Sometimes a few battles have to be lost to win the war.

 

For all those social media warriors hand-wringing that Modi isn't running the country exactly the way you want, with no wriggle room or room for dissent from your self-conceived utopia, consider these points :

▪︎ His job is to 

       1. Win elections

       2. Run the nation

In that order. That bit is important.

Your utopian fetishes will get him nowhere electorally. They are just good for drawing room discussions and social media warfare.

▪︎ A few deepfakes, a few khata-khat jhumlas and voila! 303 became 243. 

How will Modi get the confidence that his supporters won't desert him for a few crumbs thrown by the opposition?

These antics will scare any politician in doing what's electorally expedient. Live to fight another day will become the motto; rather than win or die.

▪︎ This is a country that voted out the incumbent government over an increase in onion prices.

▪︎ Qatar controls our LNG supply and has us by the cojones. Any "bold step" would mean that prices will skyrocket. You want Modi to tell Qatar off, but are you willing to pay the price for that?

▪︎ Modi knows your mentality. You would be the first ones baying for his blood in the next big elections, if LNG prices went up as much as Rs. 10.

Any surprises that Jaishankar caved in to Qatar and opted to keep power with Modi?

▪︎ Take UP assembly elections of 2022. After the way that covid was managed by Yogi and the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict, BJP should have ideally gone to bed and won 300+ seats comfortably.

But they had to bust their asses begging for every single vote to cling on to power. The final tally was 274, down from 325. 

Why won't they then be scared and opt for populist measures to ensure that opposition parties don't claw their way back to power?

▪︎ Fake edited videos of Modi and Shah on reservations sunk the party majority in 2024. And you really want them to commit political suicide by removing reservations altogether; and you will accuse Modi of being anti-merit if he doesn't do so?

Good luck with that. Mamta Banerjee would be the HM of India very soon, if Modi were to go as per your wishlist.

▪︎ Just a month ago, you were taunting Modi that Sheikh Hasina has more balls than him - when she sent in tanks and army into Dhaka university. The punctured balls are hiding somewhere in Hindon now; and her undergarments are being waved around like victory flags by her country-men.

That was the action plan for India as well - in Shaheen Bagh, Red Fort and in Delhi 2020.

▪︎ I must admit that even I felt badly let down at the visuals from the Red Fort. All that anarchy and no action. But Bangladesh has shown us what a tightrope Modi has to walk on.

His worst enemies are not the Muslim and leftist voters; but rather his own supporters who will flip to NOTA over the slightest disagreement.

▪︎ The opposition party supporters understand strategy very well. Mamta can recite Chandi Path, Kejriwal can read Hanuman Chalisa and Pappu can misquote the Mahabharata in Parliament. But none of their Muslim voters will criticize them for it. They know its a masquerade.

But dare Modi to say a word of praise about Sufi saints or meet the Pope; and Vishwaguru & 56 inch taunts will fly thick and fast from BJP supporters.

▪︎ Try contesting elections on an anti-reservation plank as an independent and see how many handful of votes you get. Many of the personalities reviled by RW (Gandhi, Phule etc) still have a place in people's hearts. No politician can afford to diss them in public and then ask for votes. The heaven won't fall down if a few pleasantries are thrown around. 

▪︎ As a BJP supporter, you are embarrassed at the climb down over lateral entry? The climb down was ordered by Modi himself, who is the top gun in BJP. You claim to be more embarrassed than the man himself?

Sometimes a few battles have to be lost to win the war.

Congress supporters are ecstatic and proud that Pappu took their party from 52 to 99 seats. What exactly are you feeling disillusioned about?

Trust works both ways. BJP voters (other than the core) are the most fickle. This was proved in the recently concluded General elections. Just 30 seats less and we would have made Pappu the PM of India. No wonder the opposition has smelled blood and is going for the jugular. 

So stop being jumping japangs who think we will become Venezuela because 45 lateral entry posts have been put on hold or onion prices go up every now and then.

It's high time that we reposed a little faith in the men and let him do his work without us snapping at his heels.

MATHEW DCOSTA