is the need of the hour. They should be made to realize that the Nizam in India is changed now, and they should better behave accordingly. Zero-tolerance policy towards cross border terrorism should be enforced with immediate effect, and we should make it clear that until this nonsense stops, there cannot be any dialogue.

Regarding the issue of corruption and black money stored in foreign banks, we need action now. Many of your interviews and speeches were filled with assurances that once you are in power, you will take steps towards curbing corruption and bringing back the black money. Well, now nothing should be stopping you as you own more than 50% of the house! Change policy, change rules, do whatever it takes,  but do this and do this quickly.

The stock market has soared with your advent, and the Rupee has strengthened against the Dollar. That is a good sign. Everyone is expecting you to bring reforms in India's economic policy which sends a good and encouraging signal amongst the investor in and outside the country. With the largest working population in the world, we must ensure that strong measures are taken in order to tap this potential. I remember you once said that I want to see an India wherein the Americans are lining up for our Visa. Well, this is very much possible if we play to our potential.

Coming to my home state, Uttar Pradesh. Everyone is shocked. I am shocked, and I am sure you are surprised too. Who would have thought? You won 73 out of the 80 seats and the rest of the 7 seats going only to the family members of the opposition political parties. Such was the impact of your campaign, that the Uttar Pradesh which is infamous for choosing their candidates on the basis of caste, creed and religion unified for you and practically plummeted the opposition! You owe us now, Sir. You need to do something to improve the standard of living of the people in Uttar Pradesh. People are angry, they are hurt, and they want change. They want you to personally ensure that things change there. We need roads, electricity, jobs, security, social harmony, and someone to hear our plight. Two years ago, I wrote a similar letter to the then elected Chief Minister of UP, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav. I was hopeful that being a youngster himself, he will understand my pain. He will bring change to the way things are being done in UP. But he did nothing. On the contrary, whatever little we had was also taken away from us, rendering us helpless. You are bound by the oath you took at the banks of River Ganges in Varanasi, to bring change in our lives. Uttar Pradesh will never behave the same way it did in this general elections, if we are let down. Please don't let that happen. Not on your watch!

In the end, I would sincerely wish you all the best for your new role as the supreme leader of this beautiful country. I know that the people of Gujarat have made a big sacrifice by letting you go, but you have a bigger responsibility now. You have 1.25 Billion people to think about, even those who didn't vote for you. Thank you sir, for providing us hope. Make Atal Ji proud.