Modi’s ‘Feel Good’ politics

  Modi's  ‘Feel Good’ Politics

In common parlance it is stupidity to count chickens before they are hatched, or to leap before looking, or to jump the gun. Not in politics. More likely, such foolhardiness would be invested with the honorific- ‘strategy’; or in the obsequious eloquence of a doting media- a ‘masterstroke’; or, in the very least, a ‘feel good’ bonanza. 

While the count was still on with more of the newly counted votes going against him, Donald Trump  screamed, “Frankly, we did win this election.” History, we now know, took a different turn, dashing enroute PM, Mr Modi's prognosis, ‘Abki Baar Trump Sarkar.’ Again, after the Corona pandemic had  spread uncontrollably and experts foretold of  recurrent waves of it sweeping worldwide, Mr Modi  boldly affirmed a year ago, “ महाभारत का युद्ध 18 दिन में जीता गया, करोना का युद्ध 21 दिन में जीतेंगे।‘. Today, a marauding, vicious  second wave of a  virulently infectious Corona swoops down on a terribly  unprepared nation with its pants down. 

Are politicians that naïve or stupid ? Is it their vanity or ego that prompts them to patently Quixotic asservations ? Pause and Ponder. In political rhetoric, not the actual words but their silhouette reveal  import. Trump's still-born V signal wasn’t meant to thwart the electoral process. It sought to push backstage his failure to scrape the ‘rust’ off the ‘rust bowls', and  still any echoes of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign slogan, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’, that did George W Bush in. Just a year ago Bush basked in the sunshine of a 90% approval rating crowning  his eminently successful leadership of the Gulf War. Success is a fickle  maiden.

Likewise, Modi's Mahabharat reference sought to kill two birds with one stone. It offered light at the end of a very short tunnel. A nation with a historical sub-conciousness of centuries of unrelieved  suffering from alternate bouts of drought and flood , salvation after a mere 21 days was no ache, rather  an opportunity to  make pancake for some and they did. Moreover, the association with Mahabharata turned the total lockdown, one that rest of the world shied from, into a phantasmagoria of a holy war, a crusade, at the end of which lay moksha. The ‘feel good’ was further reinforced by the surreal- exhortations to families to clap , beat thalis, ring bells, blow conch shells, light diyas and candles at homes on pre-assigned dates, for stated durations at assigned hours. At places , the feel good exuberance spilled out onto the streets with bursting of crackers. The spirit of  Deewali evoked for propitiation of Corona, or a boosting of the morale of Covid warriors, or just ‘feel good’ for being alive. Indians were free to pick or add to the choices. 

It hit the bull's eye. Voices of outrage at glaring lack of preparedness , manifest initially in non availability of face masks, PPE kits for frontline medical personnel and Testing Kits were trashed as irresponsible rumouring  or scaremongering. Meanwhile, the pandemic swiftly spread its tentacles and gripped the whole nation. Not only did India become  the worst affected, next only to US, but also earned the dubious distinction of having the worst death rate per million in Australasia. Acute shortages exposed the shallowness of our medical infrastructure and support system. Demands for medically supervised  quarantine centres, hospital beds for the seriously infected, and ventilators just couldn’t be met. Even a settled protocol for Covid treatment was wanting. But Modi's Mahabharata rhetoric ensured these inadequacies were pooh-poohed. Modi's tryst with ‘feel good’ held steadfast. The nation quietly reconciled to Covid as a visitation of karmic trauma. 

Early on in January, with daily new cases dropping down to 15000 or thereabouts and daily deaths in three digits, Mr Modi  blew the bugle of victory over Corona and gifted  the nation one more ‘feel good’ Utsav . “India’s resolute battle to emerge victorious out of the pandemic.....will be cherished for long".And when new daily cases climbed to 55000  with the nation still saddled with the highest death rate,  JPNadda, the ruling party Prez,  gushed on 25th  March,“India has proved under the leadership of Prime Minister, Mr Modi , to be the leader in Covid-19 management. It is an example for the world.’ 

At that point of time rest of the world was in the throes of the second or third Corona wave. Somehow we deemed ourselves immune despite overwhelming pointers to the contrary. Nevertheless, when showcased as exemplars countrymen stand morally obligated to feel good even about things they may not truly feel too good about.  But given the recent surge in cases, these statements need some paraphrasing , say, ‘Outside of the exponential surge in  CORONA ,India  has the most envious world record in Covid19  management.’  Quirky, but safely in the ‘demilitarised' zone between fact and fiction  to avoid official censure.

Those now brooding over daily new cases count flirting with the figure of 3 lacs, or bemoaning the  populace slipping into teary, unrelieved melancholia, or those wondering how the vanquished virus rose from ashes with such ferocity are needlessly souring the ‘feel good’ Mr Modi generated in Jan. So are those alleging an almost universal shortage of oxygen in hospitals, lack of burial and cremation grounds, crematoriums - Mr Modi’s call to  build Shamshan along with Kabristan during the UP elections now seems so prescient - short supply of covid drugs, the lackadaisical manner of going about the stupendous task of vaccinating scores of crores ( just 7% of the population have received the mandated two dozes of the vaccine). All these carping folks are malicious spoilers doing dirty politics. Why can’t they sit back and keep count of Covid tolls instead of breaking the spell of  ‘feel good’?  Just one spanner in the wheels though, those who are mourning  the preventable loss of their kith and kin aren’t feeling good at all. 

Mr Modi’s ascent to power was coeval with plummeting crude prices, a fortuity that  afforded him the leeway to cut domestic oil prices. On this occasion his triumphant hurrah found an astral resonance : मेरे विरोधी कहते हैं मोदी नसीबवाला है, इसलिए ऐसा हुआ. मान लीजिए अगर मेरे नसीब से दाम कम होते हैं तो किसी बदनसीब को लाने की जरूरत क्या है. आप बताएं कि नसीबवाला चाहिए या बदनसीब.' Spoken words whose silhouette said, countrymen feel good and obligated that a naseebwala is at the helm. While Mr Modi's naseeb held, that of his countrymen did not. Domestic oil prices doubled. And while unemployment rose to historic highs and economic growth slowed compelling unemployed youth to consider pakoda selling as gainful employment, Mr Modi rode back to power. Then Covid struck. Obviously, naseeb of his countrymen and his own follow different trajectories.

And that’s because Mr Modi conjures up well timed, highly effective ‘feel good’ scenarios out of thin air with the consummate ease of an skilled practitioner. The post-URI surgical strike just before the UP elections, or the  Balakot air strike preceding LS elections left his opponents flailing for breath and on the horns of a  Hamletonian dilemma. The mass ‘feel good ‘ was too intense to shake off :  the realism of such strikes having little impact on ground realities had no takers and consequently no votes. With media as Mr Modi’s handmaiden realism stood no chance. 

People vote to power politicians they feel doing the things they want done. Tokenism, symbolism, platitudes, enthralling oratory may generate short term impulses of feel good. Ultimately, some of the rhetoric must translate into visible  ground realities. At this juncture our covid management seems far from exemplary, little to cherish or cheer. Callous neglect, shortages of almost all Covid protocol drugs, bewailing attendants of oxygen starved patients paint a grim picture. 

Did the ‘feel good’ generated by the Jan declaration of victory over Covid divert focus totally towards rejuvenating a shrunk economy and tackling the farmers' agitation ? But there’s time enough for post-mortems.  With campaigning for assembly elections ended and kumbh mela drawing to a close, hope has risen that state and central governments will get their acts together and step down to the brass tacks to tame this surging demon. The pandemic is at a stage where sheer rhetoric will only yield salty crystals of disillusionment, not the sugar cubes of ‘feel good.'