Narendra Modi - I have spent 5 hours this morning in understanding Mr. Modi.
CAVEAT EMPTOR: Please
read the note at the bottom
This is one of the best speeches on good governance and a developmental
economic model. Some may say that someone else may have written it, that is
fine, but he has owned it by delivering it so eloquently and I hope he means every word of it.
He says, “Good governance starts from good intention, and it survives on
lasting institution and reaches across national boundaries and even beyond.
Quality of life, business environment and economic growth depend on effective
governance”... and the humorous part, “lack of good governance is like diabetes….”
I
am looking to write about participative democracy and representative
democracy, and he has addressed that well. We have a problem with number
of contestants from a constituency and the representations - though
Modi has a landslide victory, he has only 31% of the popular vote.
One of my write ups articulates his other interview with NDTV at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/indias-modi-on-his-best-behavior-can-we-trust-him_b_5280892.html#es_share_ended
Zee Media’s exclusive - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQP5qbnnsS8&t=23m29s
Modi has responded well, but has dodged many questions, and the interviewers
did not press him either.
REGRETS
I have seen interviews by Karan Thapar, NY Times reporter and the Zee TV – all
of them asked the same question – in fact they made it easy for him. “Do you
regret what happened in 2002?” or, “Do you at least feel, you could have
prevented it”… That is the most
difficult part for any human to understand, why Mr. Modi is not facing it? Why
does he run away from it? He has the
guts, but that guts should make him humble not arrogant. It is the same question I have for George
Bush – does he regret murdering nearly a million people with his deliberate
decision? How do they live with that is beyond me, all I can see is they do not
have guts to face it.
The Trusteeship he
talks about around the 7th minute, referencing Gandhi is also the Islamic
concept of governance - but how many Muslim majority governments are following
it? And again there is a good talk at the 32nd minute – about one’s
intention – that sounds word for word from a Friday Muslim sermon. There is a
gap between the talk and act that needs to be bridged. I hope Modi means
what he says and pray for his success, if he succeeds India succeeds.
Summary of my write ups in 2014 at:
http://mikeghouse.net/Articles/Narendra-Modi-India.asp
CAVEAT EMPTOR:
I have been critical of Mr. Modi ever since Gujarat Massacre
took place in 2002, and have been an activist and written extensively
about the
policies to govern. I have consistently sought justice for the victims
of
Gujarat and restoration of their livelihood and recommended on building
desegregated
societies for the ultimate good of India, but rarely have I sought the
pound of
flesh. In the last two weeks, however, I have written optimistic notes
about
Mr. Modi, based on his interviews and his speeches. In the coming 100
days, IF I see his actions
match his good words, and he does some praischit as a part of the raj
dharma, I
will admire that human quality in him, and would believe that he has the
potential to be become one of the visionaries of India like Pundit
Jawaharlal
Nehru who was instrumental in building a stable democracy, that his
daughter
could not undo. Because of my write ups, I continue to lose a few my
friends and that is ok, I don't need friends like that. We have to
learn to live with our differences, and my commitment remains building
cohesive
pluralistic societies and I like the new found inclusive language of
Modi.
Mike Ghouse,
Center for Pluralism
www.Foundationforpluralism.com
www.MikeGhouse.net
Respecting the otherness of others.
Studies in Social, religious, cultural and political pluralism
