NARENDRA MODI: THE GREAT REDEEMER AND PHILOSOPHER KING

A highly insecure, unstable and embattled world today is witnessing the emergence of a great leader in India promising stability, peace and progress for her 1.3 billion humans.  Even though I hold no brief for Narendra Modi nor do I have had any opportunity to watch him in close quarters, as an author on humanities and ecology and watching the global social and political scenes from a little far, as if from another civilization/culture since the last few decades, Modi has emerged highly visible in my mental radar since about the last 10 years.

Surprisingly, Modi has slowly started to be visible, on a widened reckoning in the present highly tormented national/global situation, as the rising of an inevitable PHILOSOPHER KING to not only rescue India but also the whole more anguished world at a very crucial and delicate juncture in human history.  Here, the great leader Narendra Modi will surely have to widen his vision. In this highly mechanized Global Village with no border, no leader and no order, and where globalized currency, monopoly media and mechanical might run the show, and where even individual action has its immediate and visible global effects (we claim that the whole world is at our fingertips), it is indeed a crude joke to claim that there are over 203 independent, sovereign nations in the world today.  Today we claim that the whole world is at our fingertips; that planet Earth has become a ‘global village’ or ‘wired planet’; that Earth is turning into a global city and that this post-modern society is all a giant machine. Earth is now in a post-evolutionary phase, and we live at the end of Nature.

Here, I see in Narendra Modi as an impressive grace and challenge capable of expanding this ‘Modi model’, in harmony with the Gandhian model, globally. Modi’s firmness as a patriarch is his supreme greatness at this crucial juncture.

However, solution to a global problem today is suicidal if initiated by a single nation or even by a single superpower. And every problem of mankind today is global and it has to be tackled, on a war footing, only GLOBALLY. Today, practically or logically, there simply cannot be any individual or even sectarian solution to any chronic problem/disease that is more social than material, more mental than physical, more complex and civilizational than natural, more global and fundamental than anything provisional or superficial.

In a highly globalized hi-tech era, all the attempts for system changes, however inevitable and vital they be, will surely be risky and even suicidal for individuals or for any single nation to take them up individually. Mikhail Gorbachev, the former President of the erstwhile Soviet Union realized this tough reality the hard way when he ventured to do it single-handedly in Soviet Union in the event of which he not only ended up losing the Soviet empire itself but also his own position as the supreme global leader. The fact that the latterly resurgent Russia has slowly become a stronger nation with less decay and less poisonous baggage of the past is altogether another matter, the credit of which only goes to Mikhail Gorbachev, a fact which however very few people realize even today.

 

THE PHILOSOPHER KING OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE

A great leader gives life to the sleeping mass and helps them to awake and realize their own potential and power. He revives confidence, hope and courage in the people and unites them with a mutual dream of a progressive society.

Since the last forty years, despite of his frequent travels and political trips, Modi keeps an unfailing discipline of 10 days fast that he reportedly practices two times in a year. Modi is a staunch vegetarian who has never indulged in any kind of intoxications. Here, as a disciplined political leader, he is like Mahatma Gandhi. At times Modi seems to be much more of a nationalist and a more practical, modern and foresighted leader than Gandhijee himself.

Narendra Modi is a brilliant fusion of modernism and the essence of the vast Hindu philosophy. This has never been seen in any past leaders of India. Gandhiji was a religious man and had subtle understanding of Indian mysticism and spirituality, but he had not much belief in modernism. Had Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of free India (Nehru was an ardent supporter of modernization and lacked the subtle understanding of Indian mysticism and spirituality) supported Gandhiji and developed India on the philosophy of Gandhiji, India would certainly have been a very healthy and environmentally strong, leading nation in the world. But Nehru went sharply against the much sustainable and pollution-less Gandhian model in nation building.. However, I see Narendra Modi as a combination of Gandhi and Nehru.  But I hope Modi, as a new global leader, will eventually shed the Nehru line (see box).

As a leader, Narendra Modi may be seen as new global ‘VILLAGE ELDER’ than any conventional professional leader, and he is capable of giving a human touch to leadership. In Modi, I can see a sage-like statesman and an enlightenment leader. And Modi, during his maiden trip to the United States as Indian Prime Minister, did not want to change his usual practice of fasting, which, like in the case of Gandhiji, is also a sure source of his enlightenment. And he proved his stamina and vibrant energy level in America by abstaining from food for days, throughout his grueling schedule that featured the United Nations General Assembly, a rally of Indian Americans at New York’s Madison Square Garden and talks with President Obama in Washington.

Today we know that mankind is under the wrong modern systems since many years, and that this fragile world has to be brought under the right human hands to correct this aberration of modern age.

 

MODI MAGIC ARRESTING THE FAST DOWN-SLIDE IN INDIA

From many visible indications, the western model is already broken. According to many published reports, Industrial civilisation is fast headed for irreversible collapse, on a global level. War or no war, mankind is soon to face extinction because of the massive premature degeneration gripping mankind, and the worst affected are the peoples of the so-called ‘super’ powers and developed nations. Thus collective stupidity is soon to wipe out mankind, and the trend seems to begin from the so-called developed regions of the world.

India too has long been in economic, social and environmental rut and decay even after her gaining independence from the erstwhile colonialists. However, according to my vision, the greatest achievement of what may be called the ‘Modi-effect’ is its miraculously arresting this fast down-hill slide in India.  Yes, the  strong leadership of Narendra Modi has miraculously rescued India from the fast all-round down-slide, at the first instance.

Narendra Modi is the most unique personality that India has seen in 65 years of its independence.  He is the best ‘administrator-politician’ India has seen. Gujarat, the state which he ruled for 10 years,  has become synonymous with possibilities, change and energy. And Gujarat has become synonymous with Modi.

The often heard accusation, by the detractors of Narendra Modi, that he is a bogeyman of communal politics and is trying to erect a Hindu theocratic state in India is indeed a a false front for attack. The following realities can prove this allegation as unfounded.

A secular person is someone who is non-religious, irreligious, or generally uninterested in any religion. This secular trend is a global phenomenon and it is growing fast. Irreligion can mean the absence of religion, an indifference towards religion, a rejection of religion or outright hostility towards religion. Because of its broad definition it includes several groups such as atheism, agnosticism and antitheism.

After hearing Pope Francis say that atheists can get into heaven last week, I was curious to see just how much the irreligious population has grown around the world. The percentage of the population who have lost their religion has increased significantly over the last few decades, particularly in the developed world.

In Canada for example, the number of people who consider themselves atheists or agnostic rose significantly in the last ten years. Meanwhile in Finland, the number has doubled in the last twenty.

The numbers are highest in Northern Europe and in East Asia. If you took the median average estimate, Japan would be the country with the most atheists and agnostics, a title mostly associated with Scandinavian countries.

However, Sweden leads the way when it comes to those who don’t practice religion with Norway not far behind. China is rather special here because a very small percentage considers themselves as atheists, but 93% don’t subscribe to a specific religion.

Also countries with irreligion trends are growing at a faster rate than any religion-based countries. Although New Zealand has no established religion, Christianity has been the religion of the majority. However in their nation’s survey, the majority population recorded as having ‘no religion’ over the last five censuses. About half of Americans say the growing number of “people who are not aliened to any religion. Sweden is among the least religious nations in the world.

Most countries in the world have no official religion. Today the world in the global village, is going forward, in many crucial respects, as a single nation. Here Hindus, even if they are all religious fanatics, constitute less than 14% of the global population, whereas the reality is that Hindus are the most secular sort of humans in the world, and Hinduism the most tolerant religion in the world, a historical fact which no historian can deny.  How else could expand the Islamic world eastwards from the eleventh century to the eighteenth and Mughal kings ruled India for over two centuries and the Christian colonialist rulers reigned over this vast nation for three centuries? 

We will be doing a mortal mistake if we are unable to rise to realities and do away with the foolish practice of bringing more politics into religion or more religion into politics. In this process, we will only be sabotaging our own escape bid from the imminent destruction and extinction of mankind, which actually is very much on the card.

As for the efficient and honest modernization drive by Modi, despite the opposing party (Congress)  overruling him at the central government, Modi transformed Gujarat into European-level development. In order to misrepresent his image as an extremist Hindu leader and to deprive him of the 20% of Muslim votes, a well-planned defamation propaganda was orchestrated against him because of which the American government also denied him visa for a long time. But today the Muslim leaders themselves are praising Modi’s delivery of security, employment and education to the Muslim community in Gujarat.

Modi takes his inspiration from Swami Vivekanand and other Indian mystics. Just before the elections, Modi reportedly had reached the Ramkrishna ashram in Belurmath and had expressed his desire to meditate in Swamijee’s room. The room that is usually kept closed was opened and Modi meditated there for 25 minutes. Today we see Vivekanand’s grace, charisma and his dream for a prosperous India in Narendra Modi. In Modi’s success lies the success of the vastness of the non-communal and liberal Indian spirituality.

As a young man, Modi left home to seek enlightenment reportedly to find inspiration from the writings of philosopher Swami Vivekananda, who represented the Hindu faith at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893.  Humble, disciplined, enthusiastic, patient and determined in life, Narendra Modi is a born leader fit not just for India but for the whole tormented world today. Independence Day, in 2014, saw Modi speaking without any written speeches, and this unprecedented speech is surely going to be one of the most remembered speeches from an Indian PM. Even for those who happen to disagree with him, cannot help without appreciating his qualities that are verifiable by everyone. “Indian leader Narendra Modi, once unwelcome in U.S., gets rock star reception”, was how New York times reported his maiden trip, as Prime Minister, to the United States.

Modi’s political party (BJP) fought the election on the basis of just one issue: the vision, originality and track record of Narendra Modi. Modi spoke at nearly 400 public rallies during the campaign, and at each rally he was treated with great enthusiasm and expectations. A decisive, clear-thinking leader, Modi had a simple message: the magic of the Gujarat model of development (a state he has ruled for more than a decade) and how it can be replicated in the rest of India.

Modi communicated forcefully to the vast impatient Indians who were angry with the long established systems and the long ruling then Congress Party for letting them down, and they soon realized their hope and aspirations will be safe in the capable hands of this sage-like stewardship of Narendra Modi. My contention however is that this PHILOSOPHER KING is capable of safely leading not only Indian but also the whole world from the present mess if he is given such an opportunity.

Here I hold no brief for Narendra Modi, nor do I have had any opportunity to watch him in close quarters. Still, as an author watching the global social and political scenes from a little far, as if from another civilization/culture since the last few decades,  Narendra Modi has emerged highly visible in my mental radar since about the last 10 years. Surprisingly, Modi has slowly started to be visible, on a widened reckoning in the present highly tormented national/global situation, as the rising of a star, as an inevitable Philosopher King.

I saw in him a unique conventional ‘village elder’ than a modern professional leader – to not only rescue India but also the whole anguished world at a very crucial and delicate juncture in human history. Modi has shown the leadership with command and a grace with simple human touch. Today, when no-one is interested in actually trying to give a humanistic perspective to the most urgent problems of society, I was indeed surprised at the ease with which Modi was touching such knotty global issues like global warming and the crisis of education. Modi seems to take these highly knotty global problems more realistically and practically than those professional politicians handling difficult global issues by means of only the usual ‘gesture politics’.  

While addressing the students on Teachers’ Day on 5th September, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wooed many school kids across the nation with his witty answers, even as he was tackling those global issues. Here Modi has come out with the right explanation and definition of a long pestering global problem – global warming – which was put to him by the students and which have long caught the attention of most global leaders who meanwhile were in the dilemma solely due to their wrongly defining the problem itself.

In a world sharply divided by climate change supporters and climate deniers, Modi’s, ‘climate change’ statement did touch the nucleus of the problem and gave the right angle to the controversy even as he proved both the camps wrong. He attributed the seeming climate change mainly to the fast deteriorating human health because of the ongoing human degeneration (mainly caused by modern lifestyle) that is fast weakening people’s tolerance level to withstand the forces of Nature.  Well, I have dealt with the same logic in a whole chapter (4) in the book Life On Meltdown and the topic Societal Degeneration and Collective Stupidity in this booklet. There were a few commentators, mainly on social media, who criticized Modi for his comment on climate change, but only for them to be caught on the wrong foot later and the criticism was short-lived.

Here it was highly encouraging to witness our Prime Minister’s interest in Academia in the same meeting. In the process of redefining knowledge, Modi has proved himself as the greatest Chancellor of the true Academia. I think he has raised some true concerns about the world of academia where gaining a mere degree creates false self in the mind of the degree holder and  leaves him/her impractical in real life. Referring to an interview episode of an ‘MA’ degree-holding job-aspirant, Modi seemed to ask: Why are degrees getting devalued and students live a miserable and bitter life?

Actually we do not need a long discussion on it. We only need to look at the ‘developments’ around us, by taking a look at our world. What we are encountering in academia we are encountering equally everywhere else.  The world has lost faith in the ongoing knowledge ‘industry’, especially in science, all over the world.

At this vital global situations of mankind, I saw Modi capturing the imaginations of the whole Indians, and which, in the present globalizing context, was also like saving them from their present critical crises, and thus selling the dream of prosperity to the people of the whole world.  I thought if a Modi fails, it will be the failure not only of the people of India but also of the whole world; and if he succeeds the world would surely be a far better place. Through these kind of thinking, I was seeing in Narendra Modi the great aspirations of Swami Vivekananda, Subhash  Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi all rolled into one. This can be read in my blog during May 2014: www.humanfirst.in/discussions/narendra-modi-coming-of-indias-napoleon-bonaparte-2/

Thus months before Narendra Modi was elected as the Indian Prime Minister in May 2014, and before he was raised to be ranked 15th on the American Forbes Magazine list in November 2014, my book literally predicted his coming as the most powerful global leader like the once French emperor, the great Napoleon Bonaparte, even as my book predicted the total eclipse of Congress Party from the Indian political scene which the later Indian Parliamentary election and which, several more months later in November 2014, the Forbes Magazine did by also eclipsing Sonia Gandhi   from its list. (This prophetic accuracy of the book was also reported by a prominent newspaper in Kerala on 21 May 2014).