By: Shreepal Singh
1. It is 23rd of May 2019 today. Modi has scored a stunning victory in 2019 Indian parliamentary election: he has got (wait for a few hours more, at this hour – 4.03 PM – BJP is leading in 294 and with allies 344) out of the total of 542 seats. We say it Modi’s victory because he secured it almost single handedly. We say it “almost single handedly” because the credit for it goes in maximum to him. BJP as a political party with its vast support base and an army of dedicated workers spread over many of its affiliated organizations and Amit Shah as an astute political strategist and the president of BJP have also contributed to this victory in a desicive manner. But still perhaps – we venture to assert – BJP without a Modi could not have performed this miracle in this badly divided country and perhaps Modi without BJP could still have done it. However, this is no time to apportion the credit between the two mutually supporting forces. It looks nice and gracious to say BJP is nothing without Modi and Modi is nothing without BJP. This is enough on this score – and nothing more is required. Let us come to the point.
2. It was said by us at Indian People’s Congress a score of decades back, “Things always go on changing and the history is continuously made. But, there is always the spirit of ‘Time’ behind every such change. It is not the entities – the events, the personalities – that are apparent to everybody who alone are there to play their role in this change. There are also forces behind them that are subtle, not apparent. These forces are more powerful than the apparent entities; the entities – personalities – are these forces’ creation, their instruments. These subtle forces operate in tune with the spirit of Time at the given moment through the apparent personalities, big and small both.”
3. Modi as an individual – and as the Prime Minister of India – is no exception to this universal phenomenon. Modi has won the 2019 Indian parliamentary election. He is set to step on his second inning as the supreme leader of India. He worked hard – the hardest that any individual can do. We all know, the political institution of democracy – as an instrument of self governance and more so as an instrument of rapid progress – is much flawed. It is flawed even in those countries that boast of being its (democracy’s) originators. But in India it is many times more flawed – a large, a very large, section of Indian population is given to act on their illitracy, ignorance, caste, religion, ethnic fault lines and what not. Adding to this pathatic condition of Indian electorate, here the established corrupt and scoundrals, and even below-average minds, are able to fling dirt on any well-meaning political personality and flourish and hoodwink this ignorant mass called electorate. Win of Modi is a miracle and also a sign that Indian people have now come of age in the art of self governance.
4. Modi’s win of 2019 Indian parliamentary election is a good omen not for India alone, it is good for humanity as well. Rise of Modi as the Prime Minister of India is the rise of spiritual India, and the rise of spiritual India is the rise of humanity.
5. Life is essentially spiritual; and humanity is the epitome of this spirituality. In fact, life is nothing but unfolding of universal divinity – life with its amazing property of self awareness cannot be explained by anything but by divinity; life is divine.
6. One step forward in the rise of the awareness of this divinity is the rise of humanity and the very existence – and survival against all odds through the ages – of an India that is spiritual to the core is a step forward for the entire humanity.
7. Rise of a spiritual India should be a cause for jubiliation for the world. Modi-win of 2019 in India is the win of this spiritual India. By and large the majority of Indians – who are mostly Hindus but also have significant number of Muslims, Christians – are in euphoria today on this win.
8. Indians are given by nature to celebrate, and celebrate incessantly. Let them celebrate at this moment of historic importance. But soon they would need to get down to the work ahead – the work that needs to be attended urgently and that is pending long overdue. What is this work?
9. There are many urgent works pending execution in India almost since its birth in 1947 as a free country but the most important and urgent of them in post 2019 election need to be recapitualated.
10. Firstly, science, science and again science. It is to underline its supreme importance for India that is still backward in this age of science and technology. No country has any futute if it does not master the laws of this material world, which are known as the laws of science. It is not confined to learning the already known – discovered – laws of science and mastering the technologies based on those already known laws. It is much more than that and includes original thinking in all branches of positive sciences; philosophical – ideological; and social sciences. It also includes a prompt application of newly discovered laws of that science – transforming that knowledge into technology. It includes ruthless promotion of merit and individual initiatives. It means that science is translated into technology and that technology is translated into an overall national development of India; it means a high living standard of citizens is secured with the help and advantage that this science – and its technology – provides to these citizens; high end technology utilized for defence and armed forces. There is need to emphasize the importance of the speed at which this science is translated into technology. Severe penalties and disincentives for causing delay and neglect in such translation. Heavy investment in this field – discovery of science and translating acquired knowledge into technology with fast speed.
11. Secondly, strengthen the internal security of India. Identify forces and individuals that divert issues and derail India’s fast development and expose them, discredit them and punish them in examplery way. Judge them by their recent conduct before this just concluded 2019 election – judge them what they said and where they stood. These individuals – in the name of politicians, journalists, human right workers and some such other names – take undue advantage of India’s innocent and largely uneducated masses, and render democracy unworkable in India. When the world is marching fast forward and countries are busy to overtake their rivals in ferocious competition in economic and technology spheres, these individuals put their full might to derail India’s smooth progress – all in the name of democracy and their constitutional rights. This all talk of democracy and constitutional rights is nothing but a vaneer to camaflauge their real identities – you scratch a little and you will find below the surface that they are corrupt to the core, they have amassed huge ill gotten wealth by corrupt means, they are there to grind their axe. It is most urgent task of emerging new and developing India to pin point them all and clean India of this mess. No country has ever progressed without cleaning its mess – and India has to achieve this feat in a democratic manner.
12. Thirdly, take the aggressive foreign initiative. Forge friendship with maximum foreign powers. Find out common agendas and take initiatives to lead such groups wedded to those agendas. There are many concerns that the humanity commonly share today: environmental concerns; sustainable development on earth; non-poluting sources of energy that may power such development; mental well-being of humanity in the face of technologies fast encroaching human mind; terrorism sprouting from fundamentalist religions and rabid ideologies; peace and equity among countries. India needs to forge a global unity around these common concerns. Spiritual India can achieve nothing if it does not win the love and goodwill of humanity by and large. This India stands not for any narrow nationalism confined to one country but for humanity, which is above all traditional religious and ideological concerns.