New Delhi, May 17, 2016: Two years back on 16th May, Narendra Modi defeated the Congress, the media and everyone else who felt that he was a polarizing figure and had no business claiming the top throne of the country. There were doubts and more doubts that his ascending the throne will make India a Hindu version of Pakistan or Bangladesh, that minorities would leave the country and take refuge somewhere else and what not!
Among these doubts and concocted fear which had no rationale base except that he was the Chief Minister when the unfortunate Godhra train burning and then, in retaliation, Gujarat riots took place was replayed over and over. This special treatment was always meted out only to him and no one else.
In fact, post coming to the hot seat, he has made situation better for even the persecuted minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh! Even Adnan Sami, erstwhile Pakistani, got the much cherished citizenship of India!
In one quick stroke Modi deflated the two-nation theory that is the very basis of Pakistan. He is a much loved figure among Baloch nationalists, Maldives democratic forces and even Uighur Muslims see him with hope.
But still naysayers do not wish to see him in positive light.
The 1984 riots, the Muzaffarnagar and the Saharanpur riot, and the Delhi riot of 2014 were never tackled with as much alacrity as the Gujarat riot.
Who was Narendra Modi and what was his background that gives sleepless nights to his detractors?
He was a humble RSS worker who was just drawn out of oblivion and given the throne of Gujarat when the tiding was difficult for the party. At that time, Narendra Modi was a nobody, yes a nobody.
Shankar Singh Vaghela was the challenger and he had the added cushion of once being an RSS worker himself, in short, he had ‘friends’ both in BJP and was the prime force in the then formidable state Congress.
At that time, like a scapegoat Modi was called to see the BJP sink and also sink along with it. When Vajpayee called him and offered him the top seat, Narendra Modi was at the cremation ground and had no place to even live in Gujarat. But then he accepted the post and a newbie like him had the daunting task to win a state like Gujarat, an industrious, industrial and business-minded no-nonsense place, for his party again. While a newbie would probably be picking up broken threads and pieces to know what to do, came the harrowing tragedy; the train and human burning in Godhara, and then the equally unfortunate riots. Narendra Modi recovered from the Godhara train carnage very quickly but never from the riots.
Today, the haters of Modi equate him with Donald Trump and vice versa. But nothing can be more insulting than the comparison with the billionaire. First, Narendra Modi is a wanderer and is not the person who speaks too much, at least not when he is the one at the receiving end as the case of his degrees and his persecution in the Gujarat riot shows. He didn’t even speak up on the murder of his own party supporters in Kerala and Karnataka but he did come out to speak on a Muslim man Akhlaq who was lynched on the charge of cow slaughter and possession of cow-meat.
He is not the person who enjoys riches but is extremely driven towards making his Primeministership historical. He is not the person who wants to ban Muslims and he is certainly not the person who will drive out the millions of Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Palestine and Myanmar from India but can someone say the same for Donald Trump? Can Narendra Modi ever hit back at a religious figure like Donald Trump did?
Narendra Modi may have won on a substantial Hindu vote but how can this be said that no Muslim voted for him? Eventually, we find that women are getting divorced and persecuted by their families for voting for BJP! So to say that Narendra Modi is the Donald Trump of India is nothing but a cruel joke! There is nothing to show that he wants Muslims to be the second class citizens of India as is the case in neighbouring China and Pakistan!
Donald Trump is flamboyant and enjoys it to the hilt and his rich lifestyle is for everyone to see. He is the one who can openly say that my taxes are not your business and get away with it. But Narendra Modi’s best moment of something similar is wearing a gift with his name plastered all over it or his boasting of 56 inches! Narendra Modi, in short, is very different from Donald Trump! By comparing the two we do a great disservice to Narendra Modi. At best he can be compared more with his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee whose legacy he is following with Pakistan.
Only those who wish to completely discredit Narendra Modi would claim that Donald Trump is the Modi of the USA.
P.S.: The fact that the Hindu Sena, a Modi baiter fringe group, admires Donald Trump and not Narendra Modi, should help sort the record straight once for all.
