One Year of Modi Sarkar: Much Better Than UPA, But Heavily Disappointing. Part-1

First anniversary of getting elected happened on May 16, and that of taking oath happened on May 26. A lot of reviews of past one year have been published. Most reviews can be classified into one of the three categories. First, written by those who are known to be Modi-bashers so were expected to write adverse reviews. Second, written by those who are known Modi-defenders, so were expected to defend the government. About 75% belonged to the first category, and about 20%+ belonged to the second.But there is this third category, which is written by those who want Modi government to succeed and yet wished to provide a critical assessment without undue Modi diatribe while avoiding undeserved eulogizing. When we say that only about 4.5%+ belong to this category, we are still exaggerating the figures. We must also clarify that we have not read all reviews in English, and have read none of the non-English ones. So please bear that in mind. Now we come to our review.

Frankly speaking, we expected a much larger percentage to review Modi in the style mentioned in the third category, and a significant number to review the way we will review Modi in the following. However, we were (and we hope the general readers too) pretty much disappointed. So what category IS our perspective? Well, we present our review so that you can judge it for yourself, and then we will also try and categorize our perspective.

First a quick recap of 1947-2014 and Congress.
There are a large number of people (unfortunately BJP too is infested with them) who genuinely believe that Congress was a great movement (with Mohandas, Jawahar and all) but unfortunately it declined and deteriorated after that.  We believe differently. We believe that Congress was poisonous shit and it kept adding newer shit as well as kept rotting further. Then what changed? We believe that it is the ability of people for clear perception that changed. It was (and continues to be) a case of nose getting cleared and olfactory glands returning to normal sensory perception. Thus the more and the clearer people perceive the stronger the revulsion and disdain they feel for Congress. Further, we don't believe that Congress is only a "set of corrupt politicians" etc. For such problems have easier solutions, like, "change the politicians". When people describe Congress as an ideology, they are closer. We believe that Congress represents a "kind of people, who repeatedly attempt certain kinds of solutions". Such a representation will attract its "kind" of people, and it will perpetrate systems and institutions which keep attempting its "kind" of solutions. Please recall that we are not ascribing any ulterior motives to such "people", at least not now. This does not mean that they do not have ulterior motive. However, our purpose is to remind you, our readers, that even without ulterior motive and even despite the best of intentions, when certain "kinds of solutions" are attempted, it leads to perpetration of shit. Ha, now you are making guesses. Good.



Politician and Lawyer:

Consider how an honest leader is supposed to behave. If a large dirty yard needs cleaning, he inspires the imagination of the people (towards the goal of a clean yard), and starts doing the cleaning himself (inspiring people to join him). Now consider how a lawyer deals with his client. A good lawyer warns his client (often even when the case is strong) and yet strives hardest to get the best possible results. A bad lawyer assures the client (even if the case is weak) but after the debacle quibbles with the client regarding what his assurances meant and what they didn't mean.



Priorities:
Now consider a somewhat lateral situation. (Women might understand it more easily though you don't need to be a woman to understand this). Suppose you and your family returns after (say a fortnight/month) a vacation, and enter the house (say at 5 in the evening). Assume you stay in a not-so-automated house and your house (and appliances) is not connected to the internet-of-things etc. So what sequence of action do you expect? We suggest one (of possible many): You first start the water pump (a few minutes later geysers will have to switched on for heating bath-water). Then you quickly rinse two vessels using the water from the bottle you carried in your journey  (the vessels might have been clean but have accumulated dust), open a milk-packet pour it in one vessel and put it on the gas-stove, similarly you put a another vessel with water (everyone might want to have a cup of tea/coffee!). And then something, and then some more thing etc. While there are many admissible solutions possible, consider the following one. As soon as you get to your house you thrust a broom each in to every member's hands and start cleaning the house. Midway, you realize that it would have been a good idea to have a cup of hot beverage, but now it will take another fifteen minutes (at least) to prepare it, so you tell all to skip it, and finish the cleaning job. After cleaning you realize that the pump was not switched on, so all have to wait for water to be pumped and then heated and so on. Pretty awful scene. Surely much below optimal. (And mind you, we are not alluding here to Swachchh Bharat Mission. Not at all.) What we are alluding to are "priorities". And if one is a sensible family person, while traveling itself one has thought about and decided priorities. Priorities will vary from individual to individual, and family to family. However, if a significantly non-optimal (in some cases counter-optimal) priorities are chosen, one suspects the capability of the chooser (even if not the intentions).



Summary Evaluation:

Suppose there are two delivery mechanisms A and B. On a scale from 0 to 100, suppose A regularly delivers -300 (yes, minus/negative 300); and then when you choose B, he delivers -100, isn't it a great improvement? Yet, is it good? Suppose B delivers 5 (yes positive 5), isn't it HUGE improvement? Still, is it good?
 

So dear reader, we are sure that you have made some very good guesses regarding what we are going to write. And you are not off the mark at all. This does not require any great genius. In fact, we honestly believe that most reviewers ARE much more intelligent than we are, and that is why we were disappointed by their reviews.
 

Also, before we shoot our volleys, we want to make it clear that we are NOT going to complain that "Achchhe Din" have not come, or this or that. Things take time. Journey from -300 to 50 can take a long time. Journey from even 50 to 75 is bound to take time. But, there is another aspect to it. The simplest question is: Has the journey begun? If it has begun, is it to cover -300 to -200, or -300 to -100, or -300 to 5, or what? What was the BEST possible journey that could have begun? Have the best possible choices been made? We all must ask these questions, and answer them for ourselves.