I really wish that our country's politics was not based on religious hate

An interesting piece by Tavleen Singh, The Indian Express 21.04.2024 :- Many things have changed in India since Narendra Modi first became prime minister. But one change that has gone almost unnoticed is that a process of real decolonisation has transpired. And because of this the old, colonised ruling class has been swept away. This is a very good thing. It should have happened long, long ago. As someone who belonged to that ruling class, I consider myself well qualified to explain why this process of decolonisation was overdue and how we failed India as its ruling class. The truth is we were an effete, hopeless bunch. We spoke no Indian language well, but this did not matter to us. We were proud of speaking English well. In our drawing rooms we sneered at those who dared enter without speaking good English. And at those whose table manners were not embellished with western refinement. In short, those who fumbled with forks and knives and preferred eating with their hands and without cutlery. When we travelled to foreign lands, we made a good pretense of being Indian, but we never cared to understand what it meant to be Indian. We pretended to know everything about India’s ancient culture and civilisation, but we knew almost nothing. In the schools and colleges we attended, we learned more about western civilisation, history, and literature than about our own, so it was not totally our fault. When it came to politics and elections, we stuck loyally by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and its various heirs because they were people like us. We did not care that Parliament had been turned into a private members club. It was our club. Nor did we care that the Congress Party under Sonia Gandhi’s stewardship had also become a private club. It was our club. In our drawing rooms we talked endlessly of democracy and secularism and saw ourselves as ordained to protect these ideas. Then along came Narendra Modi and the earth shifted beneath our feet. He may not have been personally responsible for everything that changed but he was a vital part of the political change that happened, and this somehow became an essential element of the bigger changes that were happening. Suddenly, almost overnight, after Modi first became prime minister, we became not just powerless but irrelevant. A new breed of Indians who spoke Hindi well and English not at all started replacing us in the high offices of government, as political analysts, and anchors in TV studios, in journalism, in Bollywood movies and TV series. They were not impressed with our skills in English, and we were so impressed by how Indian they were that we tried to emulate them just to belong. Some of us have succeeded, most of us have not. Those who have not but wish to continue being relevant cling these days to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and hope that somehow, they will be able to defeat Modi. Some act as advisors to the current heirs of the Dynasty and fill their heads with grandiose ideas like saving the Constitution and saving democracy. But the truth is that Rahul Gandhi’s main message remains the same as it was in the last general election. This is that Modi is corrupt and that he works only for a handful of rich Indians. He steals your money, he shrieks at his political rallies, and he gives it to his rich friends. How exactly does this work? As leader of the Congress Party, he is seen, especially by foreign correspondents, as the only man who can defeat Modi. It is bad luck for him that he seems so incapable of convincing Indian voters of this, despite trying hard to prove that he is one of them. He has worked with farmers in rice fields, transported coal on bicycles with miners, listened to the woes of vegetable sellers and spent long hours with mechanics in dingy shops to show how much he cares about the ‘common man.’ So why is the common man not impressed? Could it be because these gestures come across somehow as noblesse oblige and not genuine acts of sympathy? What is it about ‘autocratic’, ‘dictatorial’ Modi that attracts ordinary Indian voters more? The answer that I got to this question on my recent travels in rural India is that people have seen changes in their lives, and they believe that these changes have happened because of Modi. These are not remarkable changes. They are simple things like roads, drinking water, electricity, and Internet services but because they were not there before, they seem remarkable. Many of these things should have happened long ago. But because we were so colonised a ruling class, we did not notice that ordinary Indians were forced to endure the worst public services. In our drawing rooms and in our entitlement, we did not care about such things because in our privileged cocoon it would have been unthinkable to go to a government hospital or a government school. Modi’s advent burst the bubble in which we lived, and the truth is that most of us have no idea why this happened. We continue to hope that he will be defeated this time and hope that the message that democracy is in danger will resonate with voters. When the results come, we are likely to be disappointed again. I met nobody in rural India who saw Modi as corrupt and autocratic. -----++---+--++--++-----

If Bjp were serious they would've field Raja singh

ओवेसी की mim 40 साल से राज कर रहे हैं खुद के कॉलेज हॉस्पिटल बनवाये केन्द्र सरकार हर साल 100 करोड रुपये देती आयी है तो हैदराबाद का विकास क्या किया बताता नाही

Why Reporter does not ask same question to MAMTA BANERJEE🤷

India ke goverment me sab cort pant phen ke ayye na koi namaz ke topi na na bjp ka jhanda , na koi be hindu gods ke photo on government officials areas na masjid na mandir in government areas , only work all this realigion stuf in home ,

Madhavi lata will going to loose badly . .. Demography says all..

Pehle yeh bol ki tera beta bcci ka secretary bana kaise ?? Usko bat tak theek se pakadna nahi aata , dusro je upar ungli uthane se pehle aone aap ko dekhi amit shah

Amit ji, App hamare liye Madhabilata kelie Jarur road show kijie,

Sir why is it that a Bankrupt & failed state Pakistan without discount priced fuel from Russia have lesser fuel prices than India

Why do u always adress owaisi as sahab😮😮 Is he your employer ya paying you all salary🤔🤔

Itni darr k sawal kya kar rahi ho.. shamed .. asking so frightened

High court kar rahy hay politics . Clear hay modi muder in Godhra and free from court why she'll I belive that kind of government.

Puchoge aam btayenge imli.....😅kya log hain

Isi ko bolte hai udta teer lena. Ab kisne liya w jante hai😂😂😂😂

jeetney keyliy lad rahey hein lekin jeetingey nahi owasiji jeetingey jinko hindu bhai aur musalman milker jitayingey

Sawal masjid per tha Jawab nahi face of BJP hhhh

Amit ji, you and bjp are different from Congress. If you do the same as Congress do, then you tell us whom to choose from both follow the same route.

Jeetegi lata didi

A gunda Hime minister

max she wil stand 3rd place comoeting NOTA the way her hospital looted during covid and the cases filed clearly gave her enough identity that ppl never vote her bjp should have choose a better person

Ulthi teer gus gayi mahaddave ko laggyi hai

Yah tadipar pe kitne cases hai vo batao

Amit should have joined bollywood ....As his face and feature fully looks like a bollywood villain.......still he has chance to join bollywood to act there in scenes like to kill people, torture them, burn their properties , kidnap women's etc........he is Ana daaku

Prajwal Rewanna k bare me k bare me tum kya kaho ge Sah ji

Not fell transperency in election

Navika is such a servant of bjp

Let Gandhi family donate their entire wealth to poor of India

I support Modi, but not Lata madavi she looted poor people in covid time , her hospital suspended three times

wah beta 😂😂😂😂

हम भारतीय अलग-अलग धर्मों को मानने वाले भाई-भाई हैं, मैं भी आस्तिक हूं, मेरी अपनी आस्था है, मैं दूसरे धर्मों का, उनकी आस्थाओं का, उनकी मूर्तियों का सम्मान करता हूं... मेरी आस्था के अनुसार उनका उपहास नहीं किया जाना चाहिए या उन्हें नष्ट नहीं किया जाना चाहिए... हमारा ऐसे जीते थे पूर्वज, आज कुछ सत्ता और अपने परिवार के पैसे के लिए हमें अंग्रेजों की तरह कई स्तरों पर खड़ा करने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं...देश में बेरोजगारी, ईंधन की कीमत, रसोई गैस की कीमत, आवश्यक वस्तुओं की कीमत में वृद्धि ... विकास, महंगाई पर कोई चर्चा नहीं होती.... कितने पढ़े-लिखे युवा बिना काम के संघर्ष कर रहे हैं... पूरा मीडिया राजा का गुणगान कर रहा है... हमें ऐसे लोगों को बेवकूफ बनाने वालों के खिलाफ प्रतिक्रिया देनी चाहिए...

Navika please grow up. You cannot be an Opposition spokeswoman always

ओवेशी जीत हासिल कर सकते हैं ❤ 2 लाख से ज्यादा से

Jai Congress, Jai Aimim

Madhav latha uski hi g mai guss gaya

Here is the kachra.

😂😂😂kya interview hai

I not 🚫 bjp

Jay shree Ram 🎉

Prajwal revanna kon se party ka hai be takla

He's looking uneducated

Mr. Shah who are Razakar? Stop your hate politics you can't judge the Desh bhakti of Muslims

आप बेबुनियाद झूठ क्यों बोल रहे हैं, बस उन मुसलमानों के नाम बताएं जिनकी आबादी भारत में 15% से कम है और उनके वोट बचाने के लिए आप पर शर्म आती है। 10 साल के शासन की उपलब्धि, 1 विकास 2 ईंधन की कीमत 3 आवश्यक वस्तुओं की कीमत 3 लाख नौकरियां, विदेशों में भारतीयों का काला धन वापस लाया जाएगा, लोगों को वितरित किया जाएगा। इसका क्या हुआ?

Bjp is the only party that can save our country

She will WIN

Godi dedi😂

Latha ka pata nahi chalega 4 June ke baad😂😂😂 Yeh chahe kuch bhi bol le, aayega toh Owaisi hi😂😂😂

Evm bjp ka win bjp always

Yes jeet gi koshis kar ne walo ki har nahi hoti BJP

Harna jitna janta ke hath main evm ke hath main hai 😂😂😂😂😂

Ovisi bjp ka B team

Amit shah ji 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

ye jo aap kachr...

Aimim byebeybyebey

She is actor and certainly loose her deposit

Madavalatha win

याह सिर्फ दलाल मीडिया के साथ ये करते हैं और कहीं दम नहीं है

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Madavis hospital looted poor at covid time she never came at that time ...owisi team done great service to each common public...Bjp loosing very badly..

Godi media

Agnivir jawan, kesan, gst 18%, pension cut all government jobs wah Modi g wah Kitna kesan mar gay Wah Modi g wah

Jai BJP

Congress mukt Bharat

BJP Will Win

Low grade cheap journalism

Janta tadipaar ko chunkar aaj tak pachta rahihai

Amit Shah is our BJP party chanakya,we are winning 404 par abh ki bhar Modi ji sarkar

Lol😂 Telegana people are more educated... infact south Indians are more educated...so cant do misleaded topics of hindu Muslim mandir masji

Dum laga ke ladingay aur dum daba ke bhaginge . 😂😂😂

Deposit Bhi Nahi Milegi Wapis

There is no answers at bjp, they are loosing in this elections 😊

Educated Muslim☪️️ will vote BJP,,,

Worst man in history of India as Home Minister

Jai AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi zindabad Hyderabad Telangana Zindabad Congress party India zindabad

Jds + bjp Karnataka shoshan

Delhi janta don't like BJP

Boycott BJP 😅😂 VOTE FOR 🪁 🪁 AIMIM ASADUDDIN OWAISI KING OF HYDERABAD 👉We All Indian Demanding Next up coming Congress party Rahul Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi MP / PM

Navika aunty Hindi bolti hai ya urdu. Tamaam waqat. Slum wali urdu galli wali. She has some household questions. Boring she should have retired when dinosaurs were alive. Dud 😂