Being an Indian voter, my voting choice ends up based, not on the best of the options but, on the least worst of them. And in one more year, I'm going to be in front of an electronic voting machine, voting for the next government and the leader who is going to run the country. Going by current trend, it seems to me the choice is between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.
It's unfair to compare, in every attribute of political leadership, Rahul Gandhi with Narendra Modi. Period. His administrative experience is close to the number that we Indians are proud of having invented. His public statements are childish, not something you would associate to a 44 year old. He is just there because his DNA was inherited from Rajiv, Sonia and Indira Gandhi. So far the only great service that Rahul Gandhi has done to Congress is prolonging his state of bachelorhood, so that Congress will look to some one else beyond the Gandhis (unless Priyanka plans to brings her kids into the party and if she does, trust me, no one is going to have a heart attack).
So, it's just Narendra Modi then. Shouldn't he win hands-down?
Unfortunately, Modi has a bigger enemy. Himself. The entire forthcoming election is about "To vote or not to vote for Modi". It's not about voting for Rahul, Manmohan Singh, Sonia, Advani, BJP or Congress. Even congress seems to be campaigning on why people shouldn't vote for Modi, and not the other way around.
I'm voting for Modi.
I'm not going to talk about what everyone else has already analysed about Modi. He carries a baggage alright and that closely borders upon genocide. That's like stuffing a big elephant into hand baggage. However, I would have let it play a significant factor my decision if people in Gujarat had voted him out of power in the 2007 and 2012 elections. They didn't and I don't know if it means anything. But I'm respecting the decision of people who are in a better position to judge than anyone else.
Modi is fighting his own image. His credentials as that of a good-no-nonsense-administrative-leader is pitted against his own riots-dictator-hindutva one.
He has been successful in connecting with the young, injecting them with hope for a better India. He is a proven administrator. He has won four elections with simple majority. He doesn't seem to be after money or accumulating riches for his kin. I've no idea if he has a family. He looks like a guy who just wants to be the leader. Which is great.
Which is bad as well. I can't help but wonder, that sometimes he comes out as a leader with dictatorial tendencies. Add that to the Hindutva/RSS image. It's a bit disconcerting. His headstrong attitude will mellow down if a BJP government is formed with support from other parties and not on simple majority. That should keep him on his feet. And by electoral mathematics, BJP is light years away from forming a government on its own.
With Modi at the helm, will our country be less democratic? Can I live with that? I think I will have to or at least I'm ready to do that for the next five years. I'm tired of the corruption or the inability of our current leaders to produce a vision for the country. Either they just don't have a clue or they are uninterested to harm their own interests. Modi provides hope for this country, albeit a tiny one. I believe that he can reduce corruption in the system and bring in more policies that are for the greater good. He is also interested in taking the challenge head on. His speech in Delhi University shows that he actually cares, not the usual gibberish that the congress leaders churn out with amazing consistency. That's good enough for me.
Modi as PM means BJP as the ruling party. BJP would be a welcome change to our foreign policy (remember Kargil and Pokhran anyone?). With BJP, comes Hindutva and the RSS. I do fear for the unruly small Hindutva groups cropping up everywhere across India in the form of moral polices. The last time they ruled, they had an exemplary secular leader in the form of Vajpayee, who everyone loved!
As I said, Modi has to fight his own headstrong image. He has to show that he is capable of listening to others. And it won't be just him at the top, but a capable team from BJP. He has to show that he is not the solution to all, but one that can lead the right team that can find some solutions. And he needs the backing of his own party in entirety to win the election and getting that alone seems an uphill task.
May be Modi will come to power. May be he will end up being a colossal failure. But at least for once, as an Indian voter, I would have voted for a better candidate and not for a lesser evil.
