Arvind Kala - Modi's become India's biggest bore... Even our night sleep rings with cries of “Mitron”

Has Modi's downfall started?

Most certainly yes. One reason is that Modi's become India's biggest bore. From sheer TV over-exposure. Switch on any TV news channel and Modi's nasal voice rings out. And a million irritated Indians snap: “Uff, this fellow again!”

Modi's over-exposure has actually made him an intrusion in our daily lives. We can't get away from  him. Even our night sleep rings with cries of “Mitron”. TV's very dangerous. It makes and unmakes politicians. TV brought Modi to power. The same TV's going to sweep him away. There's one simple rule of politics. Voters don't vote for a tedious bore. And India's voters see Modi as one.

That apart, Modi's impending downfall comes from a dozen other reasons. One reason is his total incompetence. He bungles everything. I'm not talking of Modi's demonetization or GST. One was a disaster and the other is a catastrophe. I'm talking of Modi's daily bungling. He even bungled on Lord Ganesh. Millions of Hindus revere Lord Ganesh. . How did it matter why Ganesh has the trunk of an elephant? But Modi must yakk. So he even had a comment on how Lord Ganesh got his elephant trunk. “We had plastic surgeons who attached an elephant's trunk onto Ganesh's face,” Modi told the world while extolling the glories of a Hindu ancient India.

A Prime Minister talking such nonsense? Mercifully at Diwali, Modi didn't amplify his nonsense by attributing Laxmi's four hands to plastic surgery. But the damage was done.
Modi's Ganesh nonsense triggered other outlandish claims from Modi's partymen. That gravity was discovered by some Brahmagupta fellow 1000 years ago. That our sages in ancient India used the Internet. That ancient Indians could fly. Imagine the impact of such gibberish on an India where half the population is below 26. And 75 % below 40. All those millions think: Why vote for rulers who talk such nonsense?

Modi isn't returning to power next year. He's going to lose the Lok Sabha poll. As he's losing the five state assembly elections whose results will emerge tomorrow, Dec 11, 2018. That apart, I'm astounded by the political naivety of educated Indians. Particularly of my journalist brethren. Their poll predictions come from a state called paralysis by analysis. Which means convoluted thinking. 

Journalists think like this. If Modi does this, that will happen, and if Modi does that, this will happen. Meaning Modi's so clever he can add 2 + 2 and turn it into 22. As if some Modi gimmick can sway India's 830 million voters into voting for him.


Actually Modi is trying a gimmick as we speak. The Ram Mandir. The gimmick leaves India cold.
The Ram Mandir issue was born 25 years ago in 1993. Half of India was born after that. This half of India wants jobs, money, movies, travel, girl-friends, boy-friends. They don't give a damn for a Ram Mandir. Alas for Modi, he has no other card to play. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, as the saying goes. He's whipping up a dead issue. Which will stay dead.

Paradoxically, Modi's fatal lack of ideas stems from his own life. He's been a Zero and Hero. Modi's 68. He was a Zero for the first 50 years of his life. And he's been a Hero for the last 18 years. As Gujarat Chief Minister for 13 years. And as Prime Minister for the last four years plus. A spectacularly successful life by any standard. But Modi hasn't lived through or experienced one thing. A normal life. He's never been a farmer, trader, shopkeeper, salesman, lawyer, teacher, an office colleague, or businessman. He's never been a husband either, or father, brother, son.

Never having lived a normal life, Modi doesn't understand the world of normal people. He doesn't connect with that world. Meanwhile, his 18 years of uninterrupted success has filled his head with grandiose notions. Of transforming India magically. It is these grandiose notions which are paving the ground for Modi's exit after the next Lok Sabha election.

This probability worries the current Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. He worries that if Modi's tossed out of power, he may try to shove Rupani aside. And become Gujarat Chief Minister himself.


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