The greatest show on Earth

The greatest show on Earth has ended This may be a clicheacute but is a very apt one Out of an electorate of 834 million which had 162 million in the 1825 age group about 67 per cent voted This makes this the highest turnout since 1984 In other words the 551 million voters were equal to the combined populations of US UK Canada and Germany or more than the entire population of the rest of the SAARC countries Narendra Modi held 437 rallies and covered 410000 km since September 2013 Rahul Gandhi his undeclared opponent covered much less 250 rallies travelled less and spoke much lessTipping point It was the lsquoStop Modirsquo slogan by the Congress party other parties the media and sections of our intellectuals that actually made Narendra Modi the focal point PicPTINarendra Modi was the totem pole around which the entire technosavvy wellcoordinated campaign was managedThe Congress campaign in contrast seemed disjointed reactive and petty at times It was the lsquoStop Modirsquo slogan by the Congress party other parties the media and sections of our intellectuals that actually made Narendra Modi the focal point He used this to advantage like a wrestlerrsquos feint for throwing his opponents While Modi talked of development and progress his rival was stuck with secularism and poverty The former was the message of hope while the latter was a tired and tiresome sloganThe attempts of the lsquoliberal intellectualsrsquo were to keep the 2002 issue alive in the name of secularism without talking of the riots of 1984 1992 or 1993 Secularism does not need to keep religious issues alive without solving them Our leaders from the socalled secular parties which mostly represent sectional regional interests have collectively bandied around the slogan of secularism but have done precious little to achieve this except to use the minorities as vote banks and throw sops at them at election time The result has been that we now have a section of our society who feel they are threatened by the possibility of a Modi government and this future governmentrsquos imagined attitudes towards themThey have been encouraged to remain sullen and neglected as if it was only Narendra Modi who was responsible for their present ills and not all the other previous governments who must share the blameModi will have to embellish his strong governance image where he has to be fair and seen to be fair in his actions If winning an election was tough governance and delivery in India is going to be much tougherModirsquos other challenge is also internal mdash to help realise the dreams he has sold He cannot overlook that one third of the worldrsquos extreme poor live in India and the hopes of millions of youth will be pinned on him Telling people that there is no magic wand will be part of that reality and also that nothing short of hard work will enable the fulfilment of these dreams This is more so as the next ten years is the most crucial for our countryrsquos success and attaining our true position in the region and indeed in the worldUnfortunately the manner in which democracies function the opposition will work to prevent fulfilment of these dreams in order to pull the government down Divisive policies are not the handiwork of the lsquoHindu Nationalistsrsquo they are as much the tool that the liberal extremists use frequently to attain power Meanwhile nothing will go right for the Cassandras who are not prepared to accept a verdict that does not suit their narrative Election rhetoric does not really translate into action simply because the realties and limitations of power particularly in a vast diverse country such as India ensure that any government to succeed will have to carry the diversity with itThe electorate has decided The writing is on the wall It would be wise to accept the verdict and not sneer at it as that result of choices by the lumpen merely because it did not vote for the kind of leadership our wise intellectuals presume is best for all Indians It is a travesty to laud democracy but snigger at results that do not agree with our perceptions The hope is that after decades this time India will get a government that has a comfortable not a brute majority which allows it to function and deliver the goals it has set out for itself and the country and an opposition that is strong but not obstructionist with an electorate that understands that democracy extends beyond casting onersquos vote We will have matured into a responsible democracy away from dynastiesThe writer is a former chief of Research and Analysis Wing RAW